Thunder rouses us from sleep
Last night around 2:30 AM we were awoken by a loud rumbling. Strangely, the noise was booming at us from below instead of above. Quickly, we (K) leapt from bed and looked out the windows.
Two of the horses were on the wrong side of the fence! Hill (the lead mare) and Sophie (her self-promoted second). The other herd members (Oopsie and Lyrical) were quite distraught by being separated from their leader. Their stress was clearly contagious!
K and I stepped out of our back door right into the middle of a miniature horse stampede. Hill and Sophie were racing up and down beside the house on the driveway, between the truck and van and on the strip of grass that runs down the side of our fence towards the road…
Thankfully, we have had these ladies long enough that they have built a bond with both K and I. They were quickly quieted and back on the right side of the fence by a few “Good girls” and “Easy, eeeeaaasy… Sssshhh”, “It’s OK.” The bag of apples that was being freely distributed in unheard of quantities was also very helpful. 
I’m not sure I will ever get used to seeing 1000+ pounds of thundering muscle and sharp hooves flying towards me in white eyed wild abandon. It gives one quite a rush, though!
A quick inspection revealed a hole in the fence where an old gate had simply been attached (there were no hinges, it was just tied on). Hill had stuck her head through to eat grass and must have shoved hard enough to break through. It looks like the gate fell on her and she dragged it back about 10 feet. It’s not light either! When the gaping hole in the fence appeared, Sophie surely pushed through (it’s definitely in her nature to do so) and Hill must have followed. They then went around the paddock to where they know the gate is and this is where we found them thundering up and down.
It was freezing and raining, of course, so we quickly patched the fence back together with cold, numb fingers. It’s pouring rain today, but a quick check of our patch looks like it will hold for a few more days, at least, so we’ll fix it when the weather breaks.
