Attack of the Killer Cows

Dude and Bestie's rules ...
Cows in the field behind the pastures: ok.
Cows grazing close to the fenceline in the field behind the pastures: not so ok; cause for alertness, but not panic.
Cows moved to field ACROSS THE ROAD from the barn: Most definitely not ok, because it marks a change to the status quo (even though the cows are in fact farther away).
Cows in the field across the road who MOO INCESSANTLY: cause for high alert. When on high alert, behavior includes grabbing a mouthful of grass and chewing it while peering anxiously across the road, and frequent random speedy circlings of the owner trying desperately to hold on to the end of the lead rope.

That was my a.m. visit to the barn. It was sort of misty and the clouds were low, so the mooing cows seemed like they were right in the driveway. And for all Dude knew, they were, because the shed was between him and the driveway, so he could hear but not see the cows contained in their field ACROSS THE ROAD. Each time they mooed his head snapped up and I'd hear his neck crack. It was a little disconcerting. He did get some exercise in the indoor--no one was there so I took him off the lead, and he trotted back and forth peering at the cows through the clear plastic windows that run the length of the indoor, all the while doing his "I don't like this AT ALL" snort.

I figured that Bestie would be fine with the cows. She's pretty "whatever" about most things. Not today. She was ok grazing (grass, the great distracter), but once we went into the indoor she ran back and forth peering out at the cows too. Even I got a little sick of their mooing; I mean, they were mooing every few seconds. And there's something about repeated mooing, it sounds like the cow is being tortured. But when I peeked around the edge of the barn, there they were at the fence, looking perfectly fine. So I'm not sure what all the noise was about. Perhaps just a bovine plot to drive the equines crazy.