[Ag-eq] garden, chicks, horses

[nfoster at extremezone.com]

Yesterday while watering my cherry  tomato plants I found several tiny green
tomatoes. The rest of the plants are growing and look healthy.  I’m always so
excited about the progress in the garden.

The little chicks are now 7 weeks old and no longer little.  They are growing as
fast as weeds!  They have their own 6 by 12 dog run to chicken around in.  They
also have a big wooden crate, which they like to get on top of.

One of the big hens has decided that she wants to hatch out some eggs.  She sits
in the nest box most of the time and complains when I gather the eggs.  We no
longer have a rooster, so she’s wasting her time!  I wonder how long she will
keep this up?

On Sunday I rode Cruiser in a 3 hour, horse and rider communication clinic.  I
was really nervous because there were more people than I like in the arena. 
Horses and riders kept stopping in front of us and I was worried that we would
get kicked.  Cruiser wasn’t relaxed because I wasn’t relaxed.  The instructor
spent a lot of time yelling at us; she’s known me for a long time and has no
problems pushing me when I’m being wimpy.  Half way through I relaxed and
everything got better.  We spent a lot of time practicing smooth turns at
different speeds and transitioning between gaits.

One of the horses in the clinic was an 18.1 hand warm blood.  He is probably the
biggest horse I’ve ever seen.  His owner had to use the mounting block with 3
steps instead of the 2 step one.  I was so worried about him kicking us, but he
seemed like a big sweetie.  There were also 2 Tennessee Walkers, a Quarter Horse
and a Thoroughbred.

As usual I loved Cruiser even more by the end of the clinic.  He has come so far
in the 2 years that Mike and I have owned him.  He would be an even better horse
if I were a more confident rider, but we are learning and becoming more
confident together.

Well I got all the electric fence up, with the help of my wonderful neighbor. 
Monty hasn’t been out of the yard since the installation.  Yesterday I walked
down the street and he stayed in the yard; usually this is more than he can
handle.  I will try it again tomorrow.  On Friday we will start obedience
classes.  Hopefully Monty can be turned into a law abiding citizen!

What is everyone else up to?

Nella