[PreppyxCowgirl]

My 2 1/2 year old gelding is scared to walk in water, even out in the field. If there is water in front of the water troughs, he will stretch his neck as far as possible to avoid stepping in the water. When I am bathing him he is ok, but when I try to walk him through a puddle, he sidesteps and will usually jump it. How can I get him over this? I do not want him jumping the puddles or rivers every time. (this is all on the ground. I have not tried to ride him through water and I won't until he calmly walks through it on the ground.)

[Dancers Mom]

I want to take Dancer to ride on the beach here but we have to work on issues like this first. One time she saw a puddle on the trail about 4x4" and snorted at it and kind side stepped. I was rolling I thought it was so funny but I made her walk over it, it would have been hard to have her step in one that size. I could imagine what she would do if she saw the water at the Bay or Beach.

[PreppyxCowgirl]

^^That is too funny!!

[Tallboots]

What I would do is just work him through the puddles - get a pair of rubber boots and walk through the puddle first, show him theres nothing to be scared of, and just keep walking, and if he wants to sidestep around it - thats okay, just keep walking through it until he goes through with you, and when he does give him lots of praise and let him stop for the day.

A lot of horses at my barn were afraid of water, but since we event, water is pretty much a factor, thats the method we use and although it takes a lot of time its worth it!

[Sheza_Angel]

I did something like what Tallboots advised with my mare.

This horse would jump even the tiniest puddles sometimes if not just sort of throw herself sideways to escape them.

This method really does work! She sanely walks through water now.

[bay_blnd jmpr07]

Mars use to be afraid of water. Like puddles and streams. I took him to a park last summer and I wanted him to walk through the brook and he wouldn't...so I backed him into the water.

Then I couldn't get him away from the brook haha

[jazzyjumper]

My horse used to do the same thing. I had to go through it with him before he realized it was ok! I think they are scared because they can't see the bottom and therefore don't know how deep it is. I just walked though it with him and let him follow me. I let him sniff and every step he took got lots of praise. I haven't worked with him in a while though the scary horse-eating puddles, but the last time I did he was great. Only a little hesitant.

[payday]

good story: ok i was at a dressage show withh my horse, most of the people in my class had fully trained perfect dressage horses, well we had to ride in the outdoor ring and it had rained like crazy(dont worry safe footing) just a few hours before, well all the beautirul dressage horses were scared to death of the killer puddle in the arena. but there was ponds outside of the ring a few meters away almost all of the people ignored the puddles and rode around them because their horse was afraid of them. well, a few minutes before my test i walked my horse with a halter on through the puddles, i fooled around with him in the water for a bit, like splashing him and trotting him through and stuff,he soon learned the puddles had grass in the bottom!!!! he would want to walk into the puddles for the grass, so when we rode our test when we had to go through the puddle in walk the tryed to stop and find some grass in the puddle! the judges were surprized because all the other horses shyed and spazzed at the puddle! everybodys faces were hilarious!

[puzzles mom]

Well now you can see that this is a pretty common problem and as jazzyjumper mentioned, the reason usually is because to them, it is a big dark horse swallowing hole, so why walk though it if they can walk around it! Small puddles are the hardest to get your horse to step in, to easy to evade so try to find a place with a BIG puddle or a stream, lake or other water area with decent footing, you can try walking in it first to show the horse it is OK, just be careful they don't JUMP on you in the process as some horses will try, I would try the Parelli "squeeze game" send the horse back and forth between your self and the water source and makeing the route narrower and narrower until he has to put a foot in it (again, be careful he doesn't run over you in the process) Usually once you can get them to step in it, they realize it isn't so scary. Good luck and soon you should have a water savvy horse.

[Arrow]

In an arena, the horse should know he's in a safe place, and I'd teach him to go through puddles with the methods described above.

Out on the trail or in the pasture, the horse is just exercising caution and a sense of self preservation. He's saying, "why should I walk through a puddle when I don't know what's in it, if I can easily go around?" I think that's sensible--do you walk through puddles if you don't have to? Why should a horse.

As for crossing bigger pools of water or streams, you just have to take your time. Once you start riding him out and about, just point him at stream, ask him to cross, and wait for him to check it out. He might stand there, he might sniff the water, he might try to back up or turn away. Take a rein in each hand, keep him facing forward, and quietly ask him to cross until he does. The longest it took me to outwait a horse at a stream was when I was a kid--I was bareback in jeans, and it took about 40 minutes, and every inch of my jeans were soaked with the horse's sweat--gross! But usually it will only take 15 or 20 minutes, and the horse will be better every time thereafter.

In dealing with a slightly skittish youngster, I'd just take my time and be patient. Wait him out, he'll get bored and tired of resisting in short order, and will do what you want. He may hop a stream or two, but if you do it again and again and ask him to go slowly, he'll get the idea fast.