We Went Down to the River...

We Went Down to the River...

Last summer, I walked Trifecta down to the river and let him play in the water at least a half a dozen times.  We would just walk in the water right along the edge.  He did well with it, but then it got cold and I no longer wanted to get wet.  I was in no hurry to get him in the water in the spring for the same reason.

Finally, the weather was warm enough and the river was low enough to take him down the hill to play in the water. 

Recently, our friend's champion racehorse turned broodmare started a new career at the age of 20.  She became a trail horse. We saw her out on her first day across the river.  I was reminded of Cole's first time.  The day he was willing to cross to the other side, when we turned around to go back home, he was afraid to go back into the water.  I told the Thoroughbred rider about that, and maybe I put a curse on her because when we got back to the river on the way home, we saw her perched on the river bank--refusing to cross.  In the end, someone had to pony her across.  She has been fine ever since, but it was a reminder to me about Cole's first time.  He wasn't comfortable enough in the water to cross that day.  I wanted to make sure Trifecta was.

So that meant that I made multiple trips down to the water.  We gradually went further out until we reached the halfway point. I probably didn't have to do all this.  At no time, did he seem worried about the river.

The day came when I felt we should give it a try.  I didn't tell Ellen--or at least I didn't think that I did.  She said that when I told her I was going to take him down to the river that I did say "cross the river."  That was a Freudian slip!

Anyway, I led him to the river's edge, and instead of letting him meander about, I asked him to step right in.  He paused and then took the step.  I did click him for that.  We continued to walk around and around--getting closer to the center.  I could see that he was very willing so I straightened him out and asked him to go across.  Of course he did--that was no surprise. The surprise was his reaction on the other side. He got so excited!  His head was up--he looked down the trail to the left and down the trail to the right.  He wasn't afraid but I felt like he was going to do the "happy dance" at the end of the lead rope.  He thought it was great fun.

I led him a little way down the trail to where there is a fence on one side of it.  On the other side of the fence, there is the paved all purpose trail and on the other side of that is the street.  We call it "The Fence."  I feel it is a perfect place to expose horses to just about everything they will find on our very busy bridle trails.

We only stayed a few minutes, but in those minutes we saw 4 cars, a bike and a motorcycle.  He just watched with his eyes big and his head way up like a Saddlebred--unafraid but very curious.  It is as if he discovered that there is a big world out there that he had no clue existed.  

We turned back to go home.  There was Ellen on the other side of the river; waiting for us.  Tri crossed like a champ and we went back up the hill.  Trifecta is so funny.  He loves going out in the park so much that he walks incredibly fast on the way out--but then he walks much slower on the way home.  I am glad since the way home is uphill!  

We will keep crossing on foot until it is time to ride.