Home Current News News Archive Shop/Advertise Ridecamp Classified Events Learn/AERC
Endurance.Net Home Ridecamp Archives
ridecamp@endurance.net
[Archives Index]   [Date Index]   [Thread Index]   [Author Index]   [Subject Index]

[RC] RATS!!! - Nancy Reed

Last week we had 2 inches of rain in 24 hours.  This is an incredible amount of water for southern California.  I live on the side of Paint Mountain and my stable area is below the house and has a series of native stone retaining walls.  Of all the stalls, Lyric’s was the driest until last week and the 2 inches in 24 hour storm.  The mountain just could not hold anymore water and the joints between the rocks started leaking water.  

These turned into little rivulets and small streams flooding Lyric’s stall.  By 7am we found her standing in almost a foot of water.  Luckily a varmint had made a hole under a rock that allowed us to drain the stall without having to rent a jackhammer to dig a trench. So, happily the whole family went to work digging small trenches to channel the water into the hole and drain the stall.  Lyric found a small hoof deep patch and went to work on her hay as the rain continued to come down and we worked around her.

After about 5 minutes the varmint/drainage whole stopped and daughter Danielle stuck her hand in the hole.  I had no idea she had done this until she started to shriek and jumped about 3 feet into the air.  My first instinct is to try to become one with the stall wall as I know Lyric will become unglued at Danielle’s shrieking.

 Danielle was yelling because a rat the size of a small cat was crawling up her arm.  And boy was he wet and scared.  The almost drowned rat goes flying up in the air, lands near hubby Jerry’s leg and starts climbing up his pants.  Jerry now is screaming along with Danielle.  I’m as flat as I can get on the stall wall with my foot in a cast with a plastic bag cover.  I am now praying that Lyric has forgotten she is a hot blooded purebred Arabian.  I know we are all going to get hurt when this horse explodes.

But Lyric looked at the rat, and kept eating.  She didn’t even bat an eyelash!  She looked at me as if to say, “Seen him before, what the big deal?”

My daughter learned several things that morning.  First was not to put her hand in holes and secondly Lyric is a whole lot smarter then we realize.  We all found the humor in the rat that made a miserable job totally funny and exciting.

Nancy Reed (now in bed with the flu), Lazy J Ranch, Elfin Forest, CA (were someday I can trail ride again)

PS  I have metal trash cans with lids and bungee cords.