I can't believe that I haven't written about the Big Guy's birthday.

So, about a week ago, Archie turned seventeen.  I was very fortunate to have found his birthday on one of his racing sites, as I've never tried to reach out to his previous owner/trainer.  Maybe I should.  I hear she wasn't a big-time trainer, so maybe that increases the odds of there being baby Archie photos.

A squealing little bay colt.  Swoon.

I took him on a little ride for about half an hour.  It was walk, trot and canter on the buckle.  I never asked for any contact and just let him truck around however he wanted.  No one should really have to work on their birthdays.  And then we walked around in the woods for few minutes.

As is our somewhat-tradition, I try to take photos on his birthday.  I think I dropped the ball on this last year, but we had also just bought the house and were moving.  I doubt I had much brain going on then.  So I made sure I did it this year.

There were some issues almost immediately.  Like, I remembered my tripod, but forgot the connector that screws into the bottom of the battery pack.  So I had to balance the camera on whatever I could find.  And then we had some bloopers, because Archie and I can rarely both be photogenic, especially when on a two-second remote delay.

Also, cuddling with mom takes a far second to edible grass.

By far, the best.

I can't decide which one I like better.

After I forced him to hang out with me, I gave him his special birthday treat.  While we rode, I had it brewing in the fridge.  I put about a cup of oatmeal with about four sliced carrots and some flaxseed and soaked it in a bottle of Shiner Hefeweizen.  I confirmed that the husband was probably never going to drink it, but wasn't given permission to use the uber-special Pumpking. Finally, I topped it with some local honey.