HORSES FOUND!!

HORSES FOUND ~ the continued Saga….

Okay, so I have Libby in tow, big mastiff following along like a good boy, and when I reach the car it occurs to me….. I have to lead this horse home out the window…not a big deal, Libby and I have done that before.  However, it is the Driver side back door that is frozen into the stay open for life mode.  This means that Libby will be smacked in the side with said door the entire trip home.  BIG SIGH….

Of course she will, naturally, because nothing can be easy at midnight in a sleet storm.  I get the dog in the car, I get the now frozen lead rope out the window (imagine those invisible dogs at the fair )  and Libby…Okay, we are now good to go.  The other two horses follow their fearless leader quite placidly…blinking and ducking their heads against the sleet.   Again, I feel a pang of guilt. 

I start the car and we drive very slowly out of the neighbors driveway, so far so good.  The door seems to be quiet.  At the end of the neighbors driveway…thump, thump the door hits Libby in the soft flank, she pauses and raises her head.  The other two pause and prick their ears squinting forward towards their leader.  I praise Libby and start rolling again, very slowly.  Libby snorts her disdain and we roll on.  Thump, thump , thump goes the door against her, her ears go back but she continues steadfastly onward.

Ahead, in the distance…. I see a single light bobbing along the road.  As if someone is jogging with a flashlight.  “Oh, now the neighbor comes to help”  I think to myself in a grumpy manner.  I quickly chastised myself for being ungrateful, “At least he came.”  

PHOTO CREDIT:  http://strangesounds.org/2013/06/mysterious-glowing-lights-the-paulding-light-or-the-dog-meadow-light-in-upper-michigan.html

Libby the ever-calm-mannered, stops suddenly and snorts.  The Mastiff in back is growling low in his throat.  I am suddenly stricken with panic….”Oh my gosh!  The door doesn't close!  What if the dog jumps out and attacks the helpful neighbor!”  I am suddenly wishing he hadn’t come to help.  Then…the light ahead begins behaving erratically, bobbing very high and very low and then going side to side.  “Is my neighbor drunk?”  As I watch I realize two things…this “flashlight” I am seeing does not cast a beam like my headlights do.  I should see the sleet falling infront of it, like I would with any light.  Secondly, a man carrying a flash light does not go that high and that low in that manner.  (Even drunken)  The other two horses have taken off and are slipping and sliding and running away and poor ol’ Libby is prancing next to my now parked car and looking about frantically, eyes wide with fear and nostrils flared.  But still, she holds her post, she does not leave my side, and does not pull on the rope.  Meanwhile Mastiff has all his hair standing on end and has his big head right next to mine, tail stiff behind him, legs stiff and that low menacing growl.  I get a sudden, bone chilling, fill my eyes with tears, deep seated fear feeling just wash through my body as I watch the “not flashlight” come ever closer to us.  I hear the other horses crashing threw the frozen fields, sometimes calling to Libby who does not respond other than a very loud snort, blowing clouds of breath from her nose like a wild dragon. 

“Alright” I tell myself, if this is the way I am meant to leave this earth then so be it.  “I shall be taken from this dark, cold, lonely stretch of road in an ice-storm with no one to watch my dogs and horses by a darn spirit light!”   As the final thought went through my mind, it occurred to me that I just need to pray.  Just pray.  Pray I did, calmly and with sincere meaning.  I prayed that God would be with myself and my animals on this lonely dark road and that whatever that was getting ever closer levitating in it’s maniacal way would just feel the Presence of the Lord Jesus in our midst and be on about it’s business. 

Though I did still have the chills rippling through me I knew I was fine….the other two horses found their way back to the car and flung their heads in agitation, frozen manes slapping them on the neck with a loud crack, crack as they did so.   The spirit light, as I had come to know it took a sudden quick turn to the left into the field on my right (I couldn’t help but note this) and winked out.   

Ah, I sighed, “See what a little Prayer can do?” I asked the dog and horses.  The dog settled back down on his haunches, big mastiff head still upfront with me.  I patted him kindly, and praised Libby for her bravery and on we rolled.  Yes, I did get a bit of that prickly sensation as we passed the spot in the field that the light had disappeared, but I paid attention the animals and though they were more alert now, they did not start at the spot or run away again.  

We did make it home in one piece after all.   In the telling of the story I remember this as if it happened yesterday with such clarity that I again felt the chills and the fear and tears sprung to my eyes.  I also remembered my Prayer and how it comforted me, and the animals as well.

TO Be CONTINUED….. (oh yes there is more) 

photo credit:www.fanpop.com