Fortunately today’s nonsense didn’t require an emergency vet, or even much property damage.
Neo got his horn stuck in the welded wire of the stall door and had to be maneuvered free. Lady’s whole bloodline has a curse of getting stuck in things, but it hadn’t struck in a while and I forgot about it. Fortunately if someone’s going to be stuck Neo is the best possible option, he doesn’t panic and thrash around and hurt himself.
Everyone else was panicking on his behalf however, and sprinted out of the barn as soon as I opened the door (with its temporarily attached Neo) in case the barn decided to attack anyone else. Nova was so caught up in things she even forgot her breakfast, and I had to take the tray out and rattle it before she remembered and came back.
“How could I have forgotten my breakfast??”
We’ve opened all the gates to the yard since the grass is at its peak, which causes some confusion when they can’t decide which gates to go through in the morning.
“What’s the holdup up front?”
The Shetlands (with Liam and Bran since Bran’s stitches are out) were hanging back, still suspicious of me what with Bran’s mishap and all the shearing that’s been going on. The Soays were all lined up to come through the gate towards me, but Angel was standing in the gap and no one wanted to risk passing her. And people say sheep aren’t smart!
“Finally, traffic is moving again!”
The Soays ended up circling around the long way to reach the yard through the middle gate, while the Shetlands split off and took the direct route through the upper gate. Sometimes the upper gate is really scary, for no reason I’ve ever been able to figure out.
“This gate is super scary, but it’s a shorter walk…”
And eventually by different roads we all arrive in the same place, although the Soays and Shetlands do still tend to drift in different directions while grazing.
“So much grass!”
It’s been raining a lot today, so hopefully that will be enough to keep them under cover and out of trouble!