Brent came out to look at Apache, to consider buying him for his wife, Kim.   We saddled up Apache, Strider and Brego, to ride along the lake with Brent.  I wanted to try Strider while Tim rode Brego, to see how Brego would react to new things before I got on.  Besides, I've never ridden Strider outside our pasture before and I wanted to give him a go.  (It was fine, and there sure is a different view from way up there!)  

Brego was great!  He walked right by the scary objects (picnic tables, garbage cans, tarps on the ground, etc.) and didn’t flinch.  He walked along nicely without a hitch.  Before we came back, we switched horses and I rode Brego quite comfortably.  A nice trail horse he will be, and he had no problems keeping up with Strider.

Aside from that, we were still very concerned about Brego not drinking.  The weather was going to get very, very cold, and with little water in him, we knew he had to drink.  He'd been drinking from a puddle under the roof, and eating snow, and that could have provided enough water so he wasn't desperate enough to learn to use the post, but the puddle and snow finally dried up, so we knew he should learn soon.  He just wasn't pushing down the paddle, no matter how often I urged him to "push it, push it".  We wanted to bring all the horses together into the paddock so they could be under the lean-to in the wind and cold, but also wanted to keep Brego isolated there so he would be forced to figure out the drinking post.  We knew we needed to leave home soon for California, and needed to know Brego was drinking and that the herd would get along while we were gone.

For me there was a bit of a spiritual battle going on regarding trust.  Can I trust God to urge Brego to use the post?  Can I trust Tim’s methods to teach Brego by keeping him from all other water sources?  I thought he needed water, and I was worried.  I knew that we had to get him to drink from the post and that certainly Tim was right in depriving him of other water sources, but it was hard to watch Brego’s thirst and inability to figure out the post.

The cold wind had begun to come in, and Tim was out in the barn, in the dark, to observe what Brego was doing around the post.  I reheated some chili and cornbread, took it out to the barn where we ate it, watched and waited.  We prayed for Brego to drink, and wondered just what God had in mind.  Certainly He loves His creatures and could suggest to them how to use the drinking post!  Would He?  Can He make Brego drink?  Does He care?  Tim reminded me how difficult it is to watch a child struggle and to trust God with a child.  Having never experienced this, it was a new lesson for me in trusting God with my "children".

We went into the house and eventually began to get ready for bed.  Tim was in bed when he heard the pipes begin to shake.  He ran down to the basement (in his underwear) to feel the pipes, and sure enough someone was going to town on the drinking post.  Tim quickly threw on some clothes and ran out there, and sure enough, Brego was drinking from the post!!!  He was chewing on the back side and pumping it with his lower teeth, but at least he had managed to discover how to make the water come up.  What a relief!  Now we could sleep comfortably, no longer listening to the pipes.