Beach stories (or other open spaces)

[SharonA1]

The thread on a young horse freaking out over open spaces reminded me of my horse’s first trip to the beach… Huge open spaces, waves… My horse was all but undone at her first sight of the ocean, and then it took her about half a mile of snorting and side-eyeing to be able to cross a pencil-thin tide line in the sand. Once she had time to process, though, everything clicked and she became entirely chill with the whole beach concept. So funny, to see her going from piaffing and snorting and “having her full Arab on” to sauntering along through the shallow water and waves with an air of worldly BTDT. (She was around 20 at the time, so, a different brain.)

Wondering how other horses have taken to the beach (or other new environments)?

[endlessclimb]

The Old Man was a Young Man when he went to the beach. His bomb proof brain was BLOWN. I had to back him into the water because the tops of waves coming towards him had him totally unglued lol. Once backed in, he settled.

[prudence]

We took our trail wise horses to a beach where there were lots of people. The two boys were a bit unsure so my daughter got off her horse to better control him. So she thought. He turned while bolting from a small wave and ran over her. She was fine but lots of people got excited. That horse was always that way, seeming to say would you just stay on my back and I will handle it!

[Jarpur]

I’ve ridden on the beach in CA, and in a couple of foreign countries. The horses always loved it, and the footing was great. Horses I rode either had previous experience, or other horses in the group did (leading by example), so no big reactions, even when I ponied a young, untrained horse.

In my local area, there is no beach access. The closest thing would be riverbanks (with water currents and maybe some minimal rapids), or the shore of a very large reservoir, therefore no large waves (reservoir is big enough to get some wave action, but nothing like an ocean). I’ve had more reaction from some of those situations than from the beach rides.

[Bluey]

[Texarkana]

I haven’t taken my mare to the ocean (yet, I keep saying it’s going to happen), but she’s done quite a few beach rides/swims along the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.

She’s been a good sport every time, but she hates it. The waves really get her.

[sophie]

My avatar is my late Ottb mare and I having a relaxed canter on our local beach. We used to take our horses to the beach regularly, at low tide in the winter, to work them, because that’s where the best footing is when you have no indoor in Maine.

It didn’t take very long for my mare to get used to it. Of course we had to be aware of loose dogs and loose kids in their ski suits ( my mare hated that swish-swish sound lol) but it was a great place to ride.

On my very first Ottb, the beach is also the place where I saw stars (like in the cartoons ) : we were galloping the length of the beach when she suddenly stopped dead and I smacked my face on her neck SO hard.

I consider myself lucky that 1) she actually put her head up when stopping, or I would have gone flying, and 2) she just stood there while I was returning into my brain (!) and was able to see why she stopped: one of those little “streams” that cut through the beach in places. She could easily have cantered over…!!!

I love riding on the beach. Did so in the Camargue (south of France) last year and after that slow canter in the 2nd video, we actually galloped and got soaked and all giggly and felt like we were 12 again! ( I am the one in jeans and light colored shirt)

GH018610

GH018661

[2DogsFarm]

Not even a lake
But a place DH & I boarded had a couple creek crossings. Deepest was nearly bellyhigh on the horses & to get in or out you had to climb a steepish bank. Maybe 6+’ - above your head mounted.
My pansy TB would follow DH’s GameforAnything TWH into the creek.
Then stride around like it was his idea… Until Walker would put his nose in & blow bubbles
At which point, TB would do a Reverse Snowy River & CLIMB the closest bank to get out.

Another shallower creek had salmon returning to spawn. How or Why I never figured out, we were in NW IN
But these were HUGE, probably Coho.
Another time I was riding a school pony bareback - so fat you sunk into him like a recliner - when we were on the bank & one of those MobyDicks jumped in the creek. Pony had been giving me crap about crossing, saw the fish & LEAPED the creek’s width - at least a 3’ spread

[OzarksRider]

In the mid 1960s, when I was 13-14 years old, we lived in Senegal, West Africa in a French/American compound that was just a couple of miles from the beach. I used to ride a tough African horse in the bush and through the nearby African village. I liked to turn that horse loose and gallop in the edge of the Sahara Desert, and I vividly remember riding to the top of the sand dunes and watching the breakers roll in from the Atlantic, not a soul around for miles. At the time I didn’t think anything of it . . . it was just something that was great fun. But now when I remember those days I think how totally cool that was.

