The scary creek

 I am so proud of my little red Beast of the East.

He's made it fairly clear he hates XC. I mean, I've never met a horse who walks out into a field fine, gallops around fine, goes through water and up and down hills, but as soon as he sees a recognizable XC fence, tenses up, starts grinding, and clearly thinks, "Oh shit. Not this again." Never. I mean, I only really have Sherwood to compare him to- and usually I have to ride sideways all the way down and in the field, hopping and bucking and being an asshole. Then she sees the fences and it's the exact opposite. The BS goes away and you can legit FEEL the game face come on- head comes up, she takes a deep breath, and you can hear her- "Oh, Mom, you know the deal. Point me at the biggest fences here, hold my beer, and no one has to die today."  

IN any case, Andi has made it clear how he feels. So, Shelby and I discussed it and think that maybe he was rushed? I mean, he was competing Novice within 2 years of coming off the track, and he is scared of EVERYTHING. So.. it's fairly likely. Hence, the thought went that maybe just taking it a step back and getting him out in no-jump-pressure environments but still challenging him out of the ring, might let us kind of... side-step back into XC. 

We've been trail riding. twice weekly, alone sometimes and with Jess and Shelby others, for a couple weeks now and he really seems to like it. We've gone to a couple different places, and every time he goes out, he gets more confident- he even likes to lead the group! 

I found this new trail system- I'm not telling you where it is, because I don't want to see anyone else there. It's too amazing, too close to my house, and just no. Figure it out yourself. LoL I'm a Greedy Gus.

So, in any case, Jess took B, Shelby on Mo and me on Andi, and we all went to this brand new spot none of us had gone to before. All was going well- great trails, good footing, challenging parts but nothing too crazy.. Until the Creek of Doom.

Picture this: You have a fairly steep bank down into it, with about 5 feet of crossable space, 3 feet of stream that's... a foot deep? Just deep enough to make your feet REALLY wet, with a small stone walkway to the left that if you're careful, you could lead a horse through  the water while not getting your own feet wet. Then it gets tricky- there's a large boulder on the other bank which leaves you about... a horse-width to cross- all the way to the right. Oh, and the stream is full of large flat shale-ish rocks- one to the left that rocks pretty hard in the water- you just know will move all around if you go any faster than a walk through it. Bahaha.. And as if that wasn't enough, there's a DAMN SNAPPING TURTLE the size of a full dinner plate just over the side of the little stone walkway. 

We should have turned around.. Seriously. But.. we're all experienced trail riders. We've crossed streams, gone down way steeper banks, and hell, our horses are all EVENT HORSES!! We're the baddest of the bad in these woods! We got this. 

We so did not have it.

So.. Andi walked down the bank and firmly planted his feet and thought about jumping this insanity- and I hopped off. Quickly. I started walking on the little stone walk and... he clearly thought that it was made for him, too! Nope! So.. some coaxing, head rubbing, lots of backing up and restarting, (we both almost died when the rock rocked under his feet) and he walked. Calmly. Across. Only took 20 minutes of me standing ankle deep in running water nervously eyeing a snapping turtle to get this feat done. 

The other two? You know, the experienced horses? Yeah. Let's just say calm was not the word I'd use to describe it, and one of them appeared to be trying to actively kill her owner. Mares.. 

So, after everyone made it across, Andi and I walked back and forth across this stream several more times, then I hopped back on and he walked through it both ways another couple times. Calmly. Happily. And I was (AM!) so proud of my Sally Boy- who is learning that it's okay to not be okay, as long as you keep listening to me and thinking, and try to figure out what I'm asking. Good job, Andibug!