Recently, I boarded my horse at an interesting barn in Overgaard. My horse enjoyed his stay, I’m happy to say. But what made it particularly interesting was the presence of a full-grown bull across the aisle. Unfortunately, the bull had damaged his usual stall and now resides in a horse stall. Fortunately, my horse didn’t care that a massive bull was across the hall. It’s a good thing, nothing worse than a spooky horse. The bull, I called him Bully, was a black Angus mix. He was huge. And he made our stay quite an adventurous one.
Meet Bully!
Bully was very friendly and liked having his head scratched. People had to be careful because he didn’t know his strength, and your hand could get squished between his horns and the stall bars. Every morning, I would talk to Bully when I came to feed the horses and muck the stalls. He would listen intently. I think he was lonely and enjoyed my attention.
Bully is such a good-looking bull. None of the local ranches wanted him because he was a mixed breed. They preferred the bulls to be full-blooded black Angus. As a younger bull, he was part of a petting zoo and was great with kids. But he is too big now and is looking for a new job. In the meantime, he hangs out in the horse barn, keeping the visiting horses company. He also made my visit rather enjoyable.
On day 2, when I arrived back at the barn and was putting my horse back in his stall, I saw something that took me a moment to process mentally. Instead of being behind the stall bars, Bully was halfway into the hallway. Wow, wait, what?! The bull was loose! I yelled, “The bull is out!” to my companion, who didn’t understand why I commented that the bull was outside his stall. I had already jumped into action when she finally realized I was saying the bull was loose. Before I had horses, I doubt I would have charged at the bull, telling him to return to the stall. But I did, and he did. It helped that the stall he escaped through was used to store the hay bales. He willingly stepped back in and started to have a snack.
My friend quickly called the owner to tell her about the bull’s escape, and she arrived in record time. She got him back into his original stall and secured him. I felt badly that I had denied Bully a bit of freedom and a hay buffet.
More Bully Adventures
The next day, we were met with more adventures with Bully. My horse drinks a lot of water. Each stall had an automatic water trough, but I knew it wouldn’t provide water for him fast enough.
Each morning, I would fill a big tub for him. I always double-checked that I had turned the hose off, but I excel at self-doubt. My immediate thought upon arriving at the barn as we were packing up to head home was that I had flooded the barn by not turning off the hose.
However, as I followed the water flow, it became apparent that it was coming from Bully’s stall. He had knocked the water trough off the wall, and now the water was flowing uncontrolled. The only way to turn off the water was at the main valve. I dug the cover out of the floor, felt through the filthy water for the valve, and turned it off. Of course, I had no water to wash my hands, but oh well. Poor Bully’s stall was flooded, and the mud was at least a foot deep. He couldn’t stay in there. Once again, the owner was summoned, and she moved Bully to the far end of the barn, in the dry section. Oh, all this took place a few hours before a wedding was held at the facility! Never a dull moment with Bully.
Best wishes, Bully! I’ll never forget you!
If you enjoy adventurous animal tales, take a look at Curtis, the Curly-tail Lizard book series. He may not be as big as Bully, but Curtis is twice as adventurous.
