The Things We Have Done, and The Things We Have Not Done

I have to confess I ended up not going to the show on Sunday.  On our old yard we would have bathed the horses Saturday night (along with 20 other people!) and kept them in, but we tend not to do that here.  There's no way Barnaby would stay in on his own anyway.  So I was left with having to bath him Sunday morning and the weather was terrible, plus Pongo and Missis were away so I was dog sitting and a duckling hatched in the night (will put on some piccies asap) so I just decided enough was enough and gave it a miss.  We'll try again on July 3rd.
I must tell you that on Monday I finally got round to doing something I've been dying to do for ages.  I had run out of milk, so I tacked Barnaby up and put his saddle bags on, and set off for a farm down the road that sells milk from a little shed at the top of their lane.  We rode all the way there, much to Barnaby's annoyance and I dismounted to get my pound coin out of my jods pocket.  I'd brought my lunge line in case Barnaby wanted to wander round eating the grass while I went in the shed, but as it happened I opened the shed door and peered inside and the next thing I knew, Barnaby was standing next to me, peering in with me, as if to say, "Any carrots?" 
I put my one lonely coin in the vending machine, the slots turned and I opened the door only to find the slot presented to me was empty - completely devoid of milk.  I tried pressing buttons, to no avail.  As far as the machine was concerned, it had presented milk unto me and it's job was done.  It's mouth stayed firmly shut. 
Unabashed I decided I'd better ride down to the farm to explain what had happened.  By this time, two cars had pulled up and two women had got out to buy milk.  They obviously knew each other, and one of them turned out to be the owner of our local riding school, just down the lane from us.  She turned to the other woman and said, about me, "Is that the woman from L*&! Lane?" as if I couldn't hear her.  "Yes," I said, "It's me!" and rode down to the farm.  It'll be all round the village now, "That mad woman from M- Farm, you know, the one on the big grey horse she can't control, well I've just seen her trying to buy milk while still on her horse!"
The farmer was very kind and put two litres of milk in my saddle bags and we set off home, Barnaby quite happy when he realised that was all he had to do, and that he was now very busy and important.  We did quite a bit of trotting on the way home and Barnaby wasn't at all phased by the weight of the milk tapping him on the side.  I was a bit worried we'd have milk shake by the time we got home and didn't dare risk a canter, but it was fine. 
We came home and  I untacked and turned Barnaby out, but was thrilled at how good he'd been.  I really thought he might spook at the milk shed, but he took it all in his stride.  He went marching into the field, to tell the others he'd been on a very important mission, and would probably be mentioned in dispatches.  Thankyou Barnaby, I am very proud of you.