Some horses enjoy being in the water and some hate it. The horse’s name featured in the video is Goose! After watching this video you will see which type of horse he is: the one who hates or loves water.
Goose is guided by the girl riding him to get into a deeper place when only his head is left above the water. As they went in deeper he stars to groan like a moose. You can hear a similar sound when a horse stands up after laying on the ground and starts to stretch its muscles. As uncomfortable the groan might sound, it is actually showing that the horse is relaxed.
Being deep enough in the water Goose felt satisfaction once he became weightless. Of course his weight didn’t go anywhere but being submerged in water the force of gravity and water pressure became equal and he felt very much pleased.
Why is water training important for horses?
Horses know how to swim and they do when being deep enough in the water. Aqua therapy, when having the resources, is popular between sport horse breeders, trainers and owners. Water therapy works as a training session or as rehabilitation after an injury. If being trained in the indoors, horses need large pools to swim in or to have aqua treadmills.
While swimming makes the horse float and is good for muscles, the aqua therapy treadmills put the tendons, bones, muscles and joints into work. A water treadmill looks like a usual human treadmill that can be seen at every gym, except, it has walls around it so water could be filled. The horse is brought in, the box is filled with water and then a cardio session starts. The water level is never the same in all situations. It depends on which part of the horse’s body the trainers aim to strengthen.