Didn't I already do this??
I dunno how many of you remember my client in Rebersburg and his grand-niece's horses. He lives on a family farm and the horses are in a small pasture right next to his trailer. A good portion of the pasture is taken up by a pond. There is no fence keeping the horses out of the pond. Nokomis, the youngest mare, was born in winter and learned early on how to cross the pond when it was frozen. Bad thing. She got out a couple of times by walking across the ice. Very bad thing.
Not only is it bad because it is dangerous, it is bad because the neighbor who owns the adjacent farm is a b*st*rd who would not hesitate to shoot a strange horse on his property. Plus, per PA law, the owner of the animal would be legally responsible for any damages the animal did to the neighbor's property - which would be my client's elderly brother and his wife since he is the current owner of the farm.
Now since I don't want the horses to get shot or my client's brother to get sued by his nasty neighbor, Mark and I went out one very cold Saturday morning and put up a fence to keep the horses from going across the pond. Everyone should be happy with this, no? Apparently not.
Turns out the horse owner's father (my client's nephew) saw this as an infringement on his authority (even though the OWNER of the farm - his father - approved it) and he took it upon himself to dismantle the fence after the spring thaw, telling me it was unnecessary and he would "appreciate it if I took my fencing stuff home with me." Apparently, the fence was "messing up the fishing lines" of people fishing on the pond. Needless to say, I left the fencing stuff right where it was in my client's trailer coz I had a sneaking suspicion we'd need it come winter.
Sure enough, when I arrived today, I saw the hoof prints in the snow going across the pond. The horses were out all day yesterday & had just found their way back that morning. My client didn't even know they were back. The family had been looking for them for hours last night. My client called his brother to tell them the horses were back & to remind him that the fencing stuff was still there at his trailer so no one needed to buy any fence supplies if they wanted to put the fence back up.
So what was I doing at 9am in 19F weather? I was out on the ice stringing a temporary fence in hopes of keeping the horses off the pond long enough for someone to get off their lazy ass and put up a more permanent one. I'm too damn nice, but I won't let anything bad happen to those horses if I can help it. Of course, if they'd just let the damn fence alone to begin with, no one would have to be out on the ice in the middle of winter stringing a new one. >.< But what do I know? I'm just the stupid city-slicker who doesn't know anything.
Here is an image taken two winters ago when I was walking Nokomis back across the ice. My client took it with his digital camera.
Not only is it bad because it is dangerous, it is bad because the neighbor who owns the adjacent farm is a b*st*rd who would not hesitate to shoot a strange horse on his property. Plus, per PA law, the owner of the animal would be legally responsible for any damages the animal did to the neighbor's property - which would be my client's elderly brother and his wife since he is the current owner of the farm.
Now since I don't want the horses to get shot or my client's brother to get sued by his nasty neighbor, Mark and I went out one very cold Saturday morning and put up a fence to keep the horses from going across the pond. Everyone should be happy with this, no? Apparently not.
Turns out the horse owner's father (my client's nephew) saw this as an infringement on his authority (even though the OWNER of the farm - his father - approved it) and he took it upon himself to dismantle the fence after the spring thaw, telling me it was unnecessary and he would "appreciate it if I took my fencing stuff home with me." Apparently, the fence was "messing up the fishing lines" of people fishing on the pond. Needless to say, I left the fencing stuff right where it was in my client's trailer coz I had a sneaking suspicion we'd need it come winter.
Sure enough, when I arrived today, I saw the hoof prints in the snow going across the pond. The horses were out all day yesterday & had just found their way back that morning. My client didn't even know they were back. The family had been looking for them for hours last night. My client called his brother to tell them the horses were back & to remind him that the fencing stuff was still there at his trailer so no one needed to buy any fence supplies if they wanted to put the fence back up.
So what was I doing at 9am in 19F weather? I was out on the ice stringing a temporary fence in hopes of keeping the horses off the pond long enough for someone to get off their lazy ass and put up a more permanent one. I'm too damn nice, but I won't let anything bad happen to those horses if I can help it. Of course, if they'd just let the damn fence alone to begin with, no one would have to be out on the ice in the middle of winter stringing a new one. >.< But what do I know? I'm just the stupid city-slicker who doesn't know anything.
Here is an image taken two winters ago when I was walking Nokomis back across the ice. My client took it with his digital camera.