Stream crossing... done!

Today was a twelve kilometres round trip with river crossings and off track training. All went well. I tied Justin right near the ford he refused to cross the first time we tried. I cleared the path, crossed over many times myself and then with Gamin so that he could realise that this was not a big deal. I let him plenty of time to think about it and then we had a first go. As we got near the edge of the water, he stopped and turned back. Tried again five minutes later and this time he did not even slow down and went over to the other side. Half a carrot as a reward and the aggro of last time was in the past and forgotten. Later on the walk we had to go over eighty or a hundred metres of really soggy ground, sinking ankle deep and he did it without hesitation. At one stage I decided to have a little exploration in a very dense wood with lots of blackberry bushes and low branches and he followed bravely. We went back via the ford and this time he did not hesitate. Twice is a habit with him. I put my weight on his back, just lying on my stomack and he did not move an inch. One piece of bad news though, while giving him an energic massage with a brush, I found a bald patch of skin underneath his hairs on his back. I suspect an attack of horse lice and will have to get some Acadrex or whatever the chemist will have for insects and acarians tomorrow. This is probably due to the fact that I got him this old hay for bedding, which was probably contaminated, or he picked them up in the sheep shed. This added to the stress of changing home and taking up daily exercise might have made him vulnerable to an attack. I had this trouble on some of my horses in the past and it should not have any consequences on our schedule of next week departure. Treated early, his discomfort should be short lived. A nuisance though... damn. Lucky it is nothing worse like mudfever or flu. He has not had his equine flu vaccine for three or four years but has had his wormer regularly. I have arranged an overnight stop at the Donkey Farm in Creances as our second day goal but may be I should keep well away as I do not want him to contaminate his "brothers" there. I still will have the appointed farrier there, a donkey specialist to check his feet which look fine to me but I want to make sure. I am taking a file and pincers with me to trim his hooves if necessary on the way but would like a man of the art tell me if he needs special rectification of his posture as it is very important that he feels one hundred per cent good on his four legs. Will see how he is in the five or six days before reaching Creances. I am really impatient to hit the track now and hope tomorrow, Monday will bring good news with the post. I will be going to Cherbourg in the morning and hopefully the next time I put the van on the road will be sometimes in July. I still have four or five hours of trimming my hedges and make the farm ship-shaped before leaving so... no time to waste and I'll say good bye for now.