PSA - I got in trouble out in the barn alone today

[Bravestrom]

I got locked in the stallion's stall today and could not get out - we have a bolt that goes into the floor to stop the door from being pushed out - I accidently didn't lock it up and when I went in to feed the stallion in fell into its hole.

I wasn't worried about the stallion, but the fact that the horses were still in their stalls without food.

I was locked in the stall and couldn't get out. Luckily - we just put a window in that stall 2 weeks ago - so I was yelling until my dad heard me and let me out. I was so freaked because I would not have been able to get out until someone came - I knew someone was coming around 10:00 am but what if no one was coming until later in the day?

Just a reminder that when you are out in the barn alone - to make sure you have someone that can check on you once in a while.

Right after my hubby put a chain system on the bolt so that won't happen again.

[caryledee]

I'm glad you are okay and that you were able to get out right away.

One suggestion for those of us who stay long hours alone at the barn is to always carry your cell phone with you. They come in handy when there is a horse emergency too.

[msj]

I'm glad you are okay and that you were able to get out right away.

One suggestion for those of us who stay long hours alone at the barn is to always carry your cell phone with you. They come in handy when there is a horse emergency too.

Ditto everything here that caryledee said. The only time I don't have my cell phone on my belt is when I take a shower and in bed (landline phone is by the bed). I live alone so I try very hard to be really safety conscious.

[fivehorses]

ditto the cell phone. For me, I am lazy about having it with me, but if I remind myself, what if a horse needs help...instead of going to the house or car to get it, its right there on my hip.
For those of us who live alone, it really is the solution. I don't want people feeling they have to 'check' up on me.

in winter I have an arrangement with a friend- I call or email her by 9 every night, letting her know I am in. If she doesn't hear from me, she is to call the police to check on me.

I do this, in case I fall or get knocked down, etc, and the cold could kill me. Summer, I just feel someone will find me eventually (LOL). I just don't want to be unconscious and freeze to death.

My friend doesn't even live in my town, but she knows my address and the police number. So, it isn't like you have to have someone next door.

[Ajierene]

Ditto everything here that caryledee said. The only time I don't have my cell phone on my belt is when I take a shower and in bed (landline phone is by the bed). I live alone so I try very hard to be really safety conscious.

I read this first as "when I take a Shower IN bed" and got confused...

that's a neat trick!

[msj]

I read this first as "when I take a Shower IN bed" and got confused...

that's a neat trick!


I'll have you know us old farts are pretty darn talented!!!!!:D :D :D

[MistyBlue]

be careful with horse trailers too.
Something I never would have thought of until about 2.5 years ago when I got a phone call from my niece. I saw her number on the caller id and was worried because she was going to load and trailer a horse that was a real handful to handle and I thought she was calling me for help, when I had specifically told her to bring help along for safety.
I answered the phone and she sounded healthy, if hesitant. She hemmed and hawed for a couple minutes unitl I asked her if she was okay and needed help. She kind of snorted and giggled a bit and said, "I'm locked in the trailer, can you come let me out?" Not with the horse mind you, horse wasn't loaded yet. I laughed and then lectured her on not bringing back up just in case and she said, "I did Auntie. She's locked in here with me." :lol: :lol: :lol:
Yep, I drove across town to free her and her help. But I drove slow, LOL! :D

[winfieldfarm]

I have a habit of locking people into stalls if they are in there cleaning or changing a lite bulb. I may be haying or watering and habitually slide and latch the door closed. Fortunately, the other person is quick to shout at me!

My mother once got stuck in the hay loft of the neighbors barn when the ladder fell over. She had to scream for help for about an hour! Didn't have her phone with her.

I went to the barn late one night to feed without my phone and found an owner's horse with her foot stuck in the bars on her stall. Had to run back to the house to get a phone!

In the age of the cell phone, other than loss of coverage, there is no reason not to have one for emergencies. How we lived without them, I don't know.

[twofatponies]

I locked the BM in a stall once. She was fixing something - maybe adjusting a blanket? and she was behind the horse, so I didn't see her. I just saw a horse in a stall, and the door left about 1/2 inch open and the latch undone. I simply shut and latched the door, continued down the aisle, then turned back when I heard a bunch of yelling!! :D Oops!!!

[dghunter]

"I did Auntie. She's locked in here with me." :lol: :lol: :lol:


Totally never saw that coming :lol::lol: Thanks for the laugh before I have to start my paper!

[Vandy]

Glad you are okay, that must have been scary!

I pulled into my driveway once to find my barn helper's husband there and my helper looking very shaken up - I was so worried that something terrible had happened until they both started laughing nervously and looked at each other sheepishly...turned out she'd gone into the chicken coop (which is about 6x6) to feed the chickens and the door had latched behind her. She'd tried crawling through their door to their run, but that door is only a little bigger than a chicken, and she couldn't make it, nor could she get the human door to budge. We really don't get cell reception at my place, but somehow she'd gotten a signal long enough to dial her husband's number before she dropped the signal and he rushed out to the barn thinking that she might have been hurt. I arrived just minutes after he'd rescued her.

We all had a good laugh over it, but it makes me think - sometimes I go into the coop just before dark to check on the girls, and I can't even imagine being stuck in there all night in the winter! :eek:

[Buglet]

My husband lectured me one day on not takng my phone outside with me when I was taking care of the barn. The next morning I was walking out to the barn and realized I had forgotten the cell phone. I really didn't want to walk back to the house and get it, but I was so afraid my husband would call it and then yell at me for not having it. I went back to the house and got the phone. Less then 1/2 hour later I was kicked in the chest by one of the horses. It was 6:00 in the morning and I was the only one there (hubby was at work). I was able to call 911, but laid in my barnyard until the ambulance arrived cause I could barely breathe. I had serious internal bleeding and broken ribs. The docs told me that if I had of waited only a few more hours to go to the hospital that I wouldn't have made it. Now, the cell phone is with me at all times.
I also had a friend that was trail riding. She had left a note on our board saying that she would be back in a few hours. About an hour after she left, her horse came galloping into the barn without her. We tried calling her phone, but we heard it ringing in her locker. We went out to look for her and she was about 2 miles away from the farm soaking wet (she had fallen in the creek and it was November - COLD!!!). Luckily she wasn't hurt, but she said she wasn't looking forward to the long walk home.

