Phil discovered one way to turn our usually mild-mannered goat into a fire-breathing monster: wear a hat with horns! Yesterday, Phil decided to wear a souvenir given to him by some friends in Buffalo, NY--a nice wooly hat with a pair of buffalo horns sprouting boldly from the top.

I was fastening Cuzco's halter and leash for his daily walk when I felt the big goat stiffen. His gentle gaze hardened into a fixed glare as his hackles slowly rose to full height. I turned to see what he was looking at, and there was Phil, proud horns curving above his head. As I finished buckling the halter, Cuzco sprang into action. He went after Phil with all the force of his 200 lbs., standing up to his considerable height and charging, pawing, and charging again.

Cuzco was not brave enough to actually make contact with Phil, (he does know, ultimately, who is boss and that he WILL get licked if it comes to real blows), but he seemed to think that Phil's acquisition of horns was a direct challenge to his goathood, and he wasn't about to let the effrontery stand! We usually let Cuzco off the leash once we get to the dirt road, but not this time! As soon as we let him loose, Cuzco charged at Phil, blocking him and shoving him, and standing on his hind legs. An almost palpable wave of hostility emanated from every bristled hair on Cuzco's body. Phil's acquisition of horns was, in Cuzco's mind, a grossly offensive breech of protocol and could not go unchallenged.

Needless to say, Phil had to keep Cuzco firmly leashed and strictly managed for the entire walk. Luckily Cuzco knows when he's licked and can take defeat philosophically when he knows there is no hope of winning, so he was fairly docile and submissive once Phil had him by the halter. Even so, once we were home and we let Cuzco loose in his yard, he turned around swinging, ready to launch another assault as long as the horned hat was in view!

Thats hilarious!! I've never heard of anyone wearing a horned hat around goats before. Wonder if that is something to be wary of in the future? We'll need to experiment! Maybe we can deal with dominance issues by simply wearing a hat with bigger horns......

Emotions ran high in the Hassey Household this evening. It was a fine day today, so I put Cuzco on his tether in the vacant field next to our house so he could browse. I went late for my afternoon run, so it was getting dark when I got home and moved Cuzco into the yard. I was unhooking his chain when my goat fairly attacked me! I could hardly move him to the gate because he was on his hind legs, whirling, posturing, and waving his horn threateningly at me any time I came near him. I managed to grab him by the ear as he charged past me, and I wrestled him into the yard before he tore loose, backed up and came at me again.

And then it happened... my goat butted me! It wasn't very hard--it didn't hurt. But he actually backed up and charged, smacking me in the side of the leg. That's when I decided I'd truly had it with that beast! I grabbed Cuzco by the horn and shoved his face into the dirt. Then I grabbed the scruff on his back and dug my nails in and twisted until he was forced to his knees. From there I wrestled him to the ground and sat on him. From the awkward position on his back, he lunged at me with his teeth and tried to swat me with his front hooves. We sat there for a long time before I was confident I'd won the battle. I slowly got up and Cuzco rolled over onto his side where he lay like a dead goat until I was well and truly away from him. Once he was on his feet, he looked me over briefly as though he was sizing me up, then he wisely turned and hid in his shed.

I stood there, contemplating the event and wondering what on earth could have made Cuzco so hostile. I'll admit that once in a while he does give me a bit of guff as though testing the waters, but never has he outright attacked me, and never has it been so hard to put him in his place. As I stood there thinking, the light from the back porch fell across my shoulders, casting my shadow on the side of Cuzco's shed. And suddenly I saw what I'd forgotten and Cuzco had observed--I was wearing the Horned Hat!

Laugh out loud funny!!! Until I got to the second post where he actually attacked! I want to see a picture of the hat! I want one. My 6 boys are all turning two this spring and getting big! They are just shoving eachother around more (teenagers) BUT mine are all dehorned! I want to be the only one wearing the horns!

Too funny! Our boy, Homer, would love to have horns ... perhaps we can fasten this hat onto him, and presto-whamo, there's a new boss in town!

Well, after getting wrestled to the ground and sat on a few times, Cuzco seems to have resigned himself to the horned hat. He's not happy about it, but he's not arguing the point any more. What a funny little episode!