Whilst tootling down a country road in my zippy suburban car, I noticed a small carriage pulled by two ponies trotting towards me. Not an unusual sight, given that I live in "horse-country". The carriage was being driven by a stalwart of the equine community here. She is noted for hurtling around the place and scaring the hell out of horses under saddle. For the non-horsey among you reading this, ridden horses cannot understand why on earth carriage horses are being chased by a noisy vehicle on wheels, and no matter how fast they go, they can't escape it. Being on the back of a horse when a carriage comes past you down the road, is NOT a fun thing to have happen to you. It usually means the horse you're on will either try and run away, run backwards or simply turn to stone from sheer fear.
The riders of our community are convinced that this particular individual takes great delight in scaring the hell out of everyone. On this sunny morning, I notice a black dog running alongside the carriage. All quite normal, except that he has something odd in his mouth. Eventually I realise it's a dead chicken! This dog is trotting alongside the carriage, happy as Larry, proudly bearing his prize. The two people in the carriage are completely unaware of what their canine companion has done.
This jaunty group were closely followed by a clutch of cyclists, all peddling along with their eyes the size of saucers, their mouths hanging open... having just seen a dog swoop down on a poor fowl and sweep it off its feet. As they disappeared down the road behind me, I noticed a few lone feathers on the side of the road, where the poor chicken had no doubt been minding his own business before he realised he was in the wrong place at the wrong time!
I sometimes see the strangest things.
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