Horse refusing to be hosed

[Mcl1]

Thank you all for the suggestions! I will definitely give them all a shot.

@Demerara_Stables Great idea with the piece of hose, I have an old one I can cut up.

He is fine with fly spray.

Yesterday we practiced just existing within 10 ft of a slowly dripping hose, which still was an issue but we ended on an ok note. He is a super weird horse to train because 99% of the time it feels like trying to train a brick wall, I end on some kind of not horrible note…and then the next day he comes out and does it PERFECTLY. So my hope is that if I keep working on it every day he will just walk out one day ready for his bath .

I unfortunately do not have hot water at the barn but I would love to! However, it’s an uninsulated pole barn so I am not sure if that would work in the winter. But, the barn/shop is somewhat attached to the house (…we did not build it, but it’s basically a large strange pole barn complex), so I have thought about maybe running hot water from the house into the mudroom that attaches the two, and I could run a hose out from there. My TB would certainly appreciate it, and I soak their food so having hot water out there would be great.

[Displaced_Yankee]

A lot of great advice here so I won’t duplicate what others have said. Water pressure, hose spray, temperature are all great variations to play with. However, I was drawn to this line:

@Mcl1

I only attempt to hose him when it’s really hot out so that it should be a “reward”.

Horses don’t think that way. They don’t equate hosing to feeling cooler/better and as a reward. It is a scary or uncomfortable situation for this guy for some reason.

If done only when really hot out then you aren’t consistantly working on it and convincing him that he will live another day to get cookies and spend time with his buddies.

[Ajierene]

@Mcl1

Yesterday we practiced just existing within 10 ft of a slowly dripping hose, which still was an issue but we ended on an ok note. He is a super weird horse to train because 99% of the time it feels like trying to train a brick wall, I end on some kind of not horrible note…and then the next day he comes out and does it PERFECTLY. So my hope is that if I keep working on it every day he will just walk out one day ready for his bath .

If it makes you feel better, I was working with a horse off the track - cute little (15HH) gelding, sweet as could be. Could hose him off just fine, that wasn’t the problem. We would drag hoses (different actual hoses but same black hoses) into the indoor to water it down. Could NOT ride him over them - didn’t matter if the water was on or not. He would if someone was leading him, whether or not someone was on his back. But even after walking over them a few times with a lead, then turning right around, no go - like kid, we just did this like 5 seconds ago and you were fine!

Anyway, he eventually went to a home somewhere and honestly that was his only issue so I’m sure he’s doing fine.

[Demerara_Stables]

It was a snake!

[LCDR]

I have mistaken her for a hose many times. She was 3 feet long when she moved into the barn, now she is 7 feet but still about black rubber hose diameter.

[Bluey]

In Europe, we would wash horse’s legs from knee down even in the coldest days, with snow all around, before untacking after working any horse.
We were told it helps cool their legs off and tighten them and horses seem to like it.
We didn’t have a horse that objected to hoses or water, not any more than to any other routine thing we did.
Repetition sure trains and keeps them trained.

We too have one of those, this a bull snake, in our horse barn, these pictures when half grown:

Same snake full grown, under the porch, that is a 5’ wide seat:

[2DogsFarm]

I’m not afraid of snakes, but seeing that in my barn would give me a palpitation …
At least until snake became a regular occupant

[PaddockWood]

My mustang has not liked bathing either. And I have hot water so the temp is always warm. I think cold water - even when it’s hot would be pretty uncomfortable if you already don’t like the event. I hate cold water to start in a shower. Is it possible to bring out warm water in some sort of container and use that for most of your bathing? Or all of it? For a while?

What’s worked for us is: warm water, nice soft spray, bathing in the grass - eating while bathing, keeping the session short -I can bathe now in 5 min. And I taught my guy R+ - so he knows cluck means good. I put Herballs in my pocket and reinforce all the good behavior.

He’s a pretty good sport now about it all. Going through the wash stall does still have hesitancy and I now just wait and in a few minutes he gives in and we go do the deed.

He also gets a cashpot of Herballs when we are done and he knows they are coming. He expects the payment.

I love these guys - you learn more patience, more about training, and getting them through some of this obvious stuff takes time but is so much fun when you can just do whatever like a domestic.

[Mcl1]

@Displaced_Yankee Yes, instead of reward I should phrase it “not totally torture” But I definitely do need to work on it consistently, I hadn’t really tried since last year until a week or so ago, but I am going to work on it daily now.

