At the end of my rope

Alan is doing so well with his leading in the comealong hitch that it's only a matter of time until he graduates to a proper rope halter. 

I wanted to be prepared for that moment so I decided I would make him one. How hard could it be to tie a couple of knots 

in a rope and turn it into a halter? I saw an ad in the back of Western Horseman magazine for a company that sold the materials, 

so I gamely purchased a $9.65 kit, consisting of the rope – 20 feet of a stiff, diamond braid 1/4" nylon  – and instructions.

If the instructions proved true, Alan would be wearing 

a spiffy Imperial Red custom-fitted rope halter in one to two hours.

The instructions lied. I studied the diagrams, I did exactly as instructed, I measured, I remeasured, 

I borrowed Hank's rope halter for inspiration. Two hours into the process,

all I had to show for it was one incorrectly tied fiador knot.

I was at the end of my rope. The black and white, two-dimensional instructions were of no help,

so I did what I always do in times of trouble...

I turned to Professor Google and found a couple of halfway decent videos that showed me how to tie a rope halter.

Smooch: You really need to stop with the swearing. It doesn't become you.

By late Saturday afternoon, now three hours into this DIY adventure, I had successfully tied what I believed to be

the hardest knot in the project - the fiador. Ripe with confidence, I went outside for the first fitting on the model.

Perfection. Thinking it would be all downhill from here, I went back in the house, resumed play on the video,

and sat there dumbfounded for three more hours, tying and untying, retying and almost crying,

and finally decrying tomorrow's another day. I'll try again once I'm fresh and caffeinated.

So Sunday morning dawns and I'm back in front of YouTube, with one eye on a knot-tying video 

and the other eye on Felix Baumgartner planning to freefall from space at 833.9 miles per hour.

Damnit! If Felix can break the sound barrier, I can tie a stinkin' rope halter!

The hours click by...Felix has ascended more than 128,000 feet tied to a balloon and I'm still trying to tie a double overhand knot. 

It was hard to concentrate. I kept running out on the porch to look up at the sky and see if Felix's balloon might be visible. It wasn't.

Anyway, Felix jumps and lands safely, and by golly I figured out how to tie the damned rope halter.

Thank you, Felix. You were an inspiration.

Me: Alan, are you ready to try this on?

It fits, it works, and all that's left to do is trim the ends off.

So the picture of Alan wearing his halter was going to be the last photo in this post.
Then I received an e-mail Sunday night from reader Auntie Em, who sent along the picture below.
Apparently she was in Roswell when Felix landed.

And look who else was there to greet him!

Thank you, Auntie Em. I was so busy tying knots I didn't notice the herd took a field trip.