Just a Good Dog Story with Horses

My intuition tells me that Bruce Baby killed a cat.  I believe that is why he ended up in a shelter. When I adopted him at almost 7 years of age, there were a lot of other assumptions.  This boy, who came with his name, must have been tied to a rope via harness most of his life.  Not only did he have a bald spot and scabs where a harness would be but he lunges at everything that moves.  Bikes, hikers, other dogs, walkers, cars, runners, you name it, he comes unglued.

My other two dogs get to hike with me on the trails around town but when I take Bruce, we need to go to the middle of nowhere.

It was a beautiful spring day, spring break no less, and I loaded him into my truck and off we went.  40 minutes later we are on an old abandoned forest service road, he is off leash and I am feeling a welling up in my heart as this is what true happiness feels like.  Wondering how to bottle this feeling and take regular doses during work days.  We are about 1/2 a mile in when I see a horse.  I call Bruce over, leash him and am aware as anyone with a bad dog would be.  I even stop to take a picture of this lone horse offset by a snowy mountain.  Then we see more horses, and then some more.  At this point there are 7 horses and we quietly turn back as there is no point in getting closer, he is just going to freak out.

Then I hear it.  The earth starts to rumble...ok, maybe I am exaggerating, but it was loud.  A stampede.  There was a barbed wire fence on the other side of the old road and trying to get me, my back pack and a bad dog on a leash under a barbed wire fence in time is no easy task.  We made it in time not to be trampled by horses that in reality stopped short of us.  Now I count 28, no wait, 41, really, more?  By the time I am done counting I count 62 horses on the other side of the fence on the hill looking down at us.  The problem is is that Bruce Baby is flipping out and we are caught in brambles.  We have to navigate through them which is far from fun.

What is worse is that these horses are following us, every flipping last one!  We were being attacked by friendly horses.  So Bruce lunges through the barbed wire, comes back all bloody.  I am not sure what he cut as blood is everywhere.  A bloody possessed dog, horses that won't go away, and brambles that are tearing me apart, I thought we weren't ever going to get out of there! Tipi Hedren, you have nothing on us...sure, birds can fly but these are big ass horses that won't let us be.

And after 20 minutes of terror (even from the other side of the fence, that many in your face horses are unnerving), they stampeded back to where they came from and we were free.  We crawled back under the fence both of us looking quite haggard and made it to the truck. Bruce had a gash on his nose and a cut on his ear but not nearly as bad as it looked during "the panic".  It was the longest mile of my life yet looking back on it I chuckle.  Curious horses, probably looking for a treat.  Nothing like hindsight to put things in perspective but at the time I had no idea what I was going to do.  

That is the great thing about the wilderness, you always come out with a great story.