City girls - too afraid of creeks

It looks that our new Peruvian mares Diadema and Topacio are real city girls. They don’t want to step into water. That’s a big problem as around here there are many creeks and streams. Our farm has more than seven creeks and to get there one has to cross two real rivers. So they need to learn that water isn’t anything bad and walking through a river can be fun.

The same issue is with rough terrain. As “city horses” they have been used only to those types of ground found at horse events. They were born on a farm without much obstacles and probably never seen in their whole life a real river or a mountain creek. Much less places with lots of stones.

Our other horses, Pedron, Toby, Luzero, are from a poor neighborhood - so to say - and there is hardly anything that can surprise them. They have been wading through fast flowing water up to their bellies and without being able to see the ground, climb over rocks and go up and down steep slopes. They don’t go fast but are very secure.

For the city girls Diadema and Topacio this is all new. We need to expose them step by step to these things so that they can overcome their fears and learn that they can manage these situations. Our friend Carlos and his 6 years old horse Baby is helping us to achieve that goal.

In the picture you can see me on the right on Topacio and Carlos with Baby on the left. They all crossed the creek and Topacio even drank water from it. Something she would not have done a few days back. But then after crossing the creek she did not want to climb out over these rocks although Baby was showing her where and how to step.

So Carlos had to guide her on a rope which worked well. A bit later she crossed the same creek further upstream and had no issues. It was a bit easier though as there were less rocks. They all are learning and who knows maybe