Angus the Happy Appy Don’t Fence Me In

Aug 24, 2018 | Ranch Critters | 1 comment

Angus, our handsome Happy Appy (appaloosa), has suddenly decided that the rules of the ranch do not apply to him. We really only have a few dont’s; don’t eat the chickens, don’t spit on the boss lady (that would be me) which only applies to the ‘pacas, and stay in the pen where you have been put.

This last rule is the one that Angus seems to find the most egregious. And hence our story.

For the past 3 days, we have found Angus down the road, flirting with a lovely chestnut mare and her faithful little pony sidekick. She runs up and down the fence line, tail flagging out behind her, white socks flashing in the sunlight, whinnying with a come hither look…little hussy!!

Angus, who by the way is a gelding, could do nothing with this girl even if he wanted to or we let him, and yet he is entranced by her.

And if this one mare is not enough, there is always the pretty grey one in the next pasture who belongs to our neighbor, a champion barrel racer, or as it is commonly known in rodeo circles, a “can chaser”.

So how did Angus get out? Well, on day one, he and Shasta were out grazing and he noticed that there was a location in our fencing that was not very secure, so out he went.

On day 2, after we had moved him to a more secure pasture, or so we thought, he pushed open a cattle panel, and off he went.

And then finally, after we had moved him, AGAIN, to the most secure area we had, silly us, he just ripped out part of the fence, t-post and all, and off he went, this time taking Shasta with him.

Like Jimmy Cagney in an old black and white movie, he seems to be saying “you can’t keep me in here, you dirty screws”.

Did I mention Shasta, our mare who shares a pasture with Angus? She is calm and sweet and generally ignores Angus’s peccadilloes but now she wants to get in on the act.

In Shasta’s defense, she is not interested in the mares, or their ponies, for her the issue seems to be that greener grass on the other side of the fence.