“Marvelous Mae is out here in the corral.”
That note on the table when we got home was good news, because we’d been stewing ever since the night before after we couldn’t catch the old bay mare for Labor Day weekend carriage-ride engagements.
Mae, sometimes referred to as Laura Mae in respect of Mom, and now sarcastically called differently, had been in the small pasture with the black gelding Ambrose, who is hard to catch.
While Mae’s never really been one to walk into a halter, she’s become more cantankerous to capture being with Ambrose. It took quite a while for two of us to corner her on foot several weeks ago.
Taking Missy the Appaloosa along as bait, we ended up riding her, and even with a late arriving assistant, three of us people never could get Mae before dark in our evening attempt.
Fortunately, our wife and son with mechanical cart the next morning were able to seize Mae in short order.
Not too much more aggravating than not being about to catch a horse. There are numerous stories from others about gathering horses. We remember the one who shot his horse with shotgun birdshot, and another who threw a stick and knocked his horse’s eye out.
Three of our most memorable horse catching experiences ended up with the runaways being roped from the ground as they sped by.
Dad with one arm roped the speedy Shetland Trigger more than 50 years ago. Our daughter roped a racing weanling about midnight after he’d escaped a new owner’s lot, and another time the cowgirl latched onto a Palomino mare running in a 240-acre pasture.
Sometimes, with dedicated persistence, we’ve been able to walk down horses that didn’t want caught. One time, it took six hours for two of us in a quarter section pasture, but the mare finally gave up.
Another time, despite numerous attempts with several people, horses and machines, we never did trap a gray mare. She somehow disappeared, but showed up weeks later, when she ambled into a neighbor’s pen, so we could get her.
Reminds us of First Samuel 19:12: “He fled and escaped.” Yet, Jeremiah 50:28: “Runaways and escapees always show up.” And, Job 18:9: “A trap will catch him.” Because, Proverbs 12:27: “The diligent man gets his possession
+++ALLELUIA+++