I told me so...

I should have seen it coming. Nine jumped the fence. Please let me clarify right now that he is not hurt, and now is safely in his round pen.

Yesterday was very nice. It was warm, the sun was out and the ground for once was not frozen. I hopped on Hammar for a bit, but a lead rope around his neck was not enough to control him, given how hyper he was! So I put him in the large pen with Ashley and Nine and started chasing the horses around. They were doing really well and running and being pretty, when all the sudden Hammar cornered Nine and pinned his ears. Well, that was all it took! Nine turned tail, saw the fence and barely thought twice before he tried to jump it. He cleared it with his front end, but his hind end didn't do so well. He was stuck with his front on one side of the fence and his back on the other side. He kept hopping though, and finally broke the top two wires and made it over. I yelled at Hammar when I realized Nine wasn't limping, then got a halter, told Fiance where I was going, and caught Nine. Fiance and his brother, who is visiting for the holidays, got to work fixing the fence. Nine and I were on a neighboring property that is fence off but no one lives there; but luckily I have done this before, so I knew how to get the horse home. There are three ways out of that property, and the first involves a cable strung between two posts in lieu of a gate. It was higher than it used to be, when Ashley jumped the fence a few years ago, and Nine wouldn't step over it like Ashley did. But I know of another way; there is a pipeline running through the property, so there is a service gate. I knew I can get the locked gate off it's hinges because once Red and Frosty, two old horses we used to have, used to escape (not jumping any fences, just wandering off instead of ground tying) and find their way to the relatively lush grass found along the pipeline (they would get in through the third way, which involves crossing into a third property and hoping they have their front gate open). Anyways, Nine stayed ground tied while I lifted the gate off the hinges, then I led Nine through the gate and he ground tied again while I tried to lift the gate back onto the hinges. I couldn't get both pegs through both hinge-holes at the same time, however. So don't tell on me, but the gate is only held up by one hinge now.

I had Nine trot for me a little bit on the way home from there, and he was doing just fine. I tossed the lead rope around his legs and over his back, and had him do some flexing and bending for me. He very quickly showed me that he hasn't forgotten his training. When we got back I tied Nine outside his round pen while I tried to get it cleaned up a bit. Like I said, it was a warmer day than it has been lately, and the poop piles had thawed out a bit. I couldn't get it all - some were still frozen solid - bit I got most of the round pen back into shape. Then I decided to see how Nine would do if I were to saddle him. My mom had a Natural Ride bareback pad, so I tossed a cinch on that and Nine stood tied while I showed it to him and rubbed him down, then put it on him. It took maybe 5 minutes for him get back to his old self and for me to get everything tightened down. Then I got him in the round pen and had him trot for a while. His legs are fine; he even lets me rub them down and look for wounds. He has a one spot where a barb got him, but it isn't bad. Mostly he is just shaved. One knee is also a bit swollen from apparently hitting the ground, but all in all he is fine and we got some training done.