So, yeah, definitely some stuff we (I)  (I mean, Archie is pretty damn dreamy) can work on.  But, honestly?  If that's how we look without any sort of training (FOR THREE YEARS), I'm pleased.  I'm ecstatic.  We can only get better with a professional's help, right?

On to the ditch:

If I ever do manage to catch someone else riding (hasn't happened yet), I will try to get a lead over the ditch.  But I can also see Archie's complete aversion to crossing it.  It's hard to see from yesterday's pictures, but I've got woods on one side and a fence with hot wire on the other.  And then this isn't just.. a little creek, I guess?  It's marsh water.  It's black mud.  It sucked me up to my ankles.  Compare my broad feet with his dainty hooves and multiple the weight and yeah, I could see being scared of quicksand.  If a lead doesn't work, there is a plank bridge next to it that I think they used with the last horse scared shitless to cross.  Maybe that.  When we were schooling jumping creeks at my first barn (because we hunted and jumping was better than walking through), we actually set up a jump in the water, then in front of the water and then just the standards.  

All thoughts.  We'll get over it eventually.