When it gets a bit difficult

Timo is my hero, my friend, my dearest possession. But mothers know, there are days where you want to shoot your beloved ones. Like today.
Mark put out a comfortable paddock for Timo at our beautiful camp in the woods. Very close to the tent so that the 'herd' could sleep close together. After the usual four hours paddock walking we went to bed nice and early. Even Timo went to lay down, which means he's completely at ease. At 4.40 pm I suddenly heard a "kedoeink, stamp stamp" and I knew immediately, our guy walked through the paddock wire. In my panties I struggled myself out of the tent where I could just grab hold of Timo. He was looking for the water bucket. Och honey, I said, are you thirsty? I provided water, gave a bucket of SpeediBeat and another 6 kg of hay in the paddock. The paddock was up again and I placed Timo back in it. "Mark, ga back to sleep, it’s ok,”I whispered as I climbed back into the tent again. Three seconds later I heard "kedoeink, klink, stamp stamp stamp stamp stamp. I turned around and just saw a black tail disappear. Mark!!! Wake up, he's gone ... ..I was perplexed .... what's this?

Mark quickly struggled himself out of his sleeping bag, pulled on a pair of pants, got the mountain bike off the Discovery's roof and cried out: "Pellets, we need pellets, SpeediBeet does not make a sound when it’s in a bucket. And Carolien, put on a pair of pants! " I still stood frozen looking at a disappearing Timo. Mark cycled after Timo and after I put on some jeans I ran after them on foot. The most terrible scenarios played in my head; Timo in a swamp, Timo smashed under a big lorry, Timo violating one's garden, Timo disappeared forever ....
After a minute or five, I saw Mark coming up with horse with his head in a feed bin. As I ran there my tears dried up. Mark said excitedly: "Well, in any case, it's a good story .... A little adventure is ok as long as this has been the most exciting part.

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The paddock was a mess and I put a chair in the middle to hold Timo while Mark repaired the wires. But our dear darling did not agree. He remained restless and slid me and my chair across the ground to the exit. Ok, standing up then. When everything was restored, I let go of him and positioned myself in front of the exit. All seemed quiet again. Mark started to make some coffee and I turned around.

And then my robust Welsh Cob realized that he did not need the exit at all. With his 500 kg he stamped firmly to the other side of the paddock to just pass right through it without hesitation, dragging the wires and poles with him. And gone he was. Mark jumped straight on the bicycle with a bucket of feed but Timo looked back and whenever Mark came closer he walked further off. Until Mark placed the bucket on the ground and walked backwards. Then Timo trotted to the bucket to rob the second kilo of sports feed of this morning.

Mark and I looked at each other: "This is it, no other choice than to saddle up and ride for the day. So I rode of at 05.50 without breakfast but with bright sunshine through the woods on the way to Hanneke & Hein. They only expected us that night but it seemed that we would arrive at 9.30.

Fortunately, Hanneke and Hein were at home and we were warmly welcomed. Timo could live in a beautiful large meadow with trees and big stones behind the house. Next to him (with a few meters of space and a bush row in between) was the paddock of Arabian breeding stallion Gribo. The horses greeted each other with loud voices. Timo walked around and after a few minutes we left him alone. Until 30 seconds later we heard Hein calling out in a concerned voice: "Come! They fight! " Hanneke and I ran back and what do you think,  Timo rekoned that he also did not have to respect these wires and went straight through them. Fortunately no physical damage was done on either horse because the stallion was still on the other side of a fence. But still it was a huge shock to me. Hanneke and Hein are not impressed so quickly and built an extra fence with power on it. After that is was all ok. 

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But we are facing a serious problem right now for which we need to find a solution tomorrow otherwise we can not travel any further. Today we went shopping for a portable electric fence. We found one and will test it tomorrow. But apart from the practical problems, the worst thing is that I lost my trust in Timo. We are investing so much energy to sleep close together. We totally depend on each other, the horse needs us as much as we need him. And then he just leaves….It feels like a personal rejection in this situation. We are clearly not yet a herd. I know, one comes across oneself and I’m emotionally unstable. This is just a minor setback but I did not expect it to hit me as hard as it does.  Now we sleep, tomorrow is another day.

Keep you updated

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