Burning the prairie 2

Sunday was windy again, but the weather report predicted rain in the afternoon, so we thought we might extend our burn to a strip along the north edge of the pasture where the little bluestem is still hanging on and a few nice burr oaks are starting. Bruce would rather burn than eat so that was also a factor.

When we started walking back to where we had left the truck, it was apparent right away that something was amiss. There was equipment scattered about where we hadn't left it and it soon became apparent that Maya, Susan's 2-year-old quarter horse had been at work. Maya wishes she had thumbs, and there's no telling what she might accomplish if she did, but uses her mouth and hooves to great advantage anyway. Plus she's more curious than any cat. She had to check out the burn equipment. One of the water jugs had been taken out of the truck bed and stomped. The drinking water bottles had all been chewed. Fortunately, the packs, drip torch and fuel cans were only tipped over, not destroyed.

We didn't miss the shovel at the time. Susan found it later near the horses' run-in shed about 200 yards from the truck. Maya must have picked it out of the truck bed and carried it all the way to her shed. Who knows what she might have done with it. Maybe dug a tunnel.

Fortunately she was so fascinated by the fire that she didn't miss the shovel. I thought horses were supposed to be afraid of fire, but we had a hard time keeping Maya off the fire line. She wanted to stand six feet away and sniff it. We were concerned that she and Odetta might get themselves inside the fire line and get trapped, but found that a quick squirt from the water pack was enough to keep them away.

Anyway, the weather report was wrong; there was no rain until night, but we quit burning anyway because we didn't have a large enough crew to safely burn in the woods. Maybe next year.