When You Have Two Horses, One Halter And A Two Lane Road

My Sunday started out at a later hour than normal. Little did I know that it would take even longer to get to the barn. The barn is about 45 minutes away from my house using a few back roads. Since I drive about 3 hours a day during my work week, I always have an audible book in the car to pass the time.
So about 15 minutes away from the barn on a two lane road, I was surprised to see two horses coming down the road towards me. This is a fairly busy road with a speed limit of 45, which means people travel up to 60. I have heard stories of horses being hit by cars on Virginia roads and did not want to see it today. Fortunately, my habit of tossing things in my car and not moving them to the house came in handy. I actually had a halter, though it was a bit green. I jumped out and went to the back of my car to get it. The horses were startled by cars passing and changed directions before I could walk up to them. I hopped back into the car and followed them. Soon they stopped again and I approached them. I could see one was a chestnut mare and the other was a paint gelding. I headed for the mare since she was the one leading the way. With only one halter, I wanted to use it wisely. The mare was great, letting me halter her easily. Then I had to find a lead line and grab my phone. Again my car yielded help in the form of a harness piece with a clip.
By this point a man stopped an offered to move my car out of the road. My dogs were in the car so I had him hold the mare while I moved my car. At least now I did not have to worry about them being hit by a distracted driver. Another couple drove down the long driveway we were by to ask the people if they knew where the horses were from. I hooked a dog leash on the mare so I would have a long lead and said bye to the helpfull man. Then I called Peggy who said she would come.

The two wanderers

The couple returned with news that the horses probably came from the house right across the road. Unfortunately, no one was home and there was a German Shepherd in the back yard. Yeah not going to play with an unknown dog. So me and the horses waited in the super sunny field. Peggy arrived and called the county animal control. The wait continued because this is a big county so the officier was not close by. Did I mention it was sunny? We put a call in to Larry to come get the dogs out of the heat. As we waited we watched the cars go by, thinking someone must know these horses. Our wait was rewarded about and hour after I caught the mare when a car slowed to let a girl jump out.
I asked her if the horses were her's and she said yes. She took the mare, Gypsy and said the paint, Ace, would follow. Well we decided to lead him since we had to go across the road. She said he was stubborn so good luck. I nearly laughed and said no surprise since he was a paint. I have not met one yet that is not the definition of stubborn.
This was the horses' first escape after 13 years possibly due to being turned out in a new field. The animal control officier took their name and contact info just in case it happens again.

We were all glad it ended well and fairly quickly. It could have been a really long day. My horses were not so happy with the delay and my excuse did not go over well. Ah, well at least Gypsy and Ace are where they belong.