Today I moved the horses to a drier pasture (now that we've got some serious thawage). George was taken first, Chloe was already loose on the lawn, and then I decided to lead Bridget with Rose following. Except that Rose didn't. She was fine on the lawn with Chloe, thanks.
But then they all got to running around, and Rose thought she'd explore the fence line along the south side of the new field, and the horses inside the field hared off to the east side, which caused Rose to take off, and before you know it, Rose - with Chloe in hot pursuit - is on the north side of the pasture, heading toward the road. Oh gee.
Then I realized Chloe was actually taking care of Rose. She made an effort to overtake her and headed her off half-way down the field toward the road. I called, and Chloe came over to the far fence line of the intervening empty pasture, and looked at me, like "So now what do I do?" I scurried over, panting. But by the time I arrived, both Chloe and Rose had realized they were in what was left of an alfalfa crop and really didn't care too much about either me or the other horses.
A phone call to the house summoning my daughter for aid. In the meantime Chloe and Rose moved back to the east side of George and Bridget's pasture.
By this time, they were quite tired and getting blase about the whole experience. I got Chloe and lead her over to Rose who let me scratch her and then let me get the halter on. And off we went back to the gate to let her in. Meanwhile my daughter arrived to make sure Chloe made it back too. (Of course she did.)
On the way back, I practiced, "No, you're with me" with Rose. Which involves getting her to, well, be with me, instead of worrying about where all the other horses are.
Rose will henceforth not be escorting herself from Pasture A to Pasture B.
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