{"id":7231,"date":"2012-10-24T04:00:28","date_gmt":"2012-10-24T10:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/?p=7231"},"modified":"2012-10-23T17:14:17","modified_gmt":"2012-10-23T23:14:17","slug":"the-herding-beagle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/2012\/10\/24\/the-herding-beagle\/","title":{"rendered":"The Herding Beagle"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Doranna<\/em><\/p>\n

ConneryBeagle has a Twitter feed<\/strong> (Because of course he does.\u00a0 That boy has been online since the day he came home with me).\u00a0\u00a0 He doesn’t tweet religiously, since I rarely give up the keyboard, but he likes to talk about his adventures.<\/p>\n

Over the weekend he did that, after an adventure with the horse.\u00a0<\/strong> And because there were questions…here’s the rest of the story!<\/p>\n

DuncanHorse has a paddock inside our fenced pasture area.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"paddock<\/a>

Looking up at the paddock gate from inside the pasture<\/p><\/div>\n

Unfortunately, of the three summers we’ve been here,<\/strong> he’s only been allowed out on the pasture for the first summer–that’s the drought in action.\u00a0 I’ve got to protect what is, in fact, a terribly fragile soil\/flora\/fauna area.\u00a0 (Things die; they don’t come back.\u00a0 The land erodes in a heartbeat, which is how those deep arroyos ended up in the back yard to begin with!)<\/p>\n

When I care for Duncan, I often go from the office to the back yard to the pasture to the paddock.<\/strong>\u00a0 (Wee gate between yard and pasture, visible above; horse gate between pasture and paddock.)\u00a0 If you watched Monday’s video, I’m standing at the yard gate when it starts, and at the horse gate when it ends.\u00a0 It’s a lot more straightforward than it sounds.<\/p>\n

Well, the horse gate is a pain in the ass.<\/strong><\/p>\n

No, really!\u00a0 It is!<\/strong><\/p>\n

It has this horrible sticky bolt latch that has to fit into a rather small hole,<\/strong> and it does this with a big clang and clatter–and aside from the annoyance this is never, ever good for someone who fights migraines on a daily basis.<\/p>\n

\"latched\"<\/a>

Horrible sticky gate latch in proper position. Cannot believe I paid money for this one!<\/p><\/div>\n

So generally I don’t latch it.<\/strong>\u00a0 The gate is on a slope, and it’s heavy–really heavy, I can assure you, as it took 3-4 people to move that panel–and it stays closed by itself.<\/p>\n

\"leaning<\/a>

A view from inside the paddock (well, through the corral panels, which is a bit tricky. And the lighting sucks. But darnit, you can see the latch!)<\/p><\/div>\n

Except…<\/strong><\/p>\n

There’s those 3-4 times a year when the wind catches me by surprise and blows that gate open.<\/strong>\u00a0 Uphill.\u00a0 Have I mentioned that the wind gets pretty fierce around here?<\/p>\n

Then, if I’m not quick enough, Duncan has some pasture time.\u00a0<\/strong> It’s not a huge issue except that unless I grab him close to the escape point, I have to clamber around Arroyo Minor to get him, and this is never good in the middle of the night, which is usually when this happens.\u00a0 Also, it makes me wince for the land.<\/p>\n

One of the reasons it rarely happens is that the wind usually bangs the gate a couple of times as the gusts build,<\/strong> and I hear this and trot out and latch it for real.\u00a0 Also, the gate really doesn’t move that easily.\u00a0 I go through it several times a day and I open it from horseback, and I can attest to this in spades.<\/p>\n

Well, guess what.<\/strong>\u00a0 The gate was also intensely squealy.<\/p>\n

SO I LUBRICATED IT.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Suddenly the opportunity for escape<\/strong> seems to have increased considerably.<\/p>\n

So on Sunday I laid tracks for the dogs,<\/strong> and Connery’s track wound through Arroyo Minor, starting near the big pasture-road gate on the north flat.\u00a0 When I do this, I leave that gate open from the time I lay the track to the time Connery runs it.<\/p>\n

So you see this coming, right?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Halfway through the track-aging process,<\/strong> I heard a\u00a0 gentle “snortsnortsnort!”<\/p>\n

DuncanHorse:<\/strong> I am out in the pasture and I like it!<\/p>\n

My choices?<\/strong><\/p>\n

1)<\/strong> Run out to chase him down and wreck the half-aged training track.
\n2)<\/strong> Leave him out there to interfere with the track in his horsie way, and whip out the other side of the house at warp speed to close the open gate.<\/em><\/p>\n

I chose option #2<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

So Duncan moseyed around the pasture, tromping hither and yon,<\/strong> and then hung around the start of the track.\u00a0 We pretended he wasn’t there and ran the track through Arroyo Minor, after which I removed Connery’s harness so he could do his own moseying while I convinced Duncan to return to Home Base.<\/p>\n

Duncan knew where he was going and didn’t really want to go there.\u00a0<\/strong> Connery knew where Duncan was going, too.\u00a0 So he put on his herding dog clothes and escorted Duncan there.\u00a0 Not applying pressure as a herding dog would, but being present.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em>All business-like, trot trot trot, gently holding the outside of the curve.\u00a0 And oh, his upright Beagle tail waved happily and his panting had a big grin in it.<\/p>\n

