For those that frequent the beach

How sad. Poor pony, his owners must be devastated.

However, I'm not sure about the point you're making- what company are you talking about ?
FWIW, I've taken a couple of my horses swimming at various beaches and they thoroughly enjoyed themselves.
 
horserider said:
How sad. Poor pony, his owners must be devastated.

However, I'm not sure about the point you're making- what company are you talking about ?
FWIW, I've taken a couple of my horses swimming at various beaches and they thoroughly enjoyed themselves.
Click to expand...


The point I think she is making is the dangers of taking your horses 'swimming' in the sea, you are putting your horse at risk. This was shared on my facebook, if anyone can't access it:

This is a photograph of the pony that died at Marazion yesterday, courtesy of his owner, Bonnie.
She has stated;
"This was our pony only yesterday, in the sea, NOT out of his depth, NOT swimming and with a knowledgeable handler, she slid off his side and he got away from her, he swam out to his death! No matter what people say to reassure you, it's a dangerous unpredictable thing to do and our precious friends are never worth taking a risk on. They CAN swim but are not natural swimmers. Please don't do it."
The owners family are devastated, but the owner wants to share this picture with the public and highlight the very real dangers of swimming with horses, for both horse and rider.
The owner, also went on to say
"Hopefully people will imagine his fear and panic, his tired legs paddling, his exhaustion, hopefully they will picture me and my friend frantically swimming to him, calling him, hopefully they can picture his 10year old friend screaming in desperation on the shore line, as she watched his little head disappear beneath the waves, hopefully they will feel some kind of mature responsibility to their horses and not be over confident in their assumptions of horse behaviour before they ridicule, hopefully"
"I stand to get ridicule from people who love to do this, but they have to remember that this time yesterday I loved to do this!!!! The very first time you take your horse in to the sea is the time you gamble with their lives, you will not know before then whether they will do what Charlie did and I hope I reach the genuine people who love the lives of their horses more than their own fleeting pleasure! X"

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Is that the actual picture of the accident? Then it doesn't surprise me it happened. That is way too deep to go in and the sea way too rough.
When I lived by the beach I used to take my horses in the sea all the time but I would never go as far in as these people did and never deep enough that they had to actually swim. Yes horses can swim, but should only do it in a proper horse pool
 
Yes, I read that, its terribly sad and warning people to be careful is good. I don't understand what company the OP is referring to and what part they had to play in the tragedy.
However, horses do enjoy swimming so I can't say I agree with the advice not to swim at all.
 
It's very sad, I have to say I would presume if with others any horse would be less likely to head out to sea. We do frequent the beach but don't go in the water as the footing isn't reliable enough although I have swum one before.. albeit 12.2 so probably shallow enough for me to stand up in.

Was this down your way Joeanne?

eta.. I just realised it said the place! sorry!
 
Pony drowns sad but stuff happens , horse has accident on road , horse jumps gate out of field and falls , horse falls jumping in a competition bad stuff happens all the time
But the statement that people who take their horses in the sea care only for their own pleasure is sweeping and frankly stupid I grew up on the beach we where taught when to go into the water and where as with everything a degree of risk is accepted that's life .
But it's certainly much safer than taking your horse onto a road.
IMO bareback in the sea is dangerous and unsafe I would never do that .
 
I live 5mins from the beach so do the majority of my schooling there when the fields are too wet.

I do go in the sea but only ever to paddle.
Animals panic when they get out of their depth, and for some reason they can swim frantically AWAY from the shore. My dog did it and nearly drowned - my OH reached her just in time.


What a devastating thing to happen, and how awful for the owners to witness it. I doubt they will ever forget it.
 
We used to swim our ponies as children, in a river, not sea. I can't say if they enjoyed it. They went in because we asked them to.
One day, one of the ponies lost his rider and swam straight out, we had to call for help and collect him from the other bank, eventually. I was told they can't turn easily once they start swimming.
There is no way I would want to do this now, we were so lucky with the risks we took. Condolences to the owners.
 
As I understand it, it doesn't say that the photo is from just before the horse got away, only that it is from some time yesterday and that they weren't out on such depths that the horse needed to swim. So maybe the horse was out that deep when he got away, maybe he was further in, but I must admit, that I thought that regardless of if it is a river, lake or the sea, your horse shouldn't be deeper than around the front knees in water, unless you actually plan to swim with it.

I can sort of understand why she ends what she wrote the way she did, with talking about that taking your horse in to the sea is to gamble with its life, and if you've seen your horse swim to its death, you maybe just see it in black or white, but hypothetically, it doesn't have to matter about if you take your horse in to the sea or how deep in the sea the horse was, because even if they only had been riding on the beach, it could happen that he horse unseated his rider, and in panic ran out in the sea and drown. Ditto Goldenstar, accidents can happen anytime, on the road, in a paddock, in their stable or anywhere else. So those who genuinly loves their horses, can still only do their best to try and avoid accidents.
 
It is very sad and I feel so sorry for the rider.

I only ever go to top of leg height in the sea but I remember once bring told by the life guards that they frequently have to go out to sea to turn a horse round when a rider has fallen and the horse sets out to sea. I think they just start swimming blindly with no concept of direction at all
 
I did see the new horse swimming company on the local news last week and thought is was a strange idea, the horses didn't look very happy, one of them spent the whole time rearing. Surely inviting people (potentially novice riders) to ride a horse in open water is a disaster waiting to happen.
Poor pony, it must have been horrendous for its owner. I have always fancied riding in the sea, but now I don't think I would, I suppose the horse doesn't know theres no shore to swim to?
 
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