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Re: [RC] [Guest] crossing water with a green Arab - superpatI dismount and start to walk across the creek, attempting to lead her across. She will still not cross and gives me that look, the "you are nuts, I ain't doing this" look. After about 2 minutes of asking her to cross, I am knocked into the water by Lyric who had jumped onto my right foot. I come up spitting I am so mad I could kill her!!! Dear Nancy, Just a word of caution. ( I guess you learned the hard way). If a horse is frightened of something, it can be VERY dangerous to try to lead or drag them into or across it. The horse is likely to jump onto you, out of fear or panic, and considering the disparity in size and weight, this could have tragic consequences. Many of the NH trainers will impress on their students the need to work on "driving" the horse where you want them to go. That is to stand beside the horse with the lead rope and point in the direction you want the horse to go and with the hand holding the loose end of the rope to twirl it at the rear of the horse. When I first began to learn ground handling, I "drove" my horse out of the arena, into the stall, out of the stall, between chairs, anything to practice. Sometimes it has paid off big time. Other times, I am flabergasted that my mare refuses to go where I "drive" her. We still have much work to do. But NEVER, EVER, put yourself in such a dangerous position again. If you have to cross a log or find that you really need to be on the other side of something, position yourself in such a way that it is close to impossible for the horse to jump and land on you. I f not, they likely will. Pat ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ridecamp Guest" <ridecamp-moderator@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: <guest@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Tuesday, May 13, 2003 6:29 AM Subject: [RC] [Guest] crossing water with a green Arab On Behalf Of elf Dear Ridecampers, I spent Saturday in the saddle with a green horse doing the creek dance. I a different crossing than the one I had been working Lyric on, but she had crossed it lots of times about 2 months ago. This creek crossing is between 6 to 18 inches deep, clear with some large rock with sand in between. It's cold about 50 degrees and moves at a nice pace. But no white water, no rapids. It is about 6 feet wide and has a nice path with no lose rocks. Well, when we came to the crossing, Lyric starts dancing and will not cross. Shai went across several times to show her how an expert does it. No, she was not going to walk in one hoof at a time. I felt her back twitch and she starts to dip her bottom in anticipation of a jump. I scream NOOOOO!!!! Lyric let out a sigh and restarts the dance. I dismount and start to walk across the creek, attempting to lead her across. She will still not cross and gives me that look, the "you are nuts, I ain't doing this" look. After about 2 minutes of asking her to cross, I am knocked into the water by Lyric who had jumped onto my right foot. I come up spitting I am so mad I could kill her!!! Lyric is looking at me like "what's wrong with you?" My husband is speechless and starts taking pictures and a video of my impromptu "training by feel" method for creek crossing. I slog back and forth across the creek at least 10 times, swatting her if she gets to close to me. I make her move one hoof at a time to my command and praise her and stroke her for the correct move. I back her a step if she moves more than one hoof at a time. This seems to work OK. I'm still so mad I do not feel all the pain in my foot, but know I'm going to hurt. I attempt to drain some water out of my boots to remount. What a sight! Jerry keeps telling me it's the best wet t-shirt contest he's seen in ages. That better be true as we have been married for almost 12 years! It is really hard to mount as I have at least 10 gallons of water in my boots and soaked jeans. But up I go and Lyric crosses the creek again. We check out the secret trail that looks lush with poison oak. When we get home, via the creek again, I finally get around to taking off my boots. Oh boy, my right foot looks broken, but I can walk with only a little pain. Guess I'm not going to ride for a few days. Guess that means I'll be doing the creek dance again too. Life with a young horse!!! Nancy Reed Lazy J Ranch Elfin Forest, California =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. 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