She Stayed At Her Post

One morning when I went down to the paddocks to feed the horses, I saw Happy, our fat black Welsh pony, standing near the fence by herself. At 19 years old, she’s the matriarch and usually stays close to the younger ones. When I threw down the hay she didn’t move, which was out of character as she’s usually the first to eat. However, I didn’t think too much of it.
A couple of hours later when I went back to check the water in the troughs, she was in exactly the same spot. At 4pm when I went down to feed the horses, Happy still hadn’t moved so I walked across the paddock to see if she was OK.
As I got closer, I noticed that the two top railings of the fence were missing and there was a big gap where it had been kicked down by the over-exuberant stallion in the neighbouring paddock. He could have got through the gap and caused a lot of damage to the younger horses, chasing them or even killing them. Happy had stood all day guarding the gap so that he couldn’t get in.
She didn’t move away until I’d fixed the fence and she was confident the other horses were safe. Then she came to the gate and neighed for her dinner. It’s awful to think what could’ve happened if she wasn’t there to watch the fence.

Author : Annie Skinner, Gisborne, Vic

Source: Reader's Digest