I learned some things about myself and my faithful steed yesterday.

I am more neurotic than he is.

Numbers only matter to me.

My horse has no preconceived notions about height.

And he will continue to do whatever crazy thing I ask of him, so long as it doesn't involve crossing water by his lonesome.

L. is awesome.

So, to back all of this up.  I had a little 45 minute ride on Friday.  I've gotten in the habit of riding on Fridays in the jeans I wore to the office, as though the ten minutes I save from changing into breeches really helps.  But whatever.  It was a nice ride in my nice, clean, super conditioned saddle.  Pony had no issues, other than rider error.  Derp, derp.

Saturday was supposed to be 73º and sunny.  It was not.  When D and I got up for breakfast, we briefly talked about our plans for the day.  When he implied that we needed to hustle so I could get to the barn in time, I simply pointed to our sliding doors to the rain.  The day stayed consistently gross.  I did go out to the barn, though, because the storm from earlier in the week had delayed my Smartpak and the Kid was completely out.  I spent some time loving on him, grooming him, brushing out his tail, treating his assorted wounds, bundled him up in his new sheet and sent him back out into the fog.

The forecast was actually spot on for Sunday.  Hubs and I went out after breakfast to run our various errands - going to the gym, taking the Humane Society photos, eating lunch, dropping off the router to be diagnosed - before I went to the barn.  I normally like to sit down for a few minutes after doing our various things before I go, but yesterday I just changed and dashed.  Sunlight!  Warmth!

This is one of my favorite photos, ever.

I realized when I got to the barn that I wasn't the only one with the same idea.  BM was teaching a lesson and the Eventer was giving BM's kid pointers on the project pony.  I set up a crossrail in the center of the ring and grabbed Archie from his pasture.  I spent some extra time grooming him, tacked up, and spent more extra time just walking in loopy circles.  My GPS was off, saying that we were going much faster than reality.  Woo.

After warming up, I took him through the trot poles that the Eventer had set up.  Archie doesn't normally respect ground poles, but he did not touch a single one.  He was also pretty concerned because various horses were being ridden in the woods and that fried his herd brain.

When he was sufficiently warmed up, bending, listening, we started jumping the crossrail.  We went over it a few times at the trot and the canter before I added a jump cup and turned it into a vertical with a diagonal rail.  By this time, OR and her sister had arrived to bask in the sunlight, too.

With a clinch in my gut, I raised the vertical to the third hole.  In our wanky fence systems, I think the 3rd hole is roughly two feet.  OR had just come into the ring and TE was hand-grazing her horse outside of the fence.  I handed TE my phone and here's what we've got:

Afterwards, he got a bath and liniment.

His favorite beet pulp.

And to use his mom as a scratching post.