Honking at a Tiger in a Cage ~ I’ve had Enough!

 

Beware! This is a ranting and complaining post, which is rare coming from me. But sometimes you just got to let it all out. Something’s got to give.

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My neighbor, D, the same neighbor who owned handsome Rojo, the horse that was killed last summer when his leg was broken, now owns 3 geldings. D usually boards his horses down in the valley so he can do roping events, or he leases pasture for them up here in the mountains.  Sometimes he keeps them in his backyard, which is right beside a busy county road. Over the past couple years I’ve taken many photos of D’s horses because I have a clear view of them from my bedroom window and bed. (with a pretty good zoom)

When I was healing up from my injuries last year, D’s previous two horses, Rojo and Gandalf (my name for the grey horse) played a large part in my recovery.

While I was stuck in bed, seeing them running and playing together, lifted my spirits.

Those two had a special bond that was beautiful to see. It broke my heart when D sold off Gandalf and not long afterwards, brought in the younger grey gelding he owns now. The night he brought that one home was the night beautiful Rojo died.

A peculiar thing happened after he brought in another new horse, not long after he bought the younger grey gelding. This new horse seemed obsessed with something across the road from his pasture. He paced for hours all day and night, like a tiger in a cage, along the fence-line beside the busy county road.

He’ll forgo eating and drinking just to pace back and forth. Nothing persuades him to stop pacing, not even semi-trucks, motorcycles, his pasture mates playing, or someone stopping by with a treat and a scratch. He just keeps pacing all day long.

 

Sometimes he’ll stop and gaze out across the road.

I’m not sure what he sees. Does he see Rojo’s ghost running across those fields?

The majestic Rojo was traqically killed just across the road from his pasture. I remember when he would sometimes gaze out across the road to the field beyond, too. What did Rojo see?

No one lives over there and no one pastures any livestock there either. It’s just a big empty field, of about 70 acres.

Anyway, it’s been a year now, and this poor horse is still pacing like a caged tiger, and still obsessed with whatever he sees, or senses, across the road in the field beyond.

I’m glad this gelding has never tried to jump his short barbed wire fence, because over the past year, our county road has just gotten busier with more big trucks, and lots of drivers who act like impatient speed demons, driving way too fast for a road as hilly as ours are.

We used to see lots of bicyclists and horse back riders along the roadway and I always enjoyed seeing them ride past.

But the number of equestrians and bikers have dwindled considerably over the past year.

It’s just too dangerous for people and animals to exercise along this road anymore.

Just last week, I had the extreme terror of driving up over the top of a hill about a 1/2 mile from our house, and meeting another vehicle head-on….in my lane, as he was trying to pass another car in the opposite lane. I had my 3 kidlets in the car and I was so shook up……and pissed off! I slammed on my horn and yelled out my window, at that idiot that could have killed us! If it had not been for the driver in the opposite lane, seeing the imminent danger, and slowing down to a crawl to let the guy back over. Don’t people know you never pass another vehicle in a no passing zone….and never, never, EVER on a steep hill which has dangerous blind spots? Gah!

It’s sad really, how busy our road has gotten. All day long I can hear the loud, hammering sound of semi-trucks and dump trucks slowing down and then revving their engines as they go up and down our hills past our house.

It used to be so quiet up here. Now I feel as if I live in the city near a construction zone.

And why is everyone in a hurry? If you want to work in the city, but live in the country, then leave your house with plenty of time to get to work on time. And when you come home, why not relax and decompress while enjoying the scenery during your drive home? Why be in such a hurry, while putting other people and animals in danger?

If folks want a faster commute, then they should move back to the city. Sheesh!

Anyway, something else very peculiar…and annoying, too, has been going on over the past few months. All these speed demons, and all these big trucks have started honking at D’s horses, especially when D’s horse is pacing.

I’m not exactly sure why. Maybe the idiots think that if they honk real loud at his horses, that they will run away in terror? Maybe they believe they are keeping D’s horses away from the road, if they honk over and over as they drive past our houses? Maybe they think it’s fun to make a horse run away if the horn startles it? I don’t know. But the pumpkin heads that keep on honking all day long as they drive by are driving me nuts!

Don’t they realize the only thing they are accomplishing is desensitizing D’s horses to the sounds of honking? Don’t they see that that his horses don’t care and aren’t phased by the honking?

No. They don’t. Because they’re idiots. I’m a pretty laid back, nice person, and I can forgive a lot, but I just don’t get people sometimes. Don’t they care that people live in these houses along the road? Don’t they realize that their obnoxious noise is irritating those who moved to the country to get away from the noise pollution of the city?

And then another gripe. A little over a week ago, I was sitting outside in my backyard just relaxing and enjoying my chickens as they free-ranged, when along comes a young woman walking, with her two dogs, off leash…I might add, right through the middle of our property. And worst of all, she was walking with the same dog that broke into our barn a couple years ago and tore apart our rabbit cage and murdered our pet rabbit.

And did I mention that both dogs were off leash…..and my chickens were free-ranging?!

I asked the lady why she was walking across our property, and she just said, “Oh, this is your property?” No apology. No asking me if it was ok if she cut across our land (which, by the way is actually owned by us and not owned by the bank. We paid off the land and house in full, a few years ago.).

I was very annoyed with this woman as she acted like she owned the world. I asked her if that one dog was hers, the one that killed our rabbit, and she asked, “Why?”. I told her, because it trespassed on our property, just like she was doing, and killed our pet rabbit. She claimed the dog wasn’t hers and then ignored me and kept walking across our property to the other side. gah! I was so teed off, I tell ya!

I wouldn’t mind someone cutting across our land if they asked permission first and showed some respect. And if they did have permission I would expect them to either keep their dogs at home, or have them leashed, so my livestock, dogs and kids would be safe from harm.

I spoke to my hubby, Ranchman John, on the phone today and told him it’s time to consider moving in a few years. Farther away from the city, on large acreage, far away from neighbors, off of a dirt road, nowhere near a paved road.

(The next two photos taken in the Santa Fe National Forest during some recent letterboxing hikes)

I want to be tucked away into the trees, with only the sound of birds, wildlife and nature to fill my ears.

Or maybe I just need a vacation?