Nappy horse through water

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Ellie.Kerrison

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Advice needed - Today myself and a friend tried for over an hour to get a pony through a shallow stream, we tried getting her through with a rider on, rider off and leading, following a horse into the stream and she was having none of it! She fine with being sponged, hosed, jumping water fillers and has even been in a lake! Never had any bad experiences with this stream either and is generally not spooky or nappy, any advice and tips would be gradually appreciated
 
Quiet calm persistence and a calm companion. Horses generally don't know how deep the water is. They have to trust the rider and have positive experiences with water to learn that when asked to go in, it is OK to do so. Even if she has done that stream before the angle of the light reflecting of the water make make it look different to her.

You could do ground work with things like walking over tarpaulin and different surfaces so she builds confidence that it is OK to step where you ask her to. Make every experience a positive one. Reward every positive step. She might not set foot in the stream - or on the tarpalin - but if she steps toward it that is OK. Reward her and finish for the day. Next day aim for two steps etc.
 
with baby ones i get in i like to put them out in fields where they have to walk through streams and water. it does wonders for them and they just learn about reflections, change of colours etc. the idea is if you can find two of three fields they can wander through with a stream through them. they just follow the herd and work it out naturally themselves. its well worth doing, even if you only find somewhere for a few weeks.
 
Patience, work in hand with a long rope so they don't jump on you. Going through the same issue myself and currently working on crossing trickles. Working up to actual water, then streams. Softly softly.
 
I have happy memories of standing in the middle of a ford on a sunny afternoon, wearing long rubber boots, whilst holding a bucket of feed for my newly broken horse. She went in happily ever after! Patience and gentle tugging were the keys to success.
 
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