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Went to the MSCPCA farm yesterday, and got two more hens. We're looking for chickens who are a) female, b) quiet, c) friendly, and d) pretty, which is limiting, but less limiting than you might think. Even the SPCA wants to place pairs and trios (rooster with one or two hens, respectively), but they understand that we can't have roosters, even friendly, cute ones. (The very very friendly bantam rooster was still there.)The morning light is harsh, and I should have waited to take pictures. The hen on the left is an Ameraucana, which is reputed to lay blue eggs; the hen on the left is a mille-fleur Belgian d'Uccle. So now, through no fault of our own, we have two bearded Belgian bantams. The new mille-fleur is low hen in the pecking order. The other two (smallest and largest) are sorting out who's top hen.
In the mouse department, Number Six is totally grooving on the exercise wheel. She'll sometimes sit in the wheel for hours on end. But when she starts running, it's usually at a dead sprint. She can't maintain the pace for long, and the wheel has some momentum, so she gets spun around, and usually flipped out of the wheel (and gets right back in and does it again).
Went riding today on a borrowed Australian saddle. This is sort of a cross between an English and a Western saddle. It can be ridden with either English or Western stirrups, English or Western bridle. In any case, it's ridden with long leg, like dressage or Western, with your weight back, and pelvis cupped forward a bit. When you trot, you post straight up and down, like in dressage, not thrusting your hips, as in Hunt Seat, as I was taught, lo these many years ago.
Whether it was the saddle or the biomechanics, Cheyenne responded really well to it. He gave me the best, most collected trot and canter I've ever had on him. I have to try this saddle again. I also need to try his western saddle. (When we went to the beach last week, I used Elaine's western saddle, which weighs a ton. In contrast, he came with a Wintec western saddle, which probably weighs no more than an English saddle.)
