the worst out of 2000 .......

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natmac84

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well on saturday i took my little welsh x mare swimming for the first time.... to say she tried to kill her self would be an understatement....

we arrive all nice and calm..booted up and she was taken to the pool....i thoght at this point she would freak BUT OOOHHH NO...she decided to leap full force into the pool, then instead of swimming thought she would try and gallop through the water

legs and water everywhere ..... then the drama....

as she was galloping (or trying) in the water she managed to get her leg OVER the long line that one of the girls was holding, causing her to have to let go of it, my mare then proceeds to try and smash her head off the wall of the pool and try and get out over the wall.....

cut a long story short it was quite traumatic to watch and she got out safely no injuries.....

the lovely man then put her in the solerium to dry and said "shes not a swimmer" LOL no shizza i thought....as i dont fell bad enough he then says he has swam over 2000 horses and ponies in the last year and she was by far THE WORSE!!!!


oh the shame of it LOL
:(
 
Swimming horses has always intrigued me, I watched Venetia Williams swimming her racehorses and it was obvious some of them loved it.

How do you introduce a horse to the concept, throwing them in, excuse the pun, at the deep end seems the only option but it would worry me if the horse panicked or even had a heart attack.
 
Its like a gentle ramp down that you lead them in. One of my loves it, and he is really fast. He used to go with the racehorses and he was by far the quickest when we timed them, shame they don't do swimming races with horses!
 
She will swim next time but yes they can drown and also it is important to only do 2 laps first time swimming, then 4 second day swimming but if she is not going to swim regularly never do more than 2 laps, they can also get colic if they swallow the chlorined water of the pool so beware
 
dominobrown said:
Its like a gentle ramp down that you lead them in. One of my loves it, and he is really fast. He used to go with the racehorses and he was by far the quickest when we timed them, shame they don't do swimming races with horses!
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They do! I watched one in Australia, maybe something you should organise? :D

OP maybe try a water treadmill if you still want to exercise her that way?
 
I saw one chestnut eventer who came swiming to help his fear of water do worse. He really really hated it, battled even getting his feet wet and after about 40 mins he just lay down and gave up - WITH HIS HEAD UNDER THE WATER!! one of the guys who worked on the yard risked his own life and got in (very dangerous as very narrow) and grabbed his headcollar and held his head above water while the others shouted and dragged him up to his feet.
Not seem much more scary than that.
They had had one drown in the pool so everyone knew the risks.
 
Poor girl, she will get used to it I am sure. Mine hated it and stood on the ramp for ages refusing to go in - I thought he would be a non swimmer but he has now swam regularly for 4 years. Did they recommend she returned to try again next day? I was told that following it up immediately helps them to adjust and gain confidence.

I hope she does take to it, I have found it marvelous for fitness and recuperation from injury.
 
A mare I had was a non-swimmer, after the chap had confidently said to me that he had only had one that couldn't swim in his time of doing it!

Your experience sounds scary and hilarious all at the same time!
 
haha i know that feeling! a horse i used to look after decded he wanted to do a reinactment of Titanic! bless him he got a bit confused and instead of swimming he decided that he wanted to try and rear...he went bum first downwards untill he was totaly submerged. had 4 people on ropes either side of him and one lad jumped in to pull his head up so he could atleast breath! he was only just out of reach from the ramp so we managed to drag him back to it and out of the pool. needless to say we didnt try again with him after that. some horses just arent ment to swim.
 
polos mom - was that 40mins of swimming no wonder it put its head under water, our racehorses at their fittest only do 20 laps a day which takes no more than 15mins exercise, it is too much on their heart, esp if unfit.
 
putasocinit said:
polos mom - was that 40mins of swimming no wonder it put its head under water, our racehorses at their fittest only do 20 laps a day which takes no more than 15mins exercise, it is too much on their heart, esp if unfit.
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No that was 40 mins of trying to get him knee deep down the ramp - poor thing never got anywhere near the actual deep bit - agree the fit riding school ponies who did lessons all day long only did 2 or 3 laps.
I suspect he changed career after that day!
 
Haha poor girl! And poor you!

I can imagine that's how my Arab would react to it, he burst a blood vessel last summer because I asked him to stand in a 2inch deep puddle... we have been working on it and the other week he walked through running water from an overflowing drain - result!

My shetland however would LOVE it, I take her walks down to the river and she splashes around and tries to lie down in it. If it wasn't so stony I bet she would lie in it, I've had to double tyre her water bucket because she kept trying to climb in ;)
 
Renvers said:
Poor girl, she will get used to it I am sure. Mine hated it and stood on the ramp for ages refusing to go in - I thought he would be a non swimmer but he has now swam regularly for 4 years. Did they recommend she returned to try again next day? I was told that following it up immediately helps them to adjust and gain confidence.

I hope she does take to it, I have found it marvelous for fitness and recuperation from injury.
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ummm no i dont think she will be going again LOL - im quite gutted as i wanted to take her every two weeks - the guys dad was there and hes been doing it for 30 + years and he said shell never swim so i think i might take his advice on that LOL xx
 
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