Equine Stealth

Last night Doc and I were 80 yards out on the west side of a house, where supposedly an escapee from our county jail was hiding out.  You probably heard about it, 9 felons went out the roof of the maximum security section of the local jail.  Considering that this was the "Maximum Security" area, I assume that the "Minimum Security" area has walls like a Japanese tea house. Anyway, there we were (acting like a bush) observing the house, ready to provide cover to other SWAT team guys that were making their way up from a field on the other side.  Of course our entry guys pride themselves on being stealthy as they negotiate over the fences, gutted trailers and torn apart engines, which made the approach a bit akin to traversing Omaha Beach. 

 

Two entry guys in particular, Eric (point man) and Uriel (cover), were moving up to the northeast corner when Uriel sensed movement on his 6.  Turning slowly, four feet away from Uriel's nose, was a horse.  The horse had walked up to them in complete silence and scared Uriel into a heart-stopping shudder; and this from a man who grew up around horses in Michoacan, Mexico.  Now Eric was still focused on point; Uriel, of course, being the typical cop that he was, wanted to watch Eric have the same reaction he'd just had.  Uriel reached forward, tapped Eric on the shoulder, and motioned for him to check behind.  By this time Mr. Ed had crept up even closer, right at Uriel's side.  Eric turned and saw the horse; and because Eric had grown up around blondes and lutefisk in Norway, Uriel was not disappointed by his reaction.

Doc and I had a much less eventful time; we were just cold.  The escapee was not found, but maybe next time we'll get him and place him back into that paper sack called the county jail.