[Scribbler]

Some of my friends think riding on the beach is going to be a glorious life experience and I have to keep saying it will take time to get your horse used to it. Our horse accessible beaches are more mudflats, the actual sand beaches are for people only, and much of our coast is rocks and barnacles.

I took my good trail mare onto the upper part of one of these beaches at very low tide and she was very nervous about the footing. We were well away from the places you needed to watch for quick sand and she still was sceptical. We didn’t get near the water it was half a mile out that day.

[phantomhorse]

I have been lucky enough to ride on the Jersey shore a couple times on friend’s horses… I sure hope to get mine there at some point! My current guy is still pretty suspicious of creeks so I can’t imagine what he will think of the surf…

[cilla1]

I used to ride on the beach with good old Ciri, he wasn’t a fan but he was the goodest boy, so we never had any problem. Berta, our steady haflinger, can go wherever you point her nose but the one and only time we took her to the beach she completely lost it. She became a snorting dragon, and hit hard my SO’s face with her head while doing a 180° and escaping the beach full speed . Luckily he didn’t break his nose but he bleeded quite a lot and felt dizzy for a while.
I have not the gut for bringing Paco to the beach, he can be a naughty bucker even on trails, I can’t imagine what he could do in such and open space (or, as only horses can, he would be and angel, because these animals are complete weirdos, aren’t them? Lol)

[4horses]

I try to ride on the beach once or twice a year. My paint mare thought it was all very exciting (like a trip to Disney world) but that’s sort of her approach to all things new. The ocean was scary and she didn’t like that part. But she was okay with riding alongside it.

My Foxtrotter mare likes the beach and didn’t bat an eye the first time I took her. She went right in the ocean when I asked her too and we promptly were smacked by a large and unpleasant wave. She is very easy going so you just ask and she says “sure thing”. Maybe she has been to a beach before (or maybe not). It’s hard to tell with her because she is always an optimist.

My friends Paso Fino turns into a fire breathing dragon at times. He is wonderful and fun to ride for the most part but sometimes I am glad to get off him in one piece. I sometimes wonder if I’m a bit crazy to even ride him. He can be perfect or he can be so revved up you are just waiting for the explosion. He does not want to lead on the beach… put someone else in front and he generally does well… if they canter off he might just lose his mind. I’ve had wonderful rides on him and I have had terrible rides on him. He can buck, or rear, and definitely has strong opinions about things. Who says geldings should be dependable?

We were followed down the beach by someone with a drone one time. I was so annoyed as we kept trying to get away from the thing and they kept following us. We would zig zag and it would follow us wherever we went. So annoying!

We went to the beach the day of the 2020 presidential election and they had a line of Trump supporters on motorcycles with flags all driving down the beach at full speed. I was really glad the horses held it together for all that! Probably not the best time to go beach riding.

We had one trip to the beach and it rained almost the entire trip. We managed to squeeze in rides in between rain showers and despite the rain, we had a really good time. The horses were full of themselves(probably from the wind and rain) and we gaited the entire ride.

We have a more relaxed beach trip coming up. Taking 2 young riders and my pregnant mare, so we probably won’t be riding like the wind this time. If we go again in the spring, I will probably ride my friends Paso. I do love him, even if he can be a bit unpredictable.

[RedHorses]

We don’t have beach access here. I have had my horses in a lake, and one of our big rivers. My senior is a bit concerned about the little waves lapping at the shore (pictured). He did go in, and has been in on several occasions with the river at various depths.

[tabula_rashah]

Most of mine have been suspicious but get used to it pretty quickly. We ride in the bay or tidal rivers pretty regularly but the actual ocean is a bit more of a haul for us so we don’t go very often and we’re only allowed on there from Labor Day to Mem Day