Water!

Wouldn't do that here, too many gators in the local waters.

BTW, isn't it pretty hard on your tack? My saddle has a suede seat, I think that would ruin it?

I just walk them as far as I can without going past the heels of my shoes. Which this would keep the main part of the saddle dry.

My goal is to get out to the lake on bareback! Cannot wait.

For those who don't want to go bareback but do want to try swimming, a cheap fully synthetic saddle may be an option. :)

I love going through water on rides!! Most of the time I'm bareback, anyway, if I'm not, and we happen to be at a lake I will just slip everything off, so we can play...

Or maybe a bareback pad. Some of them come with sturrips and a small "handle" where the horn on a western saddle would be.

I used to ride in a wintec, so water was no prob for it.

I loooove riding through water. And do it all the time as my main riding place is on the beach. I love galloping through it to, which I havnt done in ages. You get soaked but its super fun. And thankfully my boy loves water.

When crossing a creek don't go across straight. Face your horse's face downstream and then step over the creek sideways. That'll help cross a muddy creek. After a while you might try bigger creeks, ponds, etc. I always ask nicely the first time. I get less nice each time I have to ask.

Hey everyone,
I am new here and the current horse I have has issues with walking in water ...we are working on that one.
I love the water and to swimin a deep pool with horses...
Water has always been something that I love and can not stand when I have a horse who refuses to get their feet wet.
In my personal opinion the key is exposure. The more exposure to the water the better. I have even had to walk in before I could get horse I have worked with to get over the freakiness of the water....
They come along slow sometimes but eventually they go in.
Right now I am totally jealous because I can not ride...so you all have lots of fun and get wet and ride for me okay....
HP

My childhood mare and I used to go swimming in our pond after every show or hard work out. We loved it. It was something fun to do together

Swimming the horses half way through an exhausting trial ride is not only fun, but refreshing. I like it the best when the rider has the oppertunity to get wet as well as the horse.