Horse Training 101

So, our new horse, Storm, hasn't been too keen on getting into the water. In fact, he down right refuses to. Try playing tug-o-war with a thousand pound animal. One trail ride (a couple of weeks ago), we really worked on getting him into a puddle of water that we came across. Boy, was he stubborn.

Eventually, he ran through it...but he was still very nervous about it. When we got back to the trailer, we saw an even bigger puddle in front of the car and so we worked on it there again. We even got him to stand in it for a little bit. Well, last Sat. Sierra and I went out on another ride. We went down to the river bottom and he wouldn't get near the edge of the water. Stubborn horse. We even used the crop on his hind end, but he refused. It was bad because we let him get his way and gave in to him. We didn't know what else to do.
So, I get his bright idea. Next time we irrigate, we won't stall him up on the high ground with the other horses. We'll leave him out in the pasture where he can't avoid the irrigation. And so this morning, the irrigation came. Here he is, trying to stay on the high ground around the pasture.
But, then, he steps into it. "HEY - it's not that bad. In fact, it's kind of fun to play around in."

Yea!!! Hopefully, he'll just remember this next time we go to the river or come across a puddle in the middle of the trail.
We also had some visitors with our irrigation....five ducks! Boy, was Cash dying to get out there with them, but we didn't let him.

Here's a short clip - showing our successful horse training 101 - session 1 - on water:)