Bath time

We tried to give Troy a bath last weekend and he is TERRIFIED of the noise coming out of the sprayer and almost took a fence corner out of the ground. He saw the other two getting a bath, even stood from about 50 ft and watched some of it. However, when it was his turn, he was not having any part of it. DOes anyone know a trick that I might try to get him bathed. We did manage to get his mane and tail brushed out and stiff brushed his whole body. One of the previous owners tried to braid his hair or something and it was knotted up really bad. My wife knows about that kind of stuff though. Thanks in advance for your help....

Don't make bath time such a big deal.

Maybe start out with a bucket and a sponge or towel at first. Continue to let him watch his buddies get a bath and keep trying. But if he puts up such a fight, just give him a sponge bath.

Here are some things you can try, but if you have any doubts please find someone with experience to help you. You will need two people anyway. One person to handle the horse and one person hold the hose. Stand about 50 feet away with the horse and gradually try to lead it up to the person squirting the hose. If it starts to freak out stop and wait until the horse is calm before trying to go forward again.

If the horse refuses to go or backs up just keep asking him to move forward. Do not try and play tug o war because you will lose. What I do is stand at the side of the horse while pulling forward with the lead. If the horse is really stubborn I may try swinging the rope around behind me and tapping it on the side. If the horse backs up I just back up with it, but continue to keep pressure on the lead. (Always stay in the safety zone at the horses shoulder.) As soon as I get even a step forward I will release the pressure, and give praise.

Do not try to spray the horse until it can stand quietly next to the person squirting the hose. Once the horse can do this try running some water on him, I usually start at the shoulder. If he moves away just bring him back and try it again. The biggest key is patience. It may take several days or more for the horse to except this. Each time you can get the horse to except more than the time before you are making progress.

Often I will exercise the horse before trying to hose it for the fist time. This will help take some of the edge off. Remember to put safety first. Don't let you horse get between you and what it is afraid of. This way if he spooks he will be less likely to run you over. Also, I like to use a long rope instead of a regular lead. That way if the horse bolts I have some slack to give it. Working in a fenced in area is a must. That way if the horse does get away he won't go running down the street.

Is it a sprayer attachment? If so, have you tried removing it and just using the hose at a low setting? Otherwise, I'd go with Xan's suggestion about the bucket and sponge.

We talked about it this afternoon and we are going to try the bucket first and then work our way up to the hose.

Keith,

When you get him accepting water "falling on him", then try a multi sprayer nozzle. I got one at Home Depot for under $10 and it has quite a few intensities for water spraying......such as "bucket filler, mist" etc. The one I use is "shower"....and it really doesn't make any noise.

Isn't is sssssssooooooooo much fun finding their fears as you go along.....it can be exhausting

Bath time is no big deal, I train young and old horses all the time to like water, all you do is back them up when they move or spook from the water, spooking is a bad thing, and horses can be trained not to spook, they will still spook here and there but still work them and tell them that spooking is a bad thing. If I can train horses to like a tarp and be able to stand in the saddle and let it blow it over my head and not have them spook and then you can train them to not spook from the water.
If you make it a big deal and then your horse will every time.