The scariest Halloween costume

My barn buddy, Linda's workplace is having a scary Halloween costume contest. She asked me if I could help her with photos.

"My costume isn't scary in the traditional sense," she explained, "but it's definitely scary to horses."

Having seen the costume at our Halloween-themed barn party, and I agreed. "Let's do this," I said.

The first horse we attempted to (gently) scare was Linda's good boy, Gambler. He was cautious, but not so much that he didn't come over and ask for treats.

We had the same reaction from the other Linda's good mare, Fantasia.

As we made our way around the property, we crossed paths with many horses. 

Amora

All of them,

Olympia

both the old...

Fortunataa

and young, expressed varying degrees of concern.

Tazz

Eventually, we made our way to the gelding field. 

Everyone was eating when we got there, but they took one look at Linda and headed in the other direction.

You could see the wheels turning in their heads.

Patches, Rhaegar, Blue

One by one, various members of the group inched toward Linda for a better look.

Blue

One by one, they decided nope, they didn't want a part of that.

Blue

For a few moments, it looked like Rhaegar would be the brave one.

Nope!

River expanded on the nope.

He said, "Oh, heck nope!"

Things settled down for a bit, as the boys decided what to do next.

Then Kaffi decided it was time to run.

Pretty soon everyone was running.

Weee!

We didn't have to go in the mare field to get a similar reaction from the mares. 

Even tough girl, Cheval, wanted no part of this.

Pretty much the only horse who didn't care was Summer. She walked right past Linda and laid down to roll.

As for my horse, she watched the ongoings from the furthest corner of the property. She was calm, but I could see that she was not interested in spending time with Linda. Fair enough.

I have no idea how Linda's costume will fare in the contest, but the horses' verdict is clear: This is a winner.

Good luck, Linda, and thanks for letting me be a part of that. It was really fun (and scary)!