Swimming with your horse can be a delightful break from the usual routine. Before you begin it's important to approach swimming with some safety precautions to avoid injuring your horse or getting yourself stomped on.
Let's be honest, I'm mostly worried about you accidentally drowning your horse because “woo hoo! Let's just jump on and go!“
1. Should you go swimming?
Body of water + horse's experience + rider's experience = whether you should be doing this.
Too many inexperienced riders head out with an inexperienced horse, which itself is not the best combination for success. But add to that heading into water that's deep, or a current the horse struggles with and you're just asking for disaster.
Swimming is fun, but it also presents the real risk of drowning for you and your horse.
If you're new to swimming with a horse, starting with an experienced horse and a calm shallow body of water is a great idea. It gives you a chance to get comfortable and coordinated with swimming on horseback without having to school a new horse or deal with a current.
2. Tack choices for the swim.
Of course most will undertake swimming bareback. If you decide to ride in with a saddle be sure to remove the stirrups so you and your horse don't get caught up in them.
Now is also a great time to swap out the bit and opt for a halter or bitless bridle instead.
And for all that is holy do not, I repeat DO NOT go swimming with a tie-down, martingale, grazing reins, side reins or anything else that fixes or limits the position of your horse's head. These are all major drowning hazards and that I have to mention this at all indicates that someone, somewhere, has already been [foolish] [idiotic] [dumb as a box of rocks] before and drowned their horse as a result.
3. Help, don't hinder, your horse.
The horse is not a sea-creature — going swimming is a laborous task for them and let's be honest, you're not exactly helping the situation.
Be sure you're using your body in a way that helps, not hinders, the horse as much as possible.
It's called “swimming with your horse” and not “ride your horse through a deep body of water” for a reason. Get off your ass and swim with your horse to reduce his workload. If you didn't sign up for the exercise this requires I hate to break it to you but maybe riding horses just isn't the hobby for you.
Give your horse his head so he can use it while swimming. If you need to grab onto something grab a hank of mane hair to be sure you don't lose track of your horse.
4. Avoid exhausting your horse.
You should always end a ride before your horse is exhausted — and swimming is no exception. Of course your horse will tire from the effort, but don't push him to exhaustion. End the swim while your horse still has energy to expend.
Give him a chance to relax and rest throughout the swim as well. Exhaustion is an excellent way to drown your horse.
5. Don't emulate S.T.A.R.S. Horsemanship
If you happen to be the experienced [rider] [trainer] [instructor] + experienced horse leading a pack of inexperienced riders + inexperienced horses in swimming through a river don't fuck it up like this.
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