The Chase is On

Many years ago, my daughter’s favorite horse was a buckskin mare with a shaggy, dark brown mane and tail named Carmel. They rode frequently during the spring, summer, and fall. But once cold weather hit, not much riding took place, and not much grooming either. She ended up being a shaggy mess. Cute, well-fed, but a mess.

During the late winters, we did some clearing and cleanup along the fence around the pasture, cutting down weeds, brush, and blackberry vines. Once we had everything trimmed, we would rake it up and burn it.

One day while we were cutting and clearing, Carmel kept nosing around to see what we were doing. (Horses are as nosy as cats, if you didn’t know.) I threw my arms in the air and yelled, “Shoo!”

Carmel jumped and spun around. Her long, shaggy tail caught in a pile of blackberry vines I’d cut. The briars tangled in the hair of her tail. As she galloped away, the vines dragged behind her, bouncing and swinging from side to side.

When Carmel saw something ‘tailing’ her, she panicked. Horses are prey animals, and I guess she thought a predator, maybe a wolf or a cougar, was chasing behind her. The mare ran as hard as she could go. When she would make a turn, she’d see the horrible thing still chasing her, and run harder.

At first, I laughed at the silly horse. But as she ran on and on, I worried she’d run through a fence or manage to hurt herself somehow. I tried to call her down, but she just looped near me, then galloped on.

I could tell she was tiring, so I opened a gate into a smaller pasture and waved her through, closing it behind her. As she ran through the gate, I stomped on one of the flopping briar bushes, pulling it from the cluster on her tail. A few more fell out with it, leaving only one long strand dragging behind her.

Since it was smaller, it didn’t bounce and swing as wildly, and she noticed the change. Gradually slowing, she circled and trotted past me again, and I was able to step on the final limb. It yanked from her tail, pulling a few long hairs with it, but it was no longer attached to the horse.

After one last circle, she stopped and looked behind her, her sides heaving to catch her breath. Convinced she’d outrun the vicious predator, Carmel walked over to the water tank and took a long drink. Then she stretched, looked around, and walked away as if nothing had happened.