Sweet Vengeance

Today, round two of the Flymask Duel. Spider, outfitted with his new, improved mask, was set for the challenge. He wasted no time, showing impressive smarts to get Leo's mask off, stopping the clock at 8:45am. Rather than going for the velcro, which had proved to be his undoing yesterday (or...kept him from undoing, more accurately!) he went for the top of the mask, and simply pulled it over Leo's ears. Well played, Spider! That's right, folks, the Stanley Cup Playoffs have nothing on us!


(Truth be told, I had to save poor Leo and remove the mask, as that "supervelcro" wasn't going to give and who knew what trouble he could get into trying to run and fight with a mask hanging off his jaw! As I figured Spider was at a disadvantage in the competition yesterday with the less powerful velcro of the older mask, I awarded him the victory today, despite incomplete mask removal. ;-) )

Ah, Leo...payback's a bummer!

The Duel

Things have been busy over at my Thirty Horses, Thirty Days blog, so if you want to see what I've been painting, take a peek over there! We've been blessed with some beautiful spring weather of late, and I've pulled out the fly masks for the horses. For the first time this year, I put them on the yearlings. Two yearling colts, to be exact. Then I started the stopwatch. How long before they got them off?

At first I thought they were going to disappoint me - I mean, make me proud with their maturity - as they grazed quietly, unaffected. Well, Leo walked around for the first bit like he'd never worn one before, with his head stuck high in the air - not the strangest reaction I've seen to a mask, but I thought if either of the two boys had a complaint like that, it would be Spider. It's Spider's mother, Clever, who put on the funniest fly mask-related performance I've ever seen, as she cantered around with her nose up, tossing her head periodically. Clever can be a little dramatic.


It was about 11:30am, then, when the match finally took place. Leo's mask is a new one, and it's pretty secure, so it was no surprise that in their little sparring session, he got the velcro of Spider's undone. It wasn't long before he had it over Spider's ear...


The Winnah!!! Leo shows off his prize.


And then, good friend that he is, he shares with his buddy.


That didn't last too long - the mask ended up in the dust, and Spider thought it was a time to work on Leo's, without success. Darn that new Velcro!


I have another of the new masks, which I'm going to try on Spider tomorrow - see how they make out with that. Just another day on the farm....