[saultgirl]

Glad you're ok.

I carry a cell and if I'm out riding alone, I call before going out to ride and say "if you don't hear from me in one hour, come check on me". Especially in the winter, when I could very well freeze to death before someone would find me.

Could someone tell me what PSA is?

[FlightCheck]

PSA = Public Safety Announcement


Mr FlightCheck locked one of the barn workers in the FatPaintMare's stall a few weeks ago.

The FatPaintMare's stall has wonderful big windows - 4 of them - but all of them have bars on them.

The barn worker didn't notice that Mr. FlightCheck had secured the lock until she was done cleaning the stall - by that time Mr. FlightCheck was a mile away in his truck.

Thank goodness she had her cell phone, as NO ONE but a 4yr old child could squeeze through those bars!!

[kookicat]

Glad that you're okay!

I got locked in a tack room once. The door had one of those coded locks on it, and it wouldn't open from the inside. I had my phone with me, but no signal. Not fun- I was in there for about two hours.

[Camstock]

We were foxhunting in Nebraska, keeping the horses at the local rodeo grounds. A cold, driving rain started about 4 a.m.. I couldn't sleep when I heard it on the window of the hotel. I went out to the rodeo grounds to bring the horses in to stalls and locked the keys in the truck, which I found out after moving the horses. No problem, get the spare key that hangs under the truck. Problem, parked over a big, deep puddle, can't reach the key without real commitment to getting wet. Think, think, think. Driving rain, slide into two horse trailer via escape door to get out of the rain to gather my thoughts. Driving rain and accompanying wind immediately push door shut and it latches. Ack. Stuck. Oh well, at least dry. No phone. Luckily in about an hour someone else showed up and heard me banging on the inside the trailer when I saw their headlights, and rescued a sheepish me.

Hmmmmm, Flighcheck, it could be (and it is my understanding that) PSA is "Public Service Announcement". To earn the right to a broadcast license, stations have to perform a certain amount of public service, thus the late night spots for the local animal shelter or what have you.

[winfieldfarm]

We have had to recently remove the sliding lock latch on our back storm door. The big dog jumps up to look out the window and if his paw lands on the locker, it turns the switch and locks the storm door from inside.

We are getting sick of passing the four year old through the kitchen window to go around and unlock the storm door! Needless to say, the four year old thinks it is cool and he had taken to calling himself a super hero for being the one who "saves the day".

[analise]

I think I'm very glad that the stall latches at my barn can be opened from the inside (as long as you can reach your hand through the bars).

[Trevelyan96]

Ugh... I am the worlds worst about remember to take my cell phone out to the barn. We have a landline out there, but it didn't do me a bit of good when I was kicked out in the pasture. It was one of those very rare moments when I actually had my phone on me because I had a lesson that day and had just finished talking to my trainer, who was on her way. You'd think I'd have learned by that experience, but nope.

[Lori B]

The thing that makes cell phone access easy is POCKETS. I will not buy barn / riding clothes without POCKETS. For some reason, people who make womens' clothing think that I care more about having a perfectly sleek silhouette in my clothes than I care about keeping my car keys and cell phone on my person.

I know there are those strap/pocket things for a cell phone, but I don't like 'em much. I just wish it were easier to find warm weather clothing with pockets. When I am without, I end up putting the cell phone in the elastic waistband of tights, or when really desperate, tucked into the shoulder strap of my sports bra.

I hand graze my mare alone, in the dark, in the evenings, and have been doing that for months (summer it stayed light longer, but you know). She's a very good egg, but If I were to get in trouble, the cell phone has to be in hand.

[LLDM]

Man, what is with all of the things you guys can lock yourselves in? I can think of anything on my farm I could get locked into. Out of? Sure I can lock myself out of plenty. But nothing here is inescapable by a human over four feet tall.

If I were some of you I would seriously reconsider how my stalls, trailers, lofts and coops worked. I work alone quite a bit, so the thought of being trapped somewhere is really not appealing!

Cell phone coverage out here is spotty on the best of days - I can't imagine I could get a signal if I were couldn't get off the ground. But I do have land lines in the aisle and the tackroom - so I know I would have to manage to crawl that far.

SCFarm

[Sithly]

I'm glad you are okay and that you were able to get out right away.

One suggestion for those of us who stay long hours alone at the barn is to always carry your cell phone with you. They come in handy when there is a horse emergency too.

I was glad I had mine the day I knocked over the ladder to the hay loft and was too scared to jump down. :lol: If I hadn't had the phone, I would have jumped down eventually and probably broken my ankle in the process.

[kookicat]

Man, what is with all of the things you guys can lock yourselves in? I can think of anything on my farm I could get locked into. Out of? Sure I can lock myself out of plenty. But nothing here is inescapable by a human over four feet tall.

If I were some of you I would seriously reconsider how my stalls, trailers, lofts and coops worked. I work alone quite a bit, so the thought of being trapped somewhere is really not appealing!

Cell phone coverage out here is spotty on the best of days - I can't imagine I could get a signal if I were couldn't get off the ground. But I do have land lines in the aisle and the tackroom - so I know I would have to manage to crawl that far.

SCFarm

In my case, it wasn't my tack room! ;) It was my ex-trainers.