The Evil Goose Meets its Match

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Several years ago I kept my horse at this farm run by an older couple. It was their retirement dream to have a farm with all types of animals running loose and living together in perfect harmony. They had horses, dairy goats, dogs, and geese at the time when I was there.

The geese were pretty much the "mean girls" of the farm. I remember the first time I went up there to see my horse after moving him there as if it were yesterday. As I went to get out of my car, the entire flock of them came running over and there was no mistaking their behavior for a friendly greeting. In truth I was terrified of these things. They were huge compared to ducks and chickens and far more aggressive than anything that can be made into a pillow has a right to be.

One day I had to go up there and meet the blacksmith who was going to trim my horse's hooves. I had started to dread going up there because of those nasty geese. They usually left me alone once I had my horse with me, probably because they realized the horse was much bigger than they were.

I was especially dreading going to the barn on that particular day because it was raining and it's usually not very fun to be around the barn in the rain. Carefully remembering to pack my umbrella, I reluctantly got in my car and made the forty-five minute drive.

Of course when I got there it was raining heavily. I took out my umbrella and started to get out of the car when I heard the geese making their nasty honking noises and they started to run over. The biggest and meanest goose was in the lead and reached me just as I hit the button the pop open the umbrella. It popped open with such force that it hit the goose and sent it flying backwards into the others. It was sort of like a comical version of "Bowling" only with geese and an umbrella.

After that, the geese never bothered me again. That umbrella put the fear of God in them or something. They still would glare in my direction making their nasty honking noises when they saw me, but they never came close to me again. So, now you know my secret weapon - an umbrella. It probably works great on other aggressive animals as well.