@PaddockWood I could bring warm water out in a bucket but he is ok with the bucket anyway. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) he isn’t a big treat guy. He will eat them in his food bowl but he doesn’t like taking them from my hand and has never really responded well to me trying to mix food with training. He does love being scratched and…having his head held (which is very strange and very cute). He is my first mustang and he has been so much fun and so rewarding. He is so affectionate in such a gentle, subtle way. It’s just so funny the things that he is offended by and things he doesn’t care about - for example, I can scramble onto him bareback and ride all over with no issue, but it’s taken a LONG time for him to relax with even just a saddle pad on his back.

Picture of my sweet guy for tax:

[PaddockWood]

He is SO cute and you can see the relationship between you. I love seeing threads like this and you getting him. We have such a huge problem with 60k of them in holding pens living a boring, unhealthy life compared to their freedom and family. It is so interesting he doesn’t like a saddle but it fine with you riding bareback and doesn’t want to take food from your hand.

Yes, because my guy is gray, he gets very regular baths in the summer. He must roll 10x/day. We are doing quick baths several times a week in the heat of summer.

I’d be curious to hear if your guy gets better with warm water. I’d put money on the table that he does.

[Ajierene]

@Mcl1

Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) he isn’t a big treat guy. He will eat them in his food bowl but he doesn’t like taking them from my hand and has never really responded well to me trying to mix food with training.

R- training can work well - negative reward could be taking the hose away when he stands still. R- is also a very effective tool for training horses and is used quite often.

[Lusoluv]

My big young horse is getting much better about standing in our wash rack. But he still moves around or paws quite a bit. I took the suggestion of making the water lukewarm and he was MUCH better today! So thank you to the posters who said to try that. I had previously been hosing him with cool (almost cold) water as it’s been SO hot here.

[PaddockWood]

Yeah, I thought about this post when I was in the shower this morning. I do like taking my water to pretty fairly cool as the shower goes on but never to start. I like it really warm and slowly go there.

Years ago, we rode out with an outfitter out of Bishop CA to track and photograph wild mustangs and our only bathing was a cold stream and it was so awful we only hit the stinkiest body parts and so very briefly. Then after 4 days of tent sleeping and riding all day did we so so VERY briefly washed our hair in it. It was painful! Cold water sucks.

[JumpWithPanache]

For last summer and this, my two horses plus a neighbor’s young horse have been on my mostly unimproved field. I have a shallow well with a battery operated pump to fill water troughs and hose off my guys after riding or just to rinse off the nasty sweatiness from hot/humid weather. The youngsters, who’ve been in their respective two-year-old years while with me were patently against being hosed off at the beginning of summer but gradually moved closer and closer to the mist bouncing off their “uncles”. This year’s baby finally let me hose him off yesterday, all while standing loose in the field. Last year’s baby is back with the neighbor and you can’t get a hose on him soon enough! I do start at the fetlocks and work my way up slowly because that water is COLD but fortunately this method has worked to get the horses to seek out getting hosed off. Not sure if you’d be able to replicate a similar situation with your guy or if you’re dealing with a wash rack situation only.

[LCDR]

How cold is your well water? Mine is 59 degrees F regardless of outside temperatures, warm enough to melt ice in the winter and cold enough to be refreshing to drink in the summer, but the horses and I won’t tolerate showers with it at that temperature.

[Mcl1]

@2DogsFarm So, funny and related to your story - I mentioned this a few posts ago but my mustang has been weird about being tacked up. Fine with me bareback, but just couldn’t seem to relax with anything else on his back. I could get the saddle and girth on but always a struggle and he was always uneasy. Well, yesterday I have him tied next to my other horse who I was getting ready to ride. I walk out of the barn and decide to just put the saddle on the mustang instead, just confidently and with no hesitation and damn if he didn’t just stand there…So I just keep going and lead him to the arena and hop on (he has never even walked around with the stirrups down) and he proceeds to just strut around like he has been doing it his whole life:

IMG_1367

So maybe one day he will just walk up to the hose and request a bath . I honestly do think that he watches his brother and learns from him.

As far as water temperature, I actually hose myself down with the cold water all the time but my TB would agree with all of you that he would much prefer a warm bath so I have been looking into it.

[PaddockWood]

He is so cute. Love his movement -folding those hocks and comes out of his shoulder so nicely. Look at you just doing it! Tacking up and going!