Not a horse story this time, but a lucky turtle. This box turtle was quietly wandering across one of our paddocks when I unknowingly ran over him in the dually dump truck. What might have been an unlucky day for him turned into a very lucky one instead. When I got to our manure area and dumped my load of poop I noticed something stuck between the two back wheels on the driver’s side of the truck. Thinking at first that it was a large stone, as soon as I got to the wheels it was obvious that it was a box turtle, stuck upside down between the wheels. He was stuck head end into one tire and tail end into the other, and I ha stopped with him right at the top of the tires.
Now this is one lucky turtle, I must have picked him up with a full load, so that the tires were slightly spread apart. An inch either side and he would have been squashed flat, and if he hadn’t have finished up at the top of the tires I might not have noticed him! Having dumped the load the tires were now relieved of the pressure and he was firmly stuck between them. Carving off some of the tread with a pair of scissors and little brute force finally extricated him, and apart from a slightly squashed tail there was no damage to the shell. He made no signs of coming out, so I could only surmise that he was alive because he was firmly sealed shut and dead turtles tend to open up.
Well he didn’t open up while we took photos, and not even when I placed him back in the grass in the paddock. Even though I watched for 20 minutes! However, when I went back a little later he was gone. On to find a nice lady turtle I hope, and recount his amazing escape.