Runaway Horse

When you live in the country you get used to smells, noise/quietness, and sights that people living in cities or suburbs find very unsettling. I know a young man who found sleeping in the country difficult because he grew up with the sounds and lights of a big city and for him the darkness and quietness of the hillside was different and almost frightening.

We live among the Amish and we love our Amish neighbors. We are accustomed to hearing the clip-clopping of horses and mules going past on our road as they pull a buggy or piece of farm equipment behind them. However, it is a bit unusual to see a mule running up the road with no driver behind him and when I witnessed that on Wednesday I knew someone was having a bad day.

Awstin and I were out on the front porch enjoying the shade and cool breeze that flowed through it on a hot day. He was happily riding tricycle, and playing with his little Thomas engine that he loves to bury in the stones and then dig out again. I heard a strange racket and looked up to see a mule running on the road past our house and behind him he was pulling the metal harness that the farmer had ready to hook him up with. It was dragging on the road and making an awful scrapping noise. I realized he must have gotten away from his owner and was apparently enjoying his freedom as he trotted along. I ran into the house for my phone and managed to snap the above picture but after the mule was out of sight I figured we wouldn't see it again and Awstin and I went back to what we were doing. I didn't think there was anything that I could do to stop a runaway mule but I hoped that someone would assist the owner in catching him.

Before long, a young Amishman came running and panting up the road after his mule. Shawn was in the shop and saw the distress that Joe was in and so hopped into his pickup and after picking up Joe he drove after the mule to head him off. At the top of the hill, Shawn managed to get in front of him and then proceeded to encourage him to come back down the hill toward our house. As the mule neared our house Shawn quickly drove in front of him and directed him into our driveway and onto the grass between our house and Megan and Jeremy's. The confused mule paused to catch his bearings and Joe was able to hop out of the pickup and grab his harness. Unfortunately, everything happened so quickly that Awstin and I could only watch wide-eyed and I didn't get any picture or video of the chase. Here is a picture after Joe caught the mule.

After snagging the runaway, Joe wasn't quite sure what to do with him. He lives just over the hill from our place but he didn't think he wanted to try to lead him home because he told Shawn that he is a "difficult" mule. The front of the pickup has a large bar type thing on it that Shawn and Josh use to tow the pickup behind their manure trucks when they are going to a big job and will need the pickup for transportation home. They tied the mule to that as they pondered their options.

Finally, Joe wondered if they could keep the mule tied to the pickup and if Shawn could drive the pickup and gently guide the mule home. The only problem was that it would require the pickup to be in reverse the entire way because the mule was tied to the front of it. Undeterred, Shawn agreed and proceeded to back the pickup the whole way from our place to Joe's place with the mule willingly trotting along. I took a few videos. They are a little far away but it was the best I could do.

You just never know what you might witness on any given day in our neck of the woods. While the above story and pictures may seem a bit unusual to most people it just made an ordinary day for us a little less ordinary and it shows the willingness that we have to aid our neighbors when they need a helping hand, or in this case, a helping pickup truck.