Ellen, Shari and I were out for a ride on a perfect October morning. We did a lot of trotting and Ellen even did some cantering to keep up with us. Everything was going great. Though Ellen was nervous about the second river crossing, (for no good reason, since Dante has been crossing it so much better,) Dante crossed it very well. He was a little slow initially stepping into the water, but after that, he walked steadily across.
We rode on the trail on the other side for a while, turned around and came back to the river. Ellen was nervous, again. The previous day, Dante rushed up the river bank. He only trotted, and she got him stopped in a reasonable amount of time. Knowing he might do it again, she only needed to be prepared.
Bella crossed first. There was a group of 5 cute, little mallard ducks just downstream. When they saw Bella, they floated away.
Cole crossed next. I saw the ducks had turned around and were coming back.
Ellen got Dante down the river bank without him grabbing something to eat--her biggest problem right now. When they got to the river's edge, she saw the ducks. She felt they were the size of turkeys, and they would take off as she tried to cross. Maybe they would even attack. They looked vicious.
I reassured her they wouldn't. They weren't that close to her, and when Bella approached them, they only floated away. They were probably migrators and were too tired to do much. The ducks were just floating in one place; watching Ellen and Dante.
Ellen was nervous, and as usual, if Dante senses her nervousness, he turns into a statue. He wouldn't budge. He just stared at the ducks as they stared at him. She couldn't get him to step into the water--and she really didn't want him too, either.
Shari decided to help. She brought Bella back into the water and scared the ducks. They floated away. She turned Bella around and headed up the bank. Bella charged up the bank. Cole saw and panicked. As he spun away, I just kept him spinning until he was facing Bella once again. He immediately settled down. We looked over at the ducks just to see them floating back to their favorite spot. They were there to watch the show. Dante remained frozen in place. Ellen wanted to cross on the ford. I didn't offer to go back across to go with her.
Shari decided to try again. The ducks floated downstream, and Bella tried trotting up the river bank. Cole didn't get scared this time--he just watched. This was a wonderful training experience for Cole!
The ducks started to return, but they didn't get as close this time. Dante was still watching them. We were yelling out encouragement to Ellen. I told her to try to turn him. She turned his head, but the rest of him wouldn't budge--but I think it was enough to break his duck fixation. She asked him to cross in a more assertive manner, and he finally took a step into the water! We knew the rest would be easy. The first few step were slow, but soon the ducks were forgotten. (At least they were forgotten by us. I'm sure Ellen was still thinking of them.)
Once they got to the other side, Ellen just told him to walk up the bank, and he did. We were all so relieved. Ellen was very shaken by the whole experience. Bella was feeling very empowered. She got to herd ducks. Cole was bored. We walked a little ways for Bella, Ellen and Dante to calm down. The rest of the ride was without incident.
I hope those ducks were migrators, and they plan to head south; really soon.
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