Walk in the Woods

It was a nice day out and the dogs were getting frisky. There is a little stream out back in the woods with a trial running along side of it that needed some exploration.

My boyfriend and I decided to investigate it to see where it leads. We were heading down to the back of our land where the stream is when he said “why don’t you bring Lady along?” I thought, hey why not. She is a good girl and she needs to get out and see what the woods are like. She has never been on a trial before and I wanted to see how she would react. Would she freak out and not want to go and try running home or would she just come along for the adventure? I grabbed her halter and walked her out of the paddock. Pony of course tried escaping but lost the battle. He hates being left by himself; he ran back and forth trying to get to us.

To get to the stream you have to climb down a steep hill. I wasn’t sure how Lady would do so I kept talking to her, letting her know to go slow. She did great. We got to the stream in one piece but I had forgotten that she is not trained to go in water. I walked her up to the stream, I had a feeling that she was going to try and jump it so I moved off to the side. Not to my surprise, she jumped. Mud and water went flying and all in one second she was on the other side of the stream with the look in her eye as if she had just seen a ghost. I walked over to her and patted her on the neck and told her she did well.

Dude went running around as he always does. He loves the water! Charlie on the other hand, not so much. He tries his best to find a way across without getting wet. Then Dude runs up next to him and splashes him with a big wet wave. Lady was just standing there taking everything in. Again, this was her first true time being in the woods. We kept walking up the trial. She stayed right next to me and not once did she try and take off. Out in the distance, there is the sad sound of the pony whinnying.

We walked and walked. The dogs would run up ahead then run back. They were having a grand time. The trail then forked. Jim and I wanted to fallow the stream to see where it led but the trail didn’t go that way. Jim went ahead and made sure that there was a way for us to get through. Lady and I followed, walking under and around trees. She was so good. A couple of times me and her had to stop and wait for Jim to clear a path for us. Lady wouldn’t stand still; she wanted to go be with Jim.

We got to the part where the stream met the river. It’s a big river and Dude was in his glory! He jumped right in, no questions asked! Lady was just staring at it with the look in her eyes as if she was saying “please don’t make me go in there!” Charlie just hung back with Lady and me while watching Dude fool around in the rapids. We got to part of the river where there was a patch of grass. I tied Miss Lady up to a fallen tree and she just hung out and ate the grass. It was so nice to see her out and about in the midst of all the nature.

It was time to head back home. The bugs where thick and it was getting late. We got back to the stream near home. I took my shoes off and went in the water to try and help Lady understand that it’s not going to hurt. Again, I stood off to the side to avoid getting squashed by her if she were to jump. She tried, but I stopped her. I tried walking her in over and over and eventually she got it. She didn’t jump it, she ran through it but at least she went in. We walked up the steep incline and headed home. The pony was so happy to see us! Jim and I let Lady stay out on the lawn to eat some grass because she was so good. Jim has never really bonded with Lady before this day. They both did really well!