Royal And The Cows

Since Bayfield, I haven't had a lot of time to do stuff with Royal. I started a new job on Tuesday and had a last-minute eye doctor appointment complete with The Drops That Make The Light Hurt And Turn You Into A Vampire. But, we've still had some time to try new things and make some friends of the bovine variety.

The neighbors cows had lived behind the back pasture as long as Royal's been here, but they recently got moved to the pasture across the road. Royal wasn't exactly a fan of cows before, and having to stare them down as we walk down the small side street to get to the road is not his idea of a good time. I think he has a hard time figuring out what they are from a distance and it probably looks like a swirling mass or color.

Once he gets close to them, he seems to remember that they're the same cows he's lived next to since late May and doesn't seem too bothered, although still not exactly happy.

"Yeah, there's Bessy, and Daisy, and Betty. So? Can we go now?"

The other Big Thing is braiding! My arch-nemesis of show turnout. Last year I was able to cobble together a sort-of decent job at Steepleview, but this year I want to do better. But bands are just not doing the job, and yarn seems too complicated. A while back, I discovered Braiding Wire, which seemed to be a reasonable compromise. It arrived on Saturday, so I decided to give it a shot.

It turned out okay, better than I thought. I have a bit of a learning curve with holding the wire and the braids, and Royal's mane is way too long. It probably needs to be able 2 inches shorter and I'll have to double up with wires in the middle of the mane, but at this point, I like it. I was able to do more than 4 braids halfway decently and even the middle braids stayed relatively nice. I'll have to practicing (which I'm sure Royal will be thrilled about), but right now I'm a lot more hopeful than I was with the bands. I think this will work.