Few things equal the exhilaration of taking a horse swimming on a hot summer day. The power that we experience as the horse surges forward, paddling strongly through the water, is fun, but can be dangerous. However, if you apply John Lyons' methods to teaching your horse to swim, he can learn to have fun with you in the lake, the river or the ocean. You'll find that you can build on cues you've already taught your horse to keep both of you safe.
Going swimming with horses is nothing new. Numerous professional horse-training facilities swim horses for fitness and rehabilitation from injuries. The Chincoteague ponies are world famous for their annual supervised swim across the bay in Virginia. In the early part of the 20th century, some "diving horses" were trained to jump off a platform and fall into a pool of water. But if you are like most people, you will just enjoy taking your horse for a dip after working or during a trail ride or campout.
You may think that swimming horses begins with bringing your horse to the edge of the water, but it really begins at home on firm ground. Your horse will have to know how to respond to a few basic rein cues because once you're in the water, you won't be able to see the horse's body and he won't be able to see yours. Body language will be no help. Beyond that, if your horse gets scared, he'll tend to try to get on top of you and out of the water.
Teach Water Safety
- Use a bridle and lead rope, and be sure you can move your horse's shoulder away on cue.
- Be sure the swimming area is free of obstacles in or under the water and that there are no steep drop-offs.
- Ask your horse to enter a short ways into the water, and to come out before he becomes nervous.
- "Lunge him" in a circle that is mostly on the shore but is partly in the water.
- Stay forward of the horse's withers when he swims, so that he doesn't accidentally strike you with his legs
So review the cues with your horse on the ground. Be sure you can use the lead rope to cue him to move his shoulders away from you and to move his hips away from you. Next, review the "go forward" cue, so that he will move forward into the water when you ask - the same first step you would use when teaching him to load into a trailer or asking him to step forward into a washrack. Remember to repeat these lessons in a more excitable situation, to be sure that he will respond to your cues despite distractions.
One distraction that works well is to practice the go forward cue over a tarp. Ask him to step forward onto a tarp, stopping with just his two front feet on it. Don't release the lead rope as he stops. Wait until he relaxes his neck. Be sure his nose is slightly toward you to make it easier for you to ask him to move his shoulders away from you if needed. Teach the horse to back off of the tarp when you pull the rope toward the horse's shoulder. Release the tension when he steps back.
After you can get the horse to move his front feet onto the tarp and back off of it, ask him to move completely onto the tarp with all four feet and then back off. Work on this until his neck stays consistently relaxed and his shoulder doesn't crowd you. Then ask him to make a small circle around you, with part of the circle on the tarp and part of it off the tarp. Increase the size of the circles until he is out at the end of the lead rope.
You have one last thing to consider before heading for the swimming hole. Does your horse easily cross streams when you're on the trail? If he fusses and hesitates, then you need to work with him on the trail using these cues. Better he learn about a little bit of water before you ask him to swim.
