Bridget rode him yesterday and he was great. She didn’t need to beat him at all. Unfortunately, he was again sore today. Barbara suggested that instead of a lesson, I take PJ for a short hack down to the river.
It is my general principle not to go into the river if I can’t see the bottom because you never know what’s there or how the river bed has changed since the last rain. I went against my principle. I could see the bottom in some places but not everywhere. We had no problems walking into the stream. PJ enjoyed putting his whole nose into the water, blowing bubbles, and splashing. I walked him over to a small island but then we had to go back. All of the effort to get to the island swirled the silt up and now I couldn’t see the bottom at all. I thought I knew the path we had taken to get to where we were but I was wrong. We took four steps where the water was just a little over PJ’s knees and then the next step, the we were chest-deep. It spooked PJ and he ran, as much as he could in the water, back up to dry land. He looked behind him and I could feel his heart beating. I didn’t want to leave him with a bad experience in the water, so I took him into the feeder stream and made sure he relaxed before heading back to home. I don’t think that he liked that I laughed at him either.
Year With My Horse 
There is a deep river crossing in Allaire that we used to do all the time during conditioning rides. You can’t see the bottom because the water is chest deep on the horses, but it’s been the crossing for years. I guess it changed in the hurricane last year and Wendy’s horse got dunked and almost swept away back in March. Wendy DID end up going swimming. NOT fun! Glad you and PJ were ok. I bet that got your adrenaline up!