The Bridge of Death

Now that it is warm and dry out, it is time for the training/sales horses to meet "The Bridge".

The bridge, in case you haven't met it, was made by Rob after we put in the outdoor arena. It is basically railway ties laid over a drainage ditch. A deep drainage ditch. It has many scare factors:

1) It is quite high over the ground.

2) it is narrow

3) It has cracks between the ties, where sand, and potentially entire horses could slip through.

Ebony, Kokanee and Calvin were introduced to the bridge last week. Today I led Charmer and Coco over it. I thought Coco would be the filly to have more issues with it, but she seemed so keen to stick close to me that she summoned the courage to go over it beside me. I wanted to get pictures of the two girls going over the bridge, but both wanted to go beside me, rather than after me, so they were too close for photos.

Leading young/green horses over the bridge is interesting as the bridge is narrow, and young horses tend to think that the only safe place to traverse frightening footing, is where the human is standing. This leads me to always worry that the horse will end up knocking me off the bridge, which would not go well. Fortunately (knock wood) this has not yet happened, with the horses seeming to understand that my demise would greatly affect the quantity and regularity with which they would get cookies.