Escape Artist

Published on by Amanda C

Alternate titles for this post could include:

  • Penchant for Mischief
  • Can’t Fence Me In
  • How to Give Your Human a Heart Attack
  • Perhaps I Should Just Take Up Alcoholism
  • Momma’s Little Shit
  • Ain’t Got No Sense
  • WHY HORSE WHY

But they really all mean one thing: Presto is a devious little turd.

Don’t be fooled by the cuteness

I can check Presto’s stall cameras on my phone, and there for a while I was doing it pretty obsessively. I am more than a little traumatized from his first few weeks of life when he was literally on the brink of death while fighting chlostridium, so when he came home I kept a really close eye on him through the cameras. I even used to set an alarm on my phone at night so I could wake up and check on him and make sure he still looked ok. And really, he’s looked great. I’ve kinda learned his patterns now as far as when and how long he sleeps, when he’s more active, how often he nurses, etc.

Over the past week I’ve tried to wean myself off of checking him so frequently, and even stopped purposefully waking up in the middle of the night to check him (although if I wake up on my own, I always check him, because I’m paranoid AF). So on Monday afternoon, after I was done running my errands after work, I pulled up the camera and was very confused to see Presto in the wrong stall. Sadie was still on their side of the fence, but now Presto was in the stall and run with Lissa and Liam. Um. What.

where he is SUPPOSED to be, which is not where he actually WAS.

But Michelle was already in the process of moving him back, so I went back through the camera feed to figure out wtf happened. Turns out he wiggled under the fence. It looked fairly accidental, like he’d laid down with his head too close and ended up partway under, then just squirmed his way to the other side. Granted, that’s pretty impressive because the gap under the panels between their runs isn’t even 12″. Luckily Lissa didn’t try to kill him, although she did chase him into the stall and keep him pinned down in there, away from Liam. We figured that it was just a one off scenario, made plans for building up the ground under the panels, and didn’t think much more of it.

heh heh heh stupid humans

Monday night/Tuesday morning Stewie woke me up around 3am having another anxiety attack (he’s been much better since he started his medication but still has them every once in a while). I took him to the guest bedroom, laid with him for a while, and got him calmed down. After about 45 minutes I was finally able to pry him off my neck and rolled over to try to go back to sleep. Then I thought “ya know… I’m just gonna check Presto real quick”. Grab my phone, pull up the camera – he’s in Lissa’s stall. WHAT THE ACTUAL EFF. So I start panicking, because Lissa is really keeping him chased back into the stall fairly aggressively and at that point I had no idea how long he’d been over there (answer – since 2:30). I started calling Michelle, who of course had been up really late getting some non-horse stuff taken care of, so it took me a while to rouse her. When she answered I just said “Presto did it again”. She sprung out of bed, put some shoes on, and drove down to the barn to rescue him. AGAIN. For the second time in 12 hours.

Once, I believe that’s an accident. Twice, in such rapid succession… not so much. That little turd totally squirmed under the fence to go play with Liam. I guess in retrospect it’s not too surprising. The past couple days Presto has become increasingly bored, constantly looking for things to play with.

Point taken, baby horse, you want to go run around and play.  We hadn’t been quite ready to put them all out in the bigger pasture yet, but we’d also rather he stop trying to crawl under the panel between their stall runs. Ya know… lest he get stuck or stomped on by an angry mare. So yesterday afternoon he got his way (what else is new) and they all went out together in the big pasture for the first time and got to stay out all afternoon.

First 50 seconds are Presto and Sadie running around, the rest is Liam and Presto playing.

They played pretty much the entire time. Like to the point where they were both so tired they could barely stay upright anymore. But they seemed to have a really great time being colts. Liam is like twice as big as Presto, but Presto is much sneakier so they seem pretty fairly matched.

Meanwhile, this horse is aging me fast. Could you please just not, Presto?

35 thoughts on “Escape Artist”

  2. Houdini got nothing on this boy. I bet he’ll learn to untie knots and undo latches eventually. He will be the horse that opens gates and stall doors and leads the other horses on an adventure. You’ll be gray haired by 40.

    The video is so cute. “I bounce in your vicinity!” “Oh yeah, well, I strike in your general direction!”

    Too bad Rory has to miss out on the fun. Will they all three be together eventually, or not?

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  4. i could watch them play forever. i don’t know how you get any work done with access to a camera of him. he’s not even my baby and i’d have that ish on auto refresh.

    he’s gonna be fuuuuuuuun to start under saddle 😛

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    1. When he first came home I kept his camera up pretty much all the time. Now I just check it periodically, although if he starts doing something cute (like yesterday when he turned the big muck tub over and rolled it around) I tend to stop and watch lol.

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  5. I want to steal them both and let them out with Joey to play. 🙂 Colts everywhere! I hope mine doesn’t try to escape…Paige would have a heart attack and barrel through the fence to protect him.

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    1. He should catch up, it’ll probably just take a few months. His development basically got put on pause for 3 weeks while he was sick, so he’s gonna be behind for a little while. Granted, I don’t think Presto will ever be as stout as Liam – he’s a MONSTER. Like for real, he looks more like a 3-4 month old. Plus keep in mind that Presto is almost 75% thoroughbred so they will probably have a different phenotype, although I’d expect them to probably end up around the same height.

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  9. What a little stinker but gosh, he is the CUTEST!! It’s great that Presto and Liam can be playmates. I agree with Megan, not much else would be getting done if I had access to video of those kids. 🙂

    Do you think Presto will catch up to Liam eventually growth-wise? I don’t know how big Mighty Magic is so don’t know what you expected in height, but Sadie seems like a good-sized girl.

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    1. Presto’s parents are actually (combined) a bit taller than Liam’s… Mighty Magic is 16.2+ and Sadie is 17h. Liam’s sire is 16.3 and his dam is 16.2. However, Presto has a lot more TB blood in him and will likely be much less hefty and thick in the body. He will catch up to Liam, at least height-wise. 😉 Highly doubtful that he will ever be that thick, though! (at least I hope not, considering he’s supposed to be an eventer)

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  12. Presto is the kid that walks in the front door without knocking to play and ask for cookies because his house is boring.
    Also, totally wish I could ship Catalina off to play with other babies. She needs another way to burn off that baby energy.

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  13. “I’ve kinda learned his patterns now as far as when and how long he sleeps, when he’s more active, how often he nurses, etc.” sounds so much less stalker-esque when it’s about a baby horse. 😂

    Was missing his baby horse neighz for the first 23 seconds of that video, then “Aahhhh…!”

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  16. Surprised that P. and L. haven’t already discovered the pull-the-other-guy’s-halter-off game. Well, that will come. Hours of fun!

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    1. Sadie wasn’t super adventurous, but she has always been very smart. A little TOO smart, if you know what I mean. As a young horse, if I didn’t keep her brain interested, she was found evil ways to entertain herself.

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