When I was young, it was stray puppies and kittens, if we were lucky!

Here in rural Ontario, over the last almost-five years, we've now done our share of herding and capturing much bigger animals. Let's see, on the way to church one Sunday morning a couple of years ago there were three horses loose on Fry Road. Our pastor was expected to come by within a few minutes, so Kevin waited for him while the kids and I caught horses, (me in a skirt and heels!), located owners, then made our way to church.

Then last year, we were on our way to Belleville, and something (Someone :-) ..) directed us to go visited some friends. We arrived just as three of their horses escaped, and plans for Belleville were scrapped as we spent almost six hours chasing them through back-country. This was a tricky situation as the horses were from Manitoba, not yet tamed, and used to wide open spaces.

Stray cows? All the time. Mostly my next door neighbours. I've had none of his cows on our lawn this year so apparently he has fixed some fences. One cow that we tried to catch about three years ago turned out to be feral; she'd been loose for over a year, happily munching on farmer's fields and scrounging in the bush in the winter. She is a local legend.

Last night I was just preparing supper when three horses raced by our front window along Bethesda Road. They belong to a neighbour from the other direction, an Arabian, a registered Standardbred and an old blind grade mare. We grabbed lead ropes (don't leave home without 'em!), a bucket of oats and ran to attempt to catch them. They weren't willing at first; the wind in their ears and the scent of the alfalfa field across the road were too much for them. Eventually, though Alison was able to grab hold of the head horse's halter (very helpful if you know this information) and we walked them all home ... to a deserted farm. No owners in sight. So we put them back in the field, then walked the fence and found out where the fence was down. Did a quick fix, then trekked home for dinner which Kevin thankfully had prepared in my absence. He's much more willing to cook than chases horses, although has done so in the past!

Horses are big animals, and drivers don't recognize just how much damage will occur if they hit one. Several weeks ago a county dad was killed when he hit a horse on Jericho Road. Very, very sad. But livestock does get out, and I'm just paying it forward for those who helped us when animals escaped from Oxer Stables when I was growing up. This is what neighbours do.