To Cross a Creek

The first test of trust between horse and rider pops up early on any Blackberry Farm Stables trail ride. No matter what your itinerary, from a two-hour amble in the woods to a half-day horseback wilderness excursion, you’ve first got to trek across the creek that glistens and burbles just beyond the far paddocks. It’s both a gateway to the woods and a sort of icebreaker question, facilitating a sense of horse-human teamwork that will serve both parties well further down the trail.

On approach, your guide gestures toward an embankment leading down to the water. “Eyes up, weight in your heels, keep your upper body perpendicular to the ground,” she says. This means, when your horse’s body descends down the bank, so that his shoulders become lower than his haunches, you’ll need to open your hip angle and lean back slightly to remain plum-line vertical. “Most importantly,” the guide adds, “let your horse have his head.” To wit: It’s your job to stay balanced and out of the way so the horse underneath you can focus on his job, which is getting you safely to the other side.

Horses may seem like unlikely personal watercraft vehicles, but they’re actually much more adept at navigating aquatic scenarios than you might think. Surprisingly, horses even have a natural proclivity to swim. Their giant lungs help their torsos float while their legs paddle in a similar motion to the way they trot on land (see also: that epic beach scene from the 1979 film The Black Stallion).

As kids growing up on an East Tennessee farm, my sisters and I used to swim our horses back and forth across a pond in the back field, lazing about in the sun afterwards with picnic lunches while our horses grazed. I still dream about the sensation: my arms wrapped around my horse’s neck as he propelled us through the water, my body floating weightlessly behind.

Today, the ultimate exhibition of equine swimming aptitude may be the annual Chincoteague Island Pony Swim, a 96-year tradition on Virginia’s coastline. Imagine 150 adult wild ponies, and half as many foals, being herded across a channel from island to island, which clocks in at about three minutes but seems to go on forever. It’s common practice for trainers to swim race horses for fitness, and underwater treadmills have recently gained popularity in the show horse world. In eventing, an Olympic discipline that some describe as “equestrian triathlon,” horses may leap off of vertical banks six feet down into shallow ponds of water during the cross country phase without batting an eyelash.

But at first, convincing a 1,200-pound, naturally wary animal that it’s OK to get their feet wet – even just to cross a creek – can be a process. With training, horses learn to trust their humans, which includes saying “yes” when a rider asks them to step into the unknown, such as a body of water. But it’s an earned trust. As a rider, you must always set them up for a successful, confidence-building experience. All the horses at Blackberry Farm Stables have been trained up slowly, methodically, and with the intention of providing guests with a positive experience that leaves them feeling more interconnected with the natural world.

This is all, of course, for context and proof that horses and water do in fact mix. At Blackberry, you and your steed will be wading through knee-high water at best. So, no excuses, give that horse a nudge with your heel and get on with it!

Within seconds you’re down the bank and splashing across the creek. You loosen the reins and let him pick his own path, relaxing into the saddle’s sway and relinquishing, for a moment, that sense of control that so many of us chase in our everyday lives. You choose to trust him, and in turn your horse chooses to trust you. Whether you’re a novice or expert rider, this intimate transaction of faith never loses its sense of wonder.

The creek’s crystal-clear surface now looks like a mirrorball shattered into a million pieces, each one reflecting a sliver of the tranquil scene around you: Summer sun, sapphire sky, cool green woods. Horseshoes clip-clop across smooth riverstone with the regularity of a drum beat, your horse never putting a foot wrong. You feel at once both exhilarated and relaxed.

And then, just as suddenly, you’re on the other side. Take a breath. Pat your horse’s neck. Look around. Allow yourself to wonder, what’s next?

– Leslie Wylie, Blackberry Farm Stables Trail Guide