The Great Horse-Escape of 2013

Dee nickered at me today when I came in.  I don't think she has ever done that before.  She will sometimes poke her head out of the stall and look at me like "Oh hi mom!"  but she never nickers. 
We had a nice flat school today (tomorrow I plan to do baby jumps, and a hack on Sunday).  She was a little bit of a fire-cracker, but in a good way, and we got one really lovely lengthening.  My ride was overshadowed, however, by the great horse-escape of 2013.

As I was settling up with the vet, we noticed three horses - two chestnuts and a paint - wandering up the pathway that leads to the pastures.  They were in no hurry, and just kind of hanging out, eating grass.  Once the vet left, one of the other boarders and I grabbed halters and went to go grab two of them (the third had already wandered into an open pasture).  As we approached, the other two also went into the open pasture and we closed them in.  At that point, we decided to go check the gates and look around for other loose horses.  To our great surprise, the gate was latched, and as far as we could tell, the entire fenceline was intact.  The only think we could think of was that the horses went into the forest (so thick that I could barely walk through) and then down a VERY steep hill through a possible break in the fence.  We didn't find the break because we couldn't get through the forest well-enough, but that's the only apparent explanation.  We did find the other horses in the woods, so who knows.  

Day 18- Your riding goals
Ehh.  Dee and I don't have much in the way of direction right now.  I just want to keep her and I in good spirits and having fun.  She has been really excellent lately, and her work ethic has done a 180, so I'm just happy with where we are and going with it.  What she has taught me, though, is that she is a horse that I need to just "go with the flow" with.  She has days when she doesn't want to play, and that's ok.  I have those days too.  One day, maybe we will go compete, but that's not a goal right now.  Could she go compete at a dressage show right now and be ok?  Yeah.  And she might actually be competitive.  But I don't have the time to worry about that right now, and I'd rather just enjoy my girl without the stress of upcoming competitions.