Horse wont go in water jump first!

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Nikademus

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Hi everyone,

Sorry it's a bit long winded but I've got my first ODE with my 5 year old TB in 2 weeks and I'm still having trouble getting into the water jump. Have been XC schooling several times and keep having the same problem.

We went schooling on Saturday and he was as bold as a lion and jumped everything brilliantly first time :D. Only problem is the water. On previous outings he will go in fine with a lead but point blank refuses to go first. So on saturday I was determined we would do it without a lead.

He's pretty highly strung and giving him a smack only makes him want to kill me so always use a softly softy/ very patient approach. He walked within a foot of the water edge and then refused to budge. My schooling companion and his stable mate stood on the otherside of the water, approximately 5 feet away. Still no luck. After 10 minutes of clicking, nudge nudge and gentle encouragement he was clearly starting to get pissed off (started kicking the soles of my feet with his hind legs as if to say stoop nudging me I'm not going!) and still wouldn't get any closer. So the other horse stepped forward and put it's two front feet into the water.

My boy then walked in fine. stood in the middle, had a splash around and a right good old time. I then wlaked him into the other water jump without a lead and he was fine?!?!?!:confused:

Can't work out if it that he doesn't want to be the first one in the water or that he doesn't initally want to get his feet wet?

Any suggestions? Have been planning/ preparing all aspects for this event for 3 months and really don't want to get elimated at a walk through water on the XC!!!!
 
ok i would say that your horse is telling you that he isn't quite confident enough to go in first yet.

what i would suggest doing is sort of similar to what you tried- get him as close to the water as you can and then when he stops you just stop doing anything. after a minute ask him once (clearly once, not nudge nudge) to go forwards. if he ignores you do nothing and ask again after another minute. if he backs up then really pony club kick/ growl etc til he goes back to where he was - he has to learn that reversing etc means you make life hard- otherwise you will give him time to think about what he needs to do. the problem with constant nudging is that its annoying for him and distracts him from what he's thinking about.

i try to go into water on a regular basis to make horse realise that getting feet wet is not so horrendous after all!
 
My mare wouldn't go any where near the water complex, even with a lead. So I took her up for their instructor to work with her. She used a be nice halter and lunge line and spent ages just getting her near a small bit of water,

this was after 15-20mins!!

088.jpg


Once she was comfortable going through that we did the same with the complex and let her have the time to decide when to go in the water. Once she had been in once, she lead her in with me on then I went through on her own. She goes in fine now.



If you haven't got a halter, you could try leading him though on a lunge line.
 
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