Teaching A Horse To Be Bathed

Water can be a scary thing to introduce to a horse. Many horse may try to bolt away, rear, run backwards or more when you first try to hose them off. These are all normal reactions for a horse frightened of a new thing. 

Like any type of desensitizing, the easiest and fastest way to teach a horse to stand still is through the release of pressure. 

For bathing, I like to start at the hooves vs the top line like I would for other desensitizing. I do this so that it isn’t a shock to the system of a horse that may already be hot and sweaty. 

To start, I will start in a round pen, so the horse can not completely get away. I will use a 14 or so for lead line so I can stay close enough to the horse. I will spray the horses hooves or even the ground near the horse. As long as my horse is moving, I will keep spraying, even if the horse is rearing or running away. A release at that moment would be teaching the horse that being fearful is the answer. Instead I release when the horse stands still. From there I like to rub the horse on the top line of the neck in horizontal strokes. This helps the horse go from just standing to relaxing as well. Then I will introduce the water again and again till my horse stands still initially. From there I will move up the front legs to the rest of the body. The face is the last area I spray. 

The following video is a short demonstration with a horse that I later started. My client was wanting a demonstration of my methods before sending her horse off and as she had never had a bath it was the perfect thing to demonstrate. 

As this was a short, impromptu lesson it was done quickly. In a training session at home each step would take a little longer. 

https://youtu.be/YOahzJTKX48