Do you plan to take your horse swimming this summer? Swimming with your horse is a fun summertime activity. These tips will help ensure that your experience is a success.

Make Sure Horses Are Allowed

When you’re planning your trip, check to make sure that horses are allowed at the location. Many parks and beaches have restrictions on if and when horses are allowed; often horses are only permitted during the off-seasons. Be polite, obey rules, and bring along a pitchfork to clean up after your horses so that you will be welcomed back again.

Choose Tack Carefully

Be prepared for the fact that any tack that you use will get wet. If you’ll be swimming in salt water, the salt can dry out and damage your leather if you don’t thoroughly clean your tack after your swim. It’s best to plan on swimming your horse bareback, but if you need to ride to the location, then you’ll probably want a saddle. If you have a cheaper or synthetic saddle, make sure to use it for this trip.

Make sure that when you swim your horse, you use split reins. Split reins can help avoid your horse getting a leg caught in them, especially if he’s new to swimming and thrashes about. If you don’t have split reins, then unbuckle your English reins before you enter the water.

Take Friends Along

Plan to take some friends with you when you take your horse swimming. Horses are unpredictable, and even the most well-trained horse may have an unexpected reaction to water when they are asked to enter it. It’s a good idea to have company along in case anything goes wrong. Plus, having your friends with you makes the outing even more fun.

Pack a Cell Phone

Your first thought may be to leave your cell phone at home to keep it from getting wet, but it’s important for your group to have at least one cell phone amongst you in case anything happens during your trip. Put the cell phone inside two securely closed Ziploc bags – your phone will stay dry, and you’ll have it if you need it.

Don’t Push Too Far

Make an effort to keep your first swimming outing of the season short. Swimming is a strenuous activity for horses, so you’ll want to gradually condition your horse to be able to swim for longer periods of time. If you’re introducing your horse to swimming, the experience can also be stressful for him, so keep things on the shorter side to help make the experience a positive one. So, what do you think? Is swimming with your horse on your to-do list this summer?

Original Source: http://blog.classic-equine.com/2015/07/how-to-make-swimming-with-yo...