Spring Break (Out)

Now that's an alarming picture, isn't it? Maggie is either laughing at me or she's yawning because she's exhausted after her latest hi jinx... read on.
I couldn't sleep last night, having major and all too frequent panics as to why I am not a well respected and famous artist... yes, that could give you several years of sleepless nights! But I had finally fallen asleep and we were sleeping in when the phone starts ringing and there is a heroic knocking on the door and Jules is bellowing and barking. I pulled on a pair of pants and staggered downstairs, thinking maybe the law had finally caught up with me for an unreturned book or unpaid parking ticket.
But no, it's our neighbor Megan (whom was appropriately attired in a fuzzy pink robe) and I, in a half asleep daze, manage to understand that there's black horse loose on their lawn and Megan suspects (correctly) that it's our very own Mexican Pony, Maggie. At just that minute, Maggie rounds the corner and saunters up to the door as if to say, "There you are! Where's my breakfast?" I was about to go get a halter and lead rope, but I took a chance that, good horse that she is, Maggie would simply follow me back to the safety of her pasture and barn. Getting back in was apparently not as easy as getting out.
Bob and I had been living on borrowed time because the electricity hadn't been on and the winter did a number on the fence. I think we'd been crossing our fingers that Maggie hadn't figured out that her fence was essentially dental floss strung between some sort of sketchy posts. I easily spotted where Maggie had leaned against a post and it being a tad rotten at the base, it simply keeled over and she stepped over and away she went, visiting all the neighbors. It turns out she went further afield than I initially thought. She left thoughtful "deposits" on several neighbor's yards....

That's a nicer picture of my splendid palfrey! We're truly lucky that Maggie didn't get into the road and hit by a car or eat too much new grass- the kind that is always greener on the other side of that fence. (Horses have ridiculously delicate digestive tracts and do terrible things like colic and founder. Maggie is lucky that she has actual pasture so that she has already been introduced to rich, new grass. It's especially a trouble for horses that exclusively eat hay.) She looked pretty pleased with herself for having a small, private adventure. To show her my appreciation for being a horse in search of new sights, I took her out for a lovely ride later in the day. A girl's got to have a little fun!