Eggs and a Second Ride

Since my ducks and geese have been busy laying eggs, I gathered up the eggs and stuck them in the incubator.  I figure, rightly or wrongly, that since I have plenty of drakes and a one to one ratio for geese, the eggs are probably fertile and okay for hatching.  (The birds have been plenty noisy, suggesting that they're busy trying to make little geese and ducks).  I also added some Barnevelder eggs and some turkey eggs to the mix.  So I have:

1. Brinsea incubator: 4 Barnevelder eggs and 3 Easter Egger Eggs.  Of those, I believe 1 Barnevelder and 1 EE are duds.
2. Hovabator incubator: 4 Barnevelder eggs, 7 Sweetgrass turkey eggs, 9 duck eggs and 3 goose eggs.  I'm having trouble with keeping the temperature high enough on the Hovabator, but I think it will be okay.

The day before yesterday, we loaded a ton of hay and stacked it in the barn.

Today we took a ride on the horses and went a bit longer.  I discovered that Rocket, my mount, is a big weenie.  She was terrified over a rock on the side of the road.  The dogs that were barking nearby almost set her into a panic.  Still, I insisted that we leave the area at a walk and stopped her to investigate the rock and also to show her that the area wasn't really all that scary.  (Jury is out on that).

I've learned that it takes a while for a horse to really trust you.  When we rode our mares in October, they were sullen, barn-sour critters.  Now, they still play games, but I've learned to work through the problems.  One was balking and backing up.  I have learned to double the horse or continue the backing up until the horse is tired of doing it and is ready to go forward.

It's pretty amazing the difference in behavior we've had this week.  Both our horses are looking to us for rides now, which makes it pretty cool.  They come to us and look on us with respectful eyes.  There's even some trust bring the girls down the road with the steep hill and the neighbors' dogs barking.

Tonight I am sore.  It's either because of the hay or because of the riding.