Dirty Horse

When I got to the barn today I discovered that Charlie had done his best to cover himself in nature's fly protectant in the absence of his own fly sheet...my arm is tired now after all the grooming but at least I can say I have a clean(er) horse! Here's some pics right out of the field:

Really worked it in there, Charlie

Yup, got every square inch...at least it was mostly dry

Mmm awesome pee stains....

What's wrong, mom?

In other news Charlie was a very good boy today after having had a few days off, especially considering he had no turnout the past few days because of the rain. Again I got on with no lunging, but he seems to really like that; he went right to work without a fuss. We practiced basic transitions - got a really good walk-canter transition to the right, which is especially exciting since I haven't cantered on him really at all recently - and trotted some ground poles which he loved; overall he was very well behaved.  I say overall because there was one spook-and-spin incident that I unsuccessfully tried to sit (damn birds flying up from behind the already scary tractor at the end of the arena!). I am still working on getting my "horse legs" back so I ended up on the ground, flat on my back, and ended up just as dirty as Charlie. Ooops. I'm sure I'll be feeling that tomorrow!