My horse is an awesome dog - or - I'm not a failure as a horse owner

First, an observation.

I've been trying to figure out why I seem to spend so much less time with the horses now than I used to.  It seems like there are so many reasons to stay away from the barn or leave early.  It didn't used to be that way!

And then I realized....

Every other barn where I have had my horses had an indoor area where I could take the horse.  An indoor grooming area, trick area, riding area, whatever.  My current barn doesn't have a place like that unless you want to go in a stall and deal with poor lighting and possibly left over ickiness on the mats.

So, we're always out in the elements.  No getting your horse out of a rainy field, taking him inside, and doing stuff.  No getting out of the biting wind.  Going to the barn leaves us totally at mercy to the elements.  :(

Onto the real fun.

Today I walked into the field to find that I forgot my halter.  Not wanting to walk through the mire back to the barn (honestly, could it dry out around here?  We have enough rain/snow/crap kthx) I decided to keep going.  I couldn't even see Peanut at that point so I thought maybe I could get him to the side gate where there is less mud and have him wait while I get the halter.  Peanut finally walked around the run-in and came to where I was.

I walked to the gate, with him following and, curious, opened it and let him through.

It's a long hike back to the tack room where his halter awaited us.  We had to walk down the driveway, around a curve, past the outdoor ring, take a sharp right, and then walk some more.  All the while passing section after section of greener grass than was in his field, plus a field of mares by the road.

Sure he got treats for being good, and sure I talked to him, told him he was good, kissed and clucked at him, but that horse stayed with me beautifully!  He was always just behind me or beside me (sometimes he even put his head over my shoulder).  He even curved around the gate the way I always ask and didn't just dive his nose down into what passes as grass in January.

We walked past the mares and he started to veer toward them, I kissed at him, and he came back to me.

We passed Richard and Gene and I gave him a verbal stop command.  He immediately halted and waited while I looked back at Richard and said, "halters?  We don't need no stinkin' halters!"

I tried halting a couple more times and he halted perfectly.

Gene and Richard ran/trotted by us.  I decided, why not, and started jogging while kissing and clicking at Peanut.  He started trotting and kept his nose at my shoulder.

Something spooked Gene and made Peanut jump.  Still, he stuck to my side and carried on like nothing happened.

When we got to the barn, I went into the tack room to get his halter.  He waited outside and dived into it when presented with it.

I was beyond proud!!!  My boy!

And this was the horse that couldn't be caught or haltered when I first got him.