Crossing water

[bexj]

Molly is terrible at getting her feet wet! She avoids puddles, doesn't like wet mud and trying to get her to cross a stream is a full on task! Now, theres not many streams near the yard, but theres a really nice long ride but you have to cross 2 streams! This can easily add on a couple of hours to an already long ride.

Apart from practising through ppuddles, what else can I do to encourage her to go through water?

Last time we had to cross the narrow and shallow stream I had to eventually get off, stand in the stream (not fun with joddy bootson in March!!) and get the other horse to "push" her in! Not ideal:mad:

[entreat]

Firstly - always have more time than she does. She'll do it eventually, but you just need the time.

Second - rewards. Cody doesn't really like water, so if he's crossed the creek, or I can get him to stand calmly in deeper water, he gets carrot chunks.

Thirdly - are you sure it's the water she doesn't like? I thought Cody didn't like water, but as I found out by offering him a drink from a private dam we shouldn't have been in! The ground in and around the dam was firmer than the ground in and around the dam at home, so he tried to go for a swim!! So it's squishy mud he doesn't like... and rocks - but firm wet ground is not a problem!

[Miss MoneyPenny]

Penny was like this too when I got her - but I'm afraid that it is just time, and practise that will help them getting better in water. She wouldn't go through a puddle when I got her, we are now a true water baby - swimming in the sea, and crossing deep rivers, and walking upstream!

entreat mentioned the best way to get started - give yourself LOADS of time, it took us an hour the first time to get Penny to put her foot in the river, and once there, keep them there andtry the next foot....and so on....and so on.....

Penny is run by her belly so treats worked - soon they'll realise that the water doesn't eat them!

I must admit that I had to lead (push and pull) Penny at first - but that way she learnt that if mummy goes through, it's not that bad - also if you have another horse that will go through - get them to go first across the water, and wait on the otherside - they will then see that it didn't eat the other horse! It also worked to get the other horse to start to walk off, continuing on the hack - Penny hated being left behind and would HAVE to walk across the river!

Good luck!

[Yann]

I think groundwork is supposed to be quite helpful too, getting them to walk across bits of carpet and plastic sheets builds their confidence. If you are regularly crossing the same water you may find things tend to improve rapidly anyway, if she's anything like Rio familiar water is rarely an issue.

Other than that be patient but insistent and give lots of praise for any moves in the right direction. Will she not take a lead from another horse? They'll often follow where they won't lead.

[Mehitabel]

you need to understand why she's doing it. a horse in the wild depends entirely on its legs for its survival - escaping from predators, goign to find food and so on. so walking through water when they can't see the bottom and have no way of knowing if they're going to put their feet down a pothole, get stuck in mud and strain a tendon, trip and break a leg - is a big demonstration of trust in you.

she needs to be certain that you aren't going to ask her to do anything that will hurt her, and also that once you've asked, she *is* going through. getting off and leading will help (wear long boots though!) as she will learn that you aren't afraid to go through it, see you go through and not get stuck, so she will be reassured that the bottom is OK to walk on.groundwork and the exercises yann suggests will also help.

[DITZ]

also try and make life easier for you and ask on the way home. Sometimes its amazing what obstacles they will go over when they're homeward bound!

[galadriel]

Having a lead to follow can make some horses braver. If there's someone with you whose horse will go in water, sometimes if you just right beside/a little behind them, your horse will follow right on in.