horse shoes

I drove some stakes in the ground so we can pitch horse shoes at our family gatherings. Work off some of those calories. I've been practicing for weeks. I even looked it up on the internet and studied the proper form and stance. I'm beginning to be able to plop those things down pretty close to the stake. I've even thrown a ringer or two. This morning I spread some sand around the stakes to keep the shoes from bouncing all over the place. I threw the shoes to see how they would do and one dropped free of the sand and rolled into the bushes and I couldn't find it. I looked every where and even used my loppers to cut branches and brush with no luck. It was time to break out Dorothy's metal detector. All I found with that were some spots we'll have to check out later with a shovel. Maybe there's buried treasure in our back yard. When Dorothy came home from work we both went out and searched again. We finally found it. It had slid under the chain link fence. Well, Dorothy decided to have a go at pitching the shoes. She threw a ringer the first time. I'm dumbfounded. She's a natural athlete, but, at horse shoes for Pete's sake?