Don't think this day could get much worse ...

Sigh. It's not been a good day today. What kills me is is STARTED out pretty good. Got to the barn, set up a course (1 stride on outside, 4 stride line with a cav and the barrel, 3' vert on the diagonal, and the cav stack on the other diagonal), and walked the Tiki muffin up to the ring. I'd seen when setting the course that the footing was still pretty nice, yay! Had a LOVELY warmup on the boy; great transitions, did some super lengthening and shortening at the trot, some great circles. Warmed up with the single cav and it felt great. Trotted up to the barrel, and a stop. Today I had a crop; came again, cropped him off the ground, and he jumped it big. I had to pat him and settle him back down, then came again. Didn't use the crop, and he stopped:( Hit him, came again, and he jumped. Now I wasn't so worrked about him; I could tell he'd gotten over himself. Trot/cantered the line starting with the cav; then inside, then 1 stride, then stack. Awesome! He made the 1 stride so easily, he almost ate the distance! This made me happy because it's a straight up 24' 1 stride. No more jump issues at all. Each time I hit the barrel, I had to really RIDE him, but he was fine. I found my distances pretty well, and felt lovely.:)

Then we went to leave. I opened the gate like I always do, and as he started to walk through, the wind blew the gate closed towards us. He scraped up against the gate latch, caught my right half chap on it, and kept running through the gate; I finally fell off since I wasn't coming with him.:( I was PISSED. My half chap ripped like crazy.:( So, I've officially fallen off my horse twice by being forcibly removed by an outside source (other than gravity!). Then, if that wasn't already enough ...

Arrived to teach lessons tonight. Didn't have a 4:30, so was sitting by the big ring shooting the breeze with one of my kids, and another mom. Suddenly, we heard a sound like an engine backfiring behind us, and we looked, and the huge storage barn with 2 outside stalls attached was on fire! I mean, fire like the type you see on TV. It was so fast, so sudden:( A horse perished in the fire:( It was a horrible, senseless, unpreventable tragedy. It was incredibly surreal. Needless to say, everyone was sent home for tonight, and when I left, the 7 or so fire trucks were still there spraying the barn, making sure there wasn't so much as a hint of an ember left. My heart is just broken for the family that lost their horse, for the BO that lost his property, and for my boss and her daughter to come home from Pony Finals to this. Reminds us all that tragedy strikes fast, suddenly, and with no care in the world as to whose life it touches.