February Frog and Toad

It was a relatively cold that day when the three of us set out from the barn, three teenaged girls, each on a horse. I was riding my friend’s horse Prince. My friend was on Cheyenne, and my sister on Scout. It was a bright snowy January day and not extremely cold. We started out along a forest trail after having crossed the dirt road between the barn and our friend’s house.  A trail led us down the hill to the valley through a forest of hemlocks and then cedar trees. We came to the edge of the river which was about 5 meters across and not too deep. There was an open section of fast water with rocks and pebbles on the bottom. The rest of the river was frozen  over.  It must have been a relatively mild day since we never went out when it was icy as this would mean the horses could slip and fall, causing injury to themselves or us. We let the horses have a loose rein to pick their way across the rocky river bed themselves. Scout and Cheyenne did this carefully and without incident. Prince started out across and hesitated half way along. The water was about 2 feet deep.  At this point let me tell you that I was a horse lover, and still am, but was somewhat inexperienced. I was not exactly a horse whisperer!

Prince being given loose reins, put his head down, and I thought he wanted a drink. He started pawing at the water and sniffing and snorting with his nose.  To my dismay, and before I could pull up his head, I could feel his knees sink down and he suddenly rolled onto his back to have a little refreshing dip. I was tossed into the water. Of course no harm was done.  Prince did a few rolls looking gleeful and ready to go again. I had to drag myself to the shore, winter coat, boots, gloves and hat soaking wet.  What a shock to the body!  But we were close to home, and after a brief discussion,  we took the horses back to the barn and I was soon at home in dry clothes.