Today is day 9 of Flirt missing. Wendy and Ramona from the BLM drove up from Oregon to help locate her. From Flirt's facebook page:
Wendy and I headed back up the logging road on horseback, searching out every possible off shoot. Because I'd been leading the mares back and forth, we had to go quite a ways to get to where we may be able to find fr
esh tracks. And fresh tracks we found...but they led to a dead end. The old road stopped, and though we'd spotted one pile of manure (first time since the two down below on Sunday), there wasn't any indication that she was nearby. Wendy got off and scouted round under the brush for several minutes, but it looked as though Flirt had traveled up, then doubled back.
We found several spurs that left the main road, but all ended in a dead end, and other than the first one we'd taken, none showed any indication that she'd been there.
We returned to the catch pen at the bottom where we were greeted by a whinny from Ebony. I told Wendy that there was another direction we could head, and that it would be a good place for a horse to hang out. I'd not been up there on foot, though Katie and I had scouted the area last week. Flirt would have had to go through a little camp site, which included two buildings, a tractor, a gate leaning up against a tree and a little fire pit. It seemed unlikely that she'd want to cross through all that, but it was the only place left that we'd not traveled.
Just as we were heading out the back side of the camp, we spotted a fresh track. A glimmer of hope!
On the north side of the camp, a trickle of water runs through. It's fed by an underground spring and the entire area, especially this time of year, is nothing but bog. Houdini crossed it relatively well; I was riding Witchknot and he wasn't quite as happy about feeling as though he would be sucked beneath the surface. This was another reason I'd not thought Flirt would be back there...not something a horse really wants to cross on their own.
Once we got the horses through the mud, the ground got drier and we continued through the young trees toward an older grove. We were heading toward the water tower, which is fenced off. Just as we reached the tall stand of trees, I spotted a pile of manure. It didn't look real fresh...had one of our horses dropped it when Katie and I rode last week?
Then there was another, not ten feet away. Another 20 feet, another! This was more manure than we'd seen anywhere...and all in one little spot! We had to be close...we just HAD to be!
Question was...was she in the tall trees ahead, or was she hiding from us behind one of the smaller trees planted in the old pasture to our left? 50' told the tail...there she was. My beautiful Flirt!
She was hiding from us, head low so as not to be spotted. We looked at each other, turned and left. It's getting late and we don't want her to be disturbed and move this close to night. I think she'll stay put. I hope she'll stay put. We'll see in the morning.
We found several spurs that left the main road, but all ended in a dead end, and other than the first one we'd taken, none showed any indication that she'd been there.
We returned to the catch pen at the bottom where we were greeted by a whinny from Ebony. I told Wendy that there was another direction we could head, and that it would be a good place for a horse to hang out. I'd not been up there on foot, though Katie and I had scouted the area last week. Flirt would have had to go through a little camp site, which included two buildings, a tractor, a gate leaning up against a tree and a little fire pit. It seemed unlikely that she'd want to cross through all that, but it was the only place left that we'd not traveled.
Just as we were heading out the back side of the camp, we spotted a fresh track. A glimmer of hope!
On the north side of the camp, a trickle of water runs through. It's fed by an underground spring and the entire area, especially this time of year, is nothing but bog. Houdini crossed it relatively well; I was riding Witchknot and he wasn't quite as happy about feeling as though he would be sucked beneath the surface. This was another reason I'd not thought Flirt would be back there...not something a horse really wants to cross on their own.
Once we got the horses through the mud, the ground got drier and we continued through the young trees toward an older grove. We were heading toward the water tower, which is fenced off. Just as we reached the tall stand of trees, I spotted a pile of manure. It didn't look real fresh...had one of our horses dropped it when Katie and I rode last week?
Then there was another, not ten feet away. Another 20 feet, another! This was more manure than we'd seen anywhere...and all in one little spot! We had to be close...we just HAD to be!
Question was...was she in the tall trees ahead, or was she hiding from us behind one of the smaller trees planted in the old pasture to our left? 50' told the tail...there she was. My beautiful Flirt!
She was hiding from us, head low so as not to be spotted. We looked at each other, turned and left. It's getting late and we don't want her to be disturbed and move this close to night. I think she'll stay put. I hope she'll stay put. We'll see in the morning.
7 comments:
Just flipped on over to the FB page. Very interesting mare and can't wait until you have her safely back home.
Keeping fingers crossed!
ill keep my fingers crossed for you i hope she returns soon :)
*****Drums fingers*****
Anxiously awaiting the rest of the story.....
Just read her facebook post!!!!!!
"She is in the trailer"
Woohoo!!!
Excellent! Flirt is acting just like that horse I told you about that I found years ago. I think it's a survival instinct when they've lost their herd.
Phew! So relieved and happy for you.
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