braving the elements

We had a fairly intense night of rain and wind last evening, and although the sun came up bright and early this morning, we're still blowing pretty hard outside.

When we get a lot of rain in a short span of time we get a stream flowing through the front field, and this morning it was enough of a stream that it occurred to me we needed to take advantage of it to do some work with Cody and crossing water.

There were actually two streams in front - a smaller one that was a fairly easy success for him, guided by my daughter, and then the bigger one, which he crossed one way and then turned around and came through a deeper, muddier section that really tested his bravery.

He did it with much praise and a few alfalfa pellets as a reward.

Back up at the top of the hill, daughter took off his halter and let him negotiate the huge mud puddle now sitting at the gate that leads back to the paddock. He walked the fence line a few times, hoping maybe we would let him off the hook and bring him through the other, drier gate, but we didn't. When he realized hay was being served in the paddock he walked to the gate and hesitated, then marched on through.

He will often brave the water by either going airborne or going through fast, but today, he did a good job of marching through, keeping solid contact with the ground.

We're proud of the big red Quarter Horse.