One Lucky Pup -- Two Dumb Horses

A couple of nights ago, there was a knock at the door. A man and a woman with a dog stood there and asked "do you guys have a lab?" The second he asked, I knew something bad had happened. We live on a somewhat busy street in Providence, and many pup's have been known to get hit by cars.

"I'm really sorry, but I think I hit your dog." Immediately, Brielle burst into tears and my stomach started to ache. I thought to myself, this is not possible! How did she escape the yard?

I'll start by saying that Izzy is one lucky little pup. She was hit by a Land Rover, but did not go under a wheel. The man who hit her knew he had hit her, but never felt a "bump." The woman with him saw it happen, then saw Izzy take off for our pasture. I suspect Izzy crossed the road trying to get to her dog.

She's a friendly pup, our Izzle-Frizzle is.

We found Izzy in the back yard, running around and extremely hyper (from the shock of all, I suppose). The next day, we found her limping and sore, with a few minor scrapes. An x-ray at the vet confirmed that there were no broken bones and no internal injuries. Thank heavens.

It would be hard to imagine our family without Izzy. From the day Chris and I picked her out, we knew she was meant for us. We love this little pup and she seems to love us back. Oh my... I get sick to my stomach just thinking about it again!

This leads me to the two responsible for this whole ordeal (and the vet bill). The equines.

The night Izzy was hit, we took some flashlights outside and walked around the backyard. We had no idea how Izzy had gotten out. Towards the back corner of the property, some pieces of the fence were missing. In the morning, we found this...

The technical term would be "cribbing." Cribbing is a complusive behavior found in horses. It's an undesireable habit, but simply put... horses do it when bored. Not only had they chewed up the posts seen above, they pulled pieces of fence right off, leaving a hole big enough for a pup to escape.

Since this "incident" the horses lost another 20 sq. ft. of pasture. I'll miss watching them come up to the fence in the morning when I go out to feed them, but I certainly do not want another accident.