Tanka In Trouble!

Here was my post bright and early yesterday morning:

"Started my morning off with a heart-pounding, scary situation with Tanka (our registered Percheron yearling stud)! 😬 The good news is tragedy was avoided. 🙌🏼🙏🏼Thank goodness for his good mind and quiet demeanor (just like his daddy Mack). I'll be telling the tale of what happened on my blog soon so stay tuned!"

So, what happened? Well.........

Shane had just left to head over to my parent's set of corrals to do some work. I looked out the window as he left and Tanka's front feet were sticking underneath the yellow gate to his pen. I was instantly fixated on his legs being under the gate. He was sort of bobbing a foot every once in awhile. I thought he must be napping. Then he bobbed a bit more and I grew concerned. What if he was down in his pen....stuck under something. My mind was flashing things and they weren't good. So, I put on my slip-on shoes and quietly went out on the deck around the end of our house. I made a little noise and walked towards the end of our deck in his direction. About that time his head also went under the gate (I hadn't been able to see it until now as it was blocked from my vision by the windbreak). With his head under the gate, I sort of sucked my breath in. Sure enough he bumped up a bit and the gate came off the hinges. OH!!!!! Now the gate's weight was on him and chained to the other post where you open it. He sort of struggled to get up and bounced the gate off his head. He stood up, snorted a bit, and trotted out of his pen. By this time I had made it off the deck and was closer to him. The chickens were scurrying around at his feet. He was blowing out of his nose. All I could think to do is walk quietly towards him, but not directly at him. I used a low, calm, even voice saying his name and saying he was okay. He trotted around in a circle by the chicken house, but didn't run off scared. He turned and looked at me. I went over and grabbed the lose end of the gate and swung it inward. He was looking at me. I decided to go over to his feed pan. I grabbed it and dumped it upside down as if I was going to put something in it. I slightly looked over my shoulder and there he was...coming into his pen. Luckily he was hungry and wanting his morning groceries. Whew!!! I slowly walked around him and closed the gate behind me. I didn't have anything to tie it with so I ran as fast as I could into the house. Stone was fast asleep, but I got him up urgently. He threw on pants and a coat. He grabbed some grain for Tanka and Mack and I directly went back out to the gate as one end was completely free. If Tanka would have leaned on it it would have flipped over. Stone got there with the feed. He went in and fed Tanka. He came back out and watched the gate while I fed Mack. Once we were finished feeding them we went to work on the gate. I unchained the one end. We lifted it up and got it back into position after several tries. I chained up the other end and we were done. The horses were happy to eat their groceries and if you were to walk up just then you would have never known what had just happened. All was calm in their world!

This is one of the many reasons why I love Mack. His demeanor is amazing. I'd call him a "cool cat" and that would truly describe him. He doesn't get ruffled. The fact that he's a stud makes that even that much more amazing! He is level-headed, kind, and calm/cool...always! His manners are impeccable. The fact that Tanka just went through what he did and handled it just like Mack would have....well, that truly makes me that much more exciting to see how Mack's babies turn out. I know half if the mare, but if enough prayers are said and head I expect them to be just like their dad!! :)

This is our little man, Tanka. Isn't he a little cutie (although he isn't that little and he's only a yearling)?! I have a lot of hope and plans for this guy...that's for sure!!