The River

The river, often the thorn in our side, has been very cooperative, lately.  We can see the bottom and are crossing without any problems.  Some of the crossings improved over the winter, too.  Life is good.

Other people in the neighborhood, who are new to the area or have new horses, are now training their horses to cross-or in some cases-their mule.  Katy the mule moved into the barn, and her stall is right next to Mingo.  They are in love, and it is really cute when they roll simultaneously in their stalls and how Mingo watches over her when she lays down to sleep.  They are buddies.

Katy crossed the river a few times last year, but only if her rider led her.  Well, over the winter, her opinion of rivers hasn't changed a bit.  Rather than fight, her riders lead her across and mount on the other side.  She's fine crossing back on the way home, of course.  The other night, we were riding home and intercepted Katy.  Andy was riding her.  Instead of riding across to get back home, even though he knew that she could do it, he dismounted and stood with her in the water for a while so she could get used to it.  I'm sure, in time, she'll be happy to cross the water, since her riders are being so patient with her.

Another man that we know was riding a horse that belonged to his friend last fall.  This horse was new to the trail.  Ellen saw him riding across him across the water, and the horse must have figured the water was filled with piranhas.  He bucked across the water to the other side.  My sister said it was a fine example of a very balanced rider. 

We were coming back from a ride last weekend, and we saw our friend trying to lead the horse into the water.  He persuaded him in, slowly, and led him here, there and in circles.  We didn't want to get in the way, so we just stayed on the far side and watched.  He finally crossed.  The horse did just fine-much better than the last time Ellen saw him.  He got into the saddle, and we told him to have a nice trail ride.  He replied, "Oh no, we're done.  We're going home."  He brought him down to the river, splashed around and knew when to quit on a good note.

Sometimes in training a trail horse, you just have to get off and get your feet wet.