KBR Horse Training Information Exercising Body AND Mind

Water Babies

Don't let those puddles fool you

We're cool...

When your horse tells you he or she can't go through water, don't believe it.

We had an oppressive number of rainy days at KBR and when it was finally sunny, we let mustangs Keno, Velvet and Starfyre out into the arena for some exercise. There was enough dry sand for them to run, however they were more interested in the water!

As if running through it wasn't enough, they had to paw, blow bubbles, roll in it and roughouse in it. Don't tell us you can't handle water when out on the trail!

(Actually we cleaned Velvet off and rode her around and she couldn't have cared less if she was walking through water or on hard ground. Of course this was only her 7th real time under saddle so she hasn't learned that puddles were something a horse must avoid!)

The serious lesson here is if we don't take puddles too seriously and we let water adventures be fun for our horses, we can shape that playful behavior into something useful, visa vis a tendency to ride through water obstacles without avoidance or anxiety.

Warning - Following puddle play your horse may want to roll in the sand or dirt and "bread" itself!

This is better than sand.

Velvet, this is the drain
where the water goes out...

Ain't I beautiful?

Maybe I'll stick my head in a bucket