Rescuing two loose horses was all in a day's work for West Marlborough road crew member Hugh Lofting on Aug. 29.
Shortly after dawn, on his way to work, he saw several trucks stopped near Archie's restaurant on Newark Road and knew something was up. He stopped and discovered that there were two stray horses that had been rounded up and were being held by Jamie Hicks, of Meadow Spring Farm next door, and Dr. Dean Richardson, the celebrated New Bolton Center vet, who lives nearby. Nobody recognized the horses, and Archie's owner, Ron, was not thrilled about having them hang out on his lawn.
Knowing his wife always keeps her horse trailer hitched up, Hugh phoned her and retrieved the trailer from her farm. By the time he got back, the sister of the horses' owner was on the scene.
Getting the pair, Nigel and Nea, into the trailer was no easy task, as Nea was a yearling and had never been in a trailer before. Hugh, Jamie Hicks and Dr. Richardson managed to load them both, and Hugh drove them back to their pasture.
Both horses are fine, although according to their owner, Deanna Manfredi, Nea needed a few stitches for a cut. The pair had gotten out of their Bartram Road paddock through an unchained gate.
Due to the excitement, Hugh turned up slightly late for a meeting with the engineers working on a Spencer Road drainage problem. They asked if dealing with loose horses was really part of his job description.
"You don't understand," he said. "There are 814 people in this township. I know every one of them."
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