Saturday, October 12, 2019

THE SAGA OF BLAZE THE HORSE, PART 3

Even though we were in town, the saga of Blaze the Horse continued by means of phone on Wednesday. 

The outfitter sent an employee to the farm who located Blaze and said he isn't theirs, adding that he isn't in great shape and they don't want him. The employee did not have a horse trailer with him -- which means he went to the farm with no intention of taking the horse -- and he said he's an old guy and unable to wrestle with a horse anyway. A horse can come from a long ways away, he said, and he volunteered to post a picture of him in Nezperce. 

Roaming livestock IS a frustrating problem.  The law of the closed range provides that the property owner shall corral and feed roaming livestock, then contact the brand inspector, who in turn contacts the owner. The property owner can then charge the animal owner for the feed. We feel that this is an outdated law, but it IS the law governing the situation at this time. It is beyond our ability to corral and feed a horse, and we know no one who can. Meanwhile the horse is roaming and neglected. 

It's different with stray dogs and cats, of course. They are not livestock.

The priority for our next trip to the farm is to: 1) open the fence; 2) locate the horse; 3) try to herd said horse into the canyon; 4) close the fence again. However, we suspect the horse knows more than one way into and out of the canyon. He also knows the fence is closed, so it might be difficult to herd him to that spot in the fence.



On a more positive note, Mike was successful in fixing the lawnmower throttle cable. He says he owes his success to his German "friend" on YouTube. He serviced the lawnmower, too, and put it to bed for the winter. KW

2 comments:

Chuck said...

You must be the photographer in charge. (Thus not having to do the heavy work on the fence. I still think anihalation might be an option, if all else fails.

M/W said...

He looked in pretty good shape to me. He's just a mustang not a thoroughbred.