ConneryBeagle:<\/strong> I was IMPORTANT.<\/p>\n

Yes, Connery.\u00a0 Yes you were.<\/strong><\/p>\n

And that was ConneryBeagle’s big Sunday adventure–<\/strong>tracking around the horse, and then being very important as he helped return the horse to his paddock.\u00a0 Not much in the grand scheme of things, but it does so make me smile to see him that happy.<\/p>\n

By the way, this is what the gate looks like now…<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"bells\"<\/a>

With Bells On!<\/p><\/div>\n

(Have you closed all your gates?\u00a0 Latched all your doors?\u00a0 Turned off your iron…?\u00a0 Mwah ha ha!!)<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Doranna ConneryBeagle has a Twitter feed (Because of course he does.\u00a0 That boy has been online since the day he came home with me).\u00a0\u00a0 He doesn’t tweet religiously, since I rarely give up the keyboard, but he likes to … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,70,74],"tags":[154,39,54],"class_list":["post-7231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-connery","category-duncanhorse","category-land-keeping","tag-connery","tag-duncan","tag-land"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pb2lc3-1SD","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1555,"url":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/2010\/06\/21\/the-call-of-the-wannit\/","url_meta":{"origin":7231,"position":0},"title":"The Call of the Wannit","author":"Doranna","date":"1006.21","format":false,"excerpt":"...Monday Or, in Duncan's case, the call of the modest fenced pasture. He. Wants. It. Duncan loves his pasture. Doesn't matter how scarce those grass blades or how studded with prickly pear. He has a south flat shared with agility equipment and junipers and one gorgeous pi\u00f1on, a north flat\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "DuncanHorse"","block_context":{"text":"DuncanHorse","link":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/category\/duncanhorse\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/1005.14flirt.head_.24.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5255,"url":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/2011\/11\/14\/litterbox-love\/","url_meta":{"origin":7231,"position":1},"title":"Litterbox Love","author":"Doranna","date":"1111.14","format":false,"excerpt":"DuncanHorse is not going to appreciate this blog. Duncan: Litterbox!\u00a0 I heard that! When I moved here, I had a mighty geology\/climate lesson.\u00a0 Because when I lived in Flagstaff at 7,ooo feet, I was on caliche ground and natural volcanic cinder.\u00a0 We got a ton of snow (many feets of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "DuncanHorse"","block_context":{"text":"DuncanHorse","link":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/category\/duncanhorse\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/1002.17dashing.TN_.29.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5519,"url":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/2011\/12\/26\/beagles-horse-snow-and-tracking-the-happies\/","url_meta":{"origin":7231,"position":2},"title":"Beagles, Horse, Snow, and Tracking…the Happies","author":"Doranna","date":"1112.26","format":false,"excerpt":"It's 10am Christmas morning, which is a whole lot later than this day started.\u00a0 Not because I have eager kids in the house, but because today was my chance to run a certification track with Dart Beagle. In order to enter the TD (tracking) test, a dog must prove he's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Belle"","block_context":{"text":"Belle","link":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/category\/belle\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Before the Storm","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/1112.prestorm.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2660,"url":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/2010\/10\/18\/all-hail-everything\/","url_meta":{"origin":7231,"position":3},"title":"All Hail…EVERYTHING!","author":"Doranna","date":"1010.18","format":false,"excerpt":"If you're on my FaceBook or Twitter feeds, you watched this one unfold.\u00a0 The evening clouds\u00a0 coming in over the mountains weren't a surprise--we knew about the rain. When the hail started, that wasn't a surprise, either. Biggie marble-size hail is common enough around here.\u00a0 It squalls through in pretty\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "DuncanHorse"","block_context":{"text":"DuncanHorse","link":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/category\/duncanhorse\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Scrub Oak, scrubbed","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/101017.hail2oak.20.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":748,"url":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/2010\/03\/03\/and-your-little-hatchet-too\/","url_meta":{"origin":7231,"position":4},"title":"And Your Little Hatchet, too!","author":"Doranna","date":"1003.03","format":false,"excerpt":"posted on Wednesday Yup. Got me my cactus fork. Got me my little hatchet. And today, the juniper nursery and I gave each other a nervous hairy eyeball and faced off. I\u00a0like my little hatchet. \u00a0Buh-bye, little trees! Of course, I feel guilty. \u00a0I always feel guilty, cutting trees. \u00a0But\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Arroyo"","block_context":{"text":"The Arroyo","link":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/category\/the-arroyo\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"juniper nursery","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/1002.27cactus.SMM_.6.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6161,"url":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/2012\/04\/09\/duncanhorse-exterior-decoratorating-specialist\/","url_meta":{"origin":7231,"position":5},"title":"DuncanHorse: Exterior Decoratorating Specialist","author":"Doranna","date":"1204.09","format":false,"excerpt":"Ahhh, spring. Lots of horse hair. The paddock glacier has melted. And DuncanHorse is pleased. When DuncanHorse is pleased, there's just no telling what will happen. One day, for instance...I might head for the barn to discover he's been quite busy--and creative--indeed. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0","rel":"","context":"In "DuncanHorse"","block_context":{"text":"DuncanHorse","link":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/category\/duncanhorse\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"stacked water troughs","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/0401rally.duncan124.SM_.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7231"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7231\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7273,"href":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7231\/revisions\/7273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}