Puddle Shark, lesser spotted.

Here’s a little context. 🙂
This bridge is in the woods near Esher, not even a mile from the yard where Oz was boarded.
If you wanted to go to Prince’s Coverts or Claygate — this is the route you had to take.
Now… this is a live railway bridge. So you kind of learn the timetable by heart, to avoid the trains roaring over the top. Alas… we are talking about Network Rail in the UK, and time tables are a little “Speculative”. So chances are that you’ll get caught out at one time or another.
We’ve been caught out a few times, and Oz, hearing (or even seeing) the “Dragon”, was convinced it’ll be the end of him. So I don’t blame him for being apprehensive about the place.
However… if you then add a puddle into the mix — all bets are off.
Puddles rank as follows:

1. Small puddle — snortworthy, but tolerable. You might get wet toes. Yuck.
2. Medium puddle — will bite the legs off small grey horses. Cannot step into that. Too dangerous.
3. Large puddle — infested by Puddleus Sharkus Minor. The Lesser Spotted Puddle Shark, and possibly alligators, which are very common in Surrey, England. Will eat small grey horses. Definitely not stepping in that.
4. Puddle stretching the width of the path — HELL no. 30ft sink holes. Oz has seen entire herds of Shires swallowed by those. Not a chance.

So now you have the dragon bridge, plus a large shark infested puddle — and it’s dark under there.

He’s not afraid, he’s just super vigilant to protect me. Honest.

Every time I had to go under that bridge, he damn near freaked. But even though he’s hugely apprehensive, he tries because I’m asking. To me, that’s massive bravery. 🙂

I do not (and never will) carry a whip. I don’t believe in them, and Oz is scared to death by them. When it’s just too much to ask of him, I generally get off and just stand with him, reassuring him, letting him look, sniff, and figure it out. It may take five minutes. I might take an hour. I honestly don’t care. He gets as much time as he needs.
I’ve never had an obstacle we couldn’t get past eventually. We’ve had plenty of 180’s. But we get past in our own damn time. Or rather, when he’s ready.

I do push him verbally, but I also let him have a relatively slack rein so he can move his focus where he needs to. (Landed me in a ditch once or twice…)

So there you have it. My brave little Paso, who’s really scared of everything — but soldiers on in spite of it.