Don’t fence me in

Yesterday, I thought I was going to have to return a horse to its owner.  The trail I run on (when I run, which has not been all that often lately) is paved, but there’s a gravel path that runs along a lot of it.  It has more ups and downs, and I don’t usually run on it, but you can see it and the people on it for the most part.  Yesterday, I was running along a stretch where there’s an animal hospital on the far side of the gravel path.  I glanced over to check for horses (they have a small fenced arena), and hey – I saw one.  Outside the fence.  It was on the gravel path.  BY ITSELF.  No bridle, no saddle, just a horse, happily munching on some grass.  There was a woman heading in to the animal hospital when I got there, so I checked with her.

“Excuse me – did you know there’s a horse loose over there?”

“Yeah, he belongs to the neighbors.  They do that sometimes.”

“Do we need to tell them?”

“Nah.  They probably know.”

Okay, then.  I guess the neighbors felt the horse could be trusted not to wander off…  He certainly paid no attention to me as I went by.  It’s still weird.  I live in suburbia, not farm country.  This horse was not far off from standing on a sidewalk in front of a house in some development.  I wouldn’t mind living in farm or horse country, but horses don’t exactly roam free out there, either.  Fences, people.