My Horse is Afraid of Water?

Question

When we go on trail rides she spooks away from the creek. And I have to lead her across... And get my jeans soaked. I'm sick of doing this. I've tried loping her near the water and having her watch another horse go across... Is there any thing else I can do?

Answer 1

hydrophobia.... seen it a million times. aka rabies.  nothing you can do.  

Answer 2

You have to show her that there is nothing to be afraid of. If I were you I would take her out on a day when you have alot of time and bring her up to the point where she will not go any further. Let her stand there for as long as she needs until she decides to get close to the water. Eventually she will get bored and should realize that there is nothing to be afraid of. If you let her figure it out on her own instead of forcing her though it will work better. I suggest briging something to read as it may take awhile. And also if she trys to turn away from the water don't let her, no matter what keep her pointed towards it. Thats the only direction she's allowed to move.  

Answer 3

My horse used to be afraid of water, but now he plows straight into the water jump without any hesitation.

I know you've had her watch another horse go across. Have you tried following that horse right behind? Getting a lead like this often helps a nervous horse. This has helped my horse some.Do it lots of times: at first very close to your leader, then further and further away until you are on your own.

Here's what has helped my horse the most, though. There was a drainage problem at the barn and as a result, he had to walk through a large puddle to get into his stall for feeding anytime it rained and for several days after. Getting to his dinner was a powerful motivator to get him to cross that puddle. And because he did it often, it is no longer an issue for him to step through water. He hardly even notices.  

Its funny that this really good training for him was actually kind of an accident, but it worked out very well and taught him a valuable skill.  

Answer 4

1. Understand why she's afraid.  Horses don't perceive depth well above ground - that water could be 50 feet deep as far as she knows.  if the creek is dark, it looks like a big, dark chasm to her.

2.  You should be able to work that horse on the ground to do everything you want her to do when you ride - and you must be patient with them.  There is no one-time fix for this.  Here's what I would do:

Assuming the creek is not in the close range of her home, you only encounter it when you're out riding, right?  So you not only need to get her comfortable with that creek, you need to familiarize her with all water, right?

Find or create a puddle at home.  Not a deep one and not a slippery one.  Preferably in soil that won't be slippery when wet - like clay.

This is the process for all scary things with horses.

Begin by lunging her in the vicinity of that puddle in one direction - get her as close to it as she'll go - preferably at the trot no faster.  Keep lunging her asking her to go near it - when she's closer and acting as if it's not there, not avoiding it at all, get her a step closer until she steps in it.  Keep going until she'll go through the puddle without worry - change directions and start the process again. This could take a couple hours but you're allowing her to build her confidence, asking her gently to trust that you wouldn't put her in an unsafe situation and allowing her to figure this out.

Here's what's probably happening - you are likely kicking or squeezing or whatever trying to force her to go through the water - not allowing her the proper process or time to become comfortable with it on her terms.  If you're smacking her in any way what she's thinking is that the creek is related to pain and stress and she should be afraid of it.  she needs confidence built in her, not being forced to go through scary things.

Do not expect that she'll ever simply walk through whatever water you put her in front of - she will always take a moment to assess the safety of the situation - every time you encounter a new water hazard, she'll need a few moments to assess it, gather her courage and go through it.  But once she's conquered that particular water crossing it will become easier and easier for her.

If you get off and lead her, you've not built the confidence in her - you've shown her she should be afraid and shouldn't go through until she goes after you.

This will not happen probably even this summer correctly as you expect - but if you take the time now that it takes to instill confidence in her, she'll be much better by next year and sounder for the long haul - if you force her, she'll never get any better than the point where you have to force her because you haven't built her confidence in herself nor in you as her leader.

Horses teach us two things if we listen to them:  patience and our other shortcomings.  If we lack confidence in ourselves we cannot build confident horses, if we lack respect ourselves for others, the horse will not respect us.  Patience because humans have the cognitive ability to learn and can communicate with words, horses cannot understand our language - so we must understand theirs in order to impact a correct communication with them.  Understanding how they perceive danger, pressure and why is the only way to be completely successful.

If you are a person who likes to read - check out Western Horseman books.  There are some on colt starting, ranch horsemanship, problems with horses and all sorts of things that will cover showing you in words and pictures step by step how to do what you're trying to do and it goes right along with many other challenges you'll encounter.  The books cost $14 - $25 each and they are easy to read with good photos and diagrams - I've learned a lot from them.

Good luck - I hope I've helped.

Answer 5

Desensitize her gradually. Do you leave your halter and lead rope on your horse when you ride? If not do it until she gets over this.

Get off her and standing beside the creek on the bank, on the left side of your horse holding your lead rope close to the halter with your left hand. Lift and point toward the creek with this end of the rope. Take the loose end of the lead rope in your right hand and use it to put pressure on your horse. Do this by twirling the rope toward the mid-section and hind of your horse, so that the pressure is directing her to step in the creek.

Chances are she will start to move but avoid going in the water at first. Set yourself up again to have her go in the creek and do not let her rest until she does. Keep applying the pressure. When she makes any progress, say even putting a single foot in the creek, praise her and give her a break for a minute. Do this by walking her away from the creek and petting her.

Then walk back up to the creek and ask for more (two feet). Keep repeating until she goes all the way in. Once she does that on the ground, try riding her across. During this exercise I am suggesting you do not get in the creek yourself, stay on the edge and ask her to move across on her own.

I have a horse who was afraid of water and this process got him over that in one day. But if your horse is really spooky about it be patient and split it up over a few sessions if you have to. Nagging a horse or overwhelming them is not as effective as letting them learn gradually.

You might try less threatening bodies of water if you have a chance, like a puddle after a rainstorm. Will she walk across a puddle?

Do you have time to take her down to the creek by yourself?

David

http://gentlenaturalhorseman.blogspot.co...

Answer 6

she is probably not use to water .try to get her to watch other horses and follow their lead.or don't take trail rides.

Answer 7

Take a crop with you lol. Really, it works.

Answer 8

Your doign good. What you need to do in desensetize your horse to water. If it ever rains and there are puddles everywhere, take her through those. Before you cross the creek, let her watch others and then take her up to it and let  her sniff it and get used to it. Just make sure she is around water a lot. If you have a tarp, you can put water on it and make her walk through it.  

Answer 9

I saw something on tv once where a horse had this same problem. What they ended up doing was taking long sheets and shaking them on the ground, and slowly introducing the horse to it, and then walking over it with them. Whats the point? That horse was afaid of the "movement" of the water, and not the water itself. It worked on the show (I'd send you a clip if I could just remember what Animal Planet show it was on). It took about a week of very patient trainers and a pretty annoyed but trusting horse.  Afterwards, they slowly introduced him to the water again, just like you did, then he was fine.

Answer 10

a lot of horses are afraid of water my dads horse us to buck him off but keep working with it and don't get off because that means he won you can do this get off once and then walk throw it then turn around and ride him over and over  

Answer 11

I've seen videos of trainers working the horse in an area with puddles and barriers on the side so the horse is forced in, like a dirt road with a puddle spanning the entire road and fence on each side of the road.  We all have access to that, huh.  Find a place with some small puddles and work the horse so it will eventually have to step in some water.  Keep doing that then work your way up to bigger puddles.  Though, I think once a horse is afraid of water, it is hard to break the habit.

Answer 12

same proplem but with a dog haha sorry not much help just bring her near water everyday and calm her and stuff then the next day inch her into the water and keep doing this everday till she can cross the creek by herself.

Answer 13

Hopefully, after working with her and having her follow another horse, she will get over this.  Give her a treat when she crosses.