A Horse’s Near Demise
- May 15, 2024
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- Jan Swan Wood
Posted in: Featured, Ranch Life, Uncategorized
When we bought our place back in 1994, one of the many mysteries about the new place was the
location of the septic tank. The previous owner didn’t know either. The drainfield came out way west of
the yard fence, but where it came out was not straight out from the house. Absolutely nothing showed
above the ground. Everything worked fine, drain wise, so we hadn’t been terribly concerned about it.
Late May had us day working and going to brandings. We’d leave before dawn and return in the dark. I
had an old pet saddle horse mare called Dolly who, because of her good manners and my affection for her, got to go into the yard and graze during the day. I didn’t have time to mow and she liked the green grass, so it was a fine arrangement. It was not just the immediate yard but the garden area and back yard as well, so an acre or so of lush grazing. I’d let her out there when I left in the morning and grain her inside the corral gate and lock her up at night. She was definitely living the good life in her retirement.
We had gotten in at nearly dark and had put our horses up, fed them and I’d quickly grained Dolly and
shut the gate before she got there. All was well as far as one could see in the dark. The next morning we
didn’t have anywhere to be until afternoon, so it was probably 5:00 when I got up and glanced out the
bedroom window. As I looked out, something looked odd. I put on my glasses and looked again. There,
not 15 feet from the house, was a gaping hole in the ground, with the sod around it torn up.
I hurriedly dressed and went out to look. By the tracks on the ground and the obvious hole, Dolly had
sure enough found the septic tank and had fallen into it with her hind end when the top caved in. The deep gouges in the sod around it told how hard she had struggled to pull herself out with her crippled up front legs. That stout old mare must have been pretty scared, but she had kept trying until she got out. The tank was about half full of a very badly stirred batch of nasty, some of which had dripped off of her onto the ground when she’d made it out, probably standing and gasping for breath for quite a while.
Knowing she could be hurt, I went to the corral where she was waiting for her breakfast. She had some minor scrapes on her hind legs from the edge of the septic tank, but nothing serious. When it warmed up a bit she would get a bath and doctored.
I set in and covered the septic tank hole, then put up a barrier around it. After her bath, I let Dolly back out into the yard. That tough old mare acted like nothing had happened, though I’m sure she was sore
from the ordeal. Her big heart, powerful muscles and try no doubt saved her from a grisly death in that
awful hole. I’ve ridden a few horses that wouldn’t have prevailed as she did. But quit was never on her
mind at any time, no matter what it was she needed to do.
The second bright spot of Dolly’s ordeal, right after her living through it, was that we darned sure knew where the septic tank was at last! Also, when the lid was replaced, I required that it have a two foot tall riser on it so it would be visible from there on out.

Posted in: Featured, Ranch Life, Uncategorized
About Jan Swan Wood
Jan was raised on a ranch in far western South Dakota. She grew up horseback working all descriptions of cattle, plus sheep and horses. After leaving home she pursued a post-graduate study of cowboying and dayworking in Nebraska, New Mexico, Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota....