Victor (Mignon Velvet) could quite possibly win competitions for his ability to escape. And he's only two years old at the moment.
He was not there.
And the door was open.
I'd only put the top bolt on, as I was in the stable with him, and Victor must have lent over the bottom part of the stable door, and undid the bolt with his teeth. Yes, he is clever.
Upon finding him no longer there, I rushed to the stable door and, at the end of the barn, I could see him. Well, I could see his retreating white tail as he disappeared out of the barn, into the farm yard. Yes, I'd left the barn door open.
And, at that point, I threw the shovel down quickly, narrowly avoided crashing into the wheel-barrow, and ran and ran and ran.
Now, out in the yard, Victor would have two options. He could go left, and go for the immediate grass. Or he could go right, run down through the yard, down the track and back to his field where his best friend, Gradbach (our 25 year old stallion) has been calling for him for days.
As I ran out after him, Victor suddenly stopped. And that was because, in the tyre ruts from the tractor, water had collected. And he'd have to jump over the long puddle. And Victor does not like water. So, due to his hesitation, I was able to reach him, grab hold of him and turn him round before he knew what was happening.
Unfortunately, he wasn't wearing a headcollar, so I found it a little difficult to lead him back into the barn, but I managed it, with a lot of coaxing. And, as soon as we were back in the barn, I shut the door.
I then proceeded to clean out the rest of the stable, whilst Victor was wondering up and down the barn rather excitedly. And, then, when his stable was all ready for him, I went over to him and told him, "bed time, Victor." And, low and behold, he trotted down the barn and straight into his stable! I then put both the bolts on his door on rather quickly!
Via twitter, I told a few of my friends what had happened, and one tweeted me this, which I just had to show you! (Thanks, Carrie, for permission to post it!)
"Victor the vanishing pony dressed up very classy... The Lex Luther of the animal world! Stables won't stand in his way!" - Carrie
Now, Victor has always been a bit of an escape artist; when he was being weaned as a foal, he managed to either crawl under the gate, or jump over the fence, in order to get back into the field with his mother, Hermits Velvet Rose (Rosie).
Currently, Victor stands at 32 and a half inches, and is a lovely skewbald colour.
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