After the show on Saturday, I sponged Archie off in a cool mint brace, offered him beet pulp which he ignored, and I turned him out with the other boys in his pasture.  He immediately trotted off to the dirtiest area and rolled.  I take rolling after exercise as a good sign.  I watched him for a few minutes and then vacated the premise, smelling to high heaven and surprisingly tired.

I opted to ride on Sunday, though part of me wanted to give him the day off.  A reward for good behavior or ensuring that those old man muscles got stretched out?  I don't think he did anything incredibly taxing when walking over crossrails or trotting circles, but in the years I've owned him, he's never spent that much time in one day on a trailer.

Anyways, when I got to the barn, another lady was riding in the grass area in front of the ring.  She was just pacing in circles at the walk and I realized that the gun show going on in the neighbor's back yard had set her on edge.

Have I mentioned this?  The neighbors have a fucking gun range next to the fenceline bordering the two properties.

I didn't think too much of it because Archie's been hearing those damn guns for like six months now.  He's adjusted.  We did a few circles, lightly asking for bend, and popped over a few crossrails.  I mean, I knew our bending wasn't awesome, but I didn't think it, of all things, was what we sucked the most at.  I feel like I've spent years riding this horse in circles.

I'm just walking Archie at the point that the neighbors have started shooting automatic weapons.  I don't think you hunt with automatics, do you?  So what's the target practice for?  Do people really kill deer with AK-47s?

When the gunfire stopped, there was a brief period of silence before they shot off the cannon.

I've since been informed that it was combustible powder, but forever in my mind it will be a cannon.

Archie stood stalk still and I jerked on top of him.  Everyone converged in the ring to make sure I was okay, since I was the only one riding.  I was fine, Archie was fine, the two horses nearest the boom were fine, the kid feeding them was fine.  But I was murderously angry.

And so I called the cops.

Best part?  BM's kid, who never says anything, ever, comes out with this quip: