I had a great weekend with Gabe!  On Sunday my trusted horse and I took Gabe on a long jaunt down to the Patuxent river.  That included braving white and yellow lines on pavement, motorcycles, causeways with water rushing underneath, passing by geese and ponds, walking through puddles, passing through tall corn stalks rustling and scraping against the saddle, cars driving by on dirt roads, mud up to the ankles, and best of all, a stream crossing! 

Gabe took everything in stride and clearly enjoyed himself as his tail swayed and he looked around at all the new sights.  The river crossing was the toughest for him mentally.  To be fair, it had a muddy downhill entrance that he was sure was hiding allegators of some sort.  My horse waited patiently as I applied pressure on the lead until a step forward was taken.  The release on the lead was appreciated and Gabe quickly learned that if there was forward movement there was no pressure on the lead.  It wasn't long before he leapt into the water (maybe 5 minutes), but not before tasting the mud!  He literally stuck his nose in the mud, smooshed it around up over his nostrils, and tried a taste.  That got me laughing pretty good. 

By the end he was finding puddles to walk through!  I think he was pretty proud of himself all in all.