Post by genebo on Nov 28, 2014 21:59:52 GMT
Having Dexters makes for good conversations at the feed store. I met a rodeo cowboy there about a year ago. He was interested enough to arrange for me to get a special deal on some round bales of hay from his neighbor.
Since then, he has been traveling the rodeo circuit, leaving two horses to board at a farm south of here.
Early this morning I got a phone call from him. He came home to discover that the place he had left his horses has been cited by animal control for not taking adequate care of the horses. The cowboy was told he has until next Wednesday to remove his horses or on Friday, they will be confiscated.
He has arranged to move them to a farm about 60 miles east of here, but they can't take them for two weeks. He was calling me to see if I could let his horses stay in my pastures for the two weeks.
It won't work, since I have Dexters, including one calf, plus the goats, and my fencing is not adequate to contain horses. However, I was totally sympathetic. I told him to hang on and I would do some calling around.
First, I called the big horse farmer near me. He couldn't think of anyone who could take them, but told me that what I should look for was someone who had once had horses but had none now. That would take care of the possibility of bringing disease to a herd.
A call to another neighbor produced the number of someone who fit the description. However, a call to her revealed that she had gone to Florida for the winter. Eat your heart out, Yankees. She gave me a phone number for another woman nearby.
I called this other woman. It turns out that she has an elaborate horse ring setup, where she often held barrel races. She sold all of her horses at the end of summer, and now is lonesome. She said that her pasture grass was 12" tall and she needed a couple of horses to trim it down. What a perfect match!
I got her permission to give the cowboy her phone number, then called him. He found it hard to believe that we had found such a perfect match. He hung up to call her immediately.
Later today, I got a call from the first horse owner I had called. It turns out he knew this lady and she had called him to tell about what a lucky find she had made to get a couple of horses to keep her company.
The circle was complete. It all started because I was pointed out at the feed store as the guy with the little cows.
