Cruiser and the River

Cruiser and the River


Yes, another river story, but this once starts quite a few years ago. Back when Cruiser was probably 13-14 years old, he got really weird when he was crossing the river in the spring. I don’t know exactly what he would do, since I was always on his back and couldn’t see it, but it was terrifying. All of his legs went all different directions. We called it his “crab walk.” The closest way I could describe it is the way it feels when a horse steps on ice and starts to slip on all four feet.



It was a serious problem, and he did fall, once. Though he didn’t hurt himself, it took a week before he would cross, again. Then, like a miracle, as soon has he got he shoes in the spring, it would go away, and I would forget all about it until the following spring. If I crossed the river when his shoes were pulled in the fall, he was fine, so I never figured out what it was all about.


Once he bowed his tendon, and I realized how fragile he was, I simply didn’t cross the river in the spring until he got his shoes.



Now, it was time to start trail riding Cruise, again, for the first time since last November when I had his shoes pulled. Since he is going to be on light riding—possibly permanently—I was hoping to keep him barefoot. That meant I had to cross the river and see what happened.



I was more nervous about this than Ellen was about Dante, but I just tried not to think about it. (Ellen was nervous, too and couldn’t watch.) I knew that Cruiser would be willing, and just as I planned with Dante if he misbehaved or panicked, I just had to sit there.



I chose the narrowest section of river. Ellen was far behind us with Ranger. We both figured it would be better that way because Cruiser would be less likely to rush that way.



Cruiser seemed so enthusiastic as he marched down the river bank for the first time in so long. He went right into the water and carefully walked to the other side. Talk about anticlimactic, but it was wonderful. I was going on a trail ride on the horse that I thought would never getting his breathing back to ever go out, again. He walked fast down the trail and was happy. Me too.