My very first real trail ride was some kind of
organized ride at San Felisco (sp?) in North Florida. I was riding Showtime and
my friend was riding Dough Boy. It never dawned on me there were going to
be any "obstacles". I think Dough Boy was on the only young Arab out of 2,
altogether. Again, I never thought anything of it.
After about 6 miles of stop and go in a huge group
we came to a water crossing. It was very wide, about 8 feet across, had a pretty
steep drop but was very shallow. Showtime went right across and my friend was
going to take Dough Boy across because she was more experienced. Dough Boy
really didn't care how much experience she had, he wasn't going.
After about 15 minutes, she was worn out and the
stick whip she had broken off a tree was now a nub. We switched horses and I got
on Dough Boy. Now, I hear in the background, "Must be a A-rab. They's afeered of
water." Well, I never heard of such a thing.
I coaxed, I begged, I even tried to make the Boy
feel embarrassed. "If those quarter horses can do it, you can do it better.
Don't let them make you look bad!". No go. By now, we had held up the ride for
about 45 minutes. Finally, another rider took a lead rope and clipped onto the
Boy's bridle. He pulled, he tugged, he wrapped the rope around his waist to get
better leverage. HELLO! His name is DOUGH BOY! There is no
leverage!!
Finally, he was ready to go. Before I knew what was
happening, we were flying over the water, over the guy with the lead rope and
into the next time zone! It was beautiful! The Boy didn't have a drop of water
on him.
I couldn't begin to tell you what that was all
about but the Boy has never, ever hesitated to cross water since then. No
jumping, just a nice leisurely stroll, in and out. These
