I've been Goosed!

I've been pondering a new post these past few days. I was considering a story about how I got fired from one of my pet sitting jobs, maybe introducing you to my horse or writing about a neurotic family of animals that I take care of on the regular. All that got put aside this morning during a trail ride.

I was up early to take care of the aforementioned family of animals. Since it was cool outside, I decided to visit the horse for an early morning ride. I grabbed a Starbucks and drove to the barn (while listening to the new DMB, which is rad BTW). After I saddled up the beast I hopped on and we rode out the gate. We do this often. The neighborhood is horse friendly and close to BLM trail riding.

Instead of going my usual route, I decided to switch it up. One of my friends lives close by and I wanted to see if she was outside messing with her horse. As we turned the corner near her house, Watson's ear's perked up. I knew something was coming because he had the same look the time the coyotes circled us in Colorado. We were riding by the 10 acre property. They have all kinds of animals including donkeys and reindeer. I assumed he was trying to catch a glimpse of Santa's steeds.

Not so. From across the street we heard a loud honking. I looked over and a giant goose was running down the driveway! Watson did a double take. He was shocked. He's never seen a goose and now he'd come face to face with a big one. The goose stopped at the end of the driveway and continued honking at us. Watson stopped and continued looking baffled. I couldn't stop laughing.

After a minute I thought, okay, ha ha, we saw a goose in the desert. Let's move on Watson. The second we started walking the goose started running across the road! He was really going to take on the 1000 pound horse. I started yelling "Go home Goose!" but he wouldn't. He was all honkey and flappy waddling across the road. I made Watson stop, the goose stopped. We started walking, the goose started chasing. This went on the entire length of the street. The goose ended up herding us off his street.

I need to give credit to Watson. He barely flinched. I was the one who panicked. I was yelling / laughing / trying not to drop the coffee that I had brought along. Yes, I was enjoying my coffee on the leisurely stroll. If you knew Watson, you'd know this is know big deal. He doesn't move fast. He meanders (most of the time).

The goose got me riled up, but I'm proud to say my horse was not impressed.