And...breathe.

When I was a kid, most weekends were spent at the barn. I would catch the school bus to the barn on Friday afternoon and my parents would come pick me up Sunday night. There were other kids of assorted ages who did the same thing. Rarely were there any adults present or any kind of structure imposed on our days. We rode a lot, we worked a lot, but we also spent hours just hanging around doing dumb stuff.

Now that I am adult, my definition of "dumb stuff" is far more comprehensive, and there is a subcategory titled "dangerous stuff" that age has taught me to avoid if at all possible. The part that hasn't changed all these years later is the enjoyment I get from just going to the barn with no agenda, with no plans except to hang out with the horses and see where the day takes us.

Today, since we weren't showing, the sun came out and the weather turned warm. Bridget was very itchy in the remnants of her winter coat, so I spent a good hour with assorted grooming tools, getting as much of the dead hair and winter gunk off her. I conditioned her tail, amd trimmed it too. Spa day!

Next up, I attempted to take some glamour shots of the shiny clean pony. She didn't look as fancy as I'd hoped, but then fancy isn't really her gig. We both more go for the "cute, round" look :)

Then, I puttered around building a "spooky" jump course. B lent moral support by following behind me and keeping her nose in my neck and breathing like a creeper. Must be my shampoo? It's sort of her thing, she loves sticking her nose in the small of my back or my neck and just hanging out like that. Weird, but (look away now NH people!) I let her invade my personal space because she's cute and supremely unmotivated to take advantage of my lack of boundaries. My hair just smells good, I can't help it,  alright?

Finally, I actually rode the pony. We popped around our tiny course, just for fun. We galloped around a bit, we went for a short trail ride and meandered around. No fitness work was accomplished, no agendas, no training at all

And, that's the story of the best days we've had in a very long time. I know having a horse suited to your riding level,  competitive goals, budget, time, etc etc is important.  But,  I'd argue having a horse you just like to be around is the most important thing of all - all the rest is secondary.