ODD FRIENDS?

In their native countries, wild rhea will often follow a herd of cattle. Their quick  reactions help themselves as well as the cattle as they catch the flies that are attracted too, and annoy, the cattle.

At Rope Yarn Corner there are no cattle, so the rhea make do with ponies. It was not love at first sight. The ponies were petrified by these goose-like creatures who could instantly fluff up their feathers and double their size. Nor were they impressed to discover that these oversize chicken could run somewhat faster than they could. In fact, for a while at least, the arrival of the rhea meant that the ponies actually stayed behind their electric fence, even though the current wasn't turned on!

For their part, the rhea disliked the fact that ponies will insist on poking their noses into places where noses have no business to be. This problem, however, was quickly cured by the discovery that ponies noses react favourably to a quick, well-aimed peck. And nothing has a quicker, better aimed peck than a rhea. This is also why the birds don't mind sharing their food with the ponies, they can pick up 100 grains of corn or pellets from the grass in the time it takes a pony's clumsy, snuffling muzzle to retrieve just one...

 

It's enough to give a horse a complex when he meets a bird bigger than himself...