Days like today...

.... are the reason I love this horse so much!
It was one of those you had to be there kind of days but here's how it went.
Leroy has been on stall rest recovering from mud fever and we let him out for the day in the upper field which isn't muddy and locked the other 4 up there with him. So I did the evening feeding before the horses could come back down to their stalls and my plan was to walk up the aisle way, catch Leroy and open the gate to the main field and they would all run back to the barn, and Leroy and I would sneak through the aisle to get to the barn to avoid mud.
As I got to the gate the horses were all going crazy, running and leaping, total chaos. And by now he is feeling good enough that he could have been gallivanting with him. But he wasn't Instead he stood calmly at the gate waiting. So I got into the pasture and all the horses were running up to me and running away and being very aggressive. And it's pretty dark out by now so I was a little worried that they weren't paying enough attention to me. so I'm dodging their attacks. Leroy walks up right next to me as if to block them from coming at me. So I put his halter on and everyone is going crazy still. One of the them chased another down the fence line and almost into the gate. By now Leroy is pinning his ears at them and actually moving as needed to make sure they aren't able to come at me. So I walk him to the gate that I'm going to open for the other and the starts nipping at the horses coming up to me. I opened the gate and as expected everyone when running and bucking towards the barn, and Leroy looks at me as if to say, "alright, it's all clear, let's go".

He was my protector, and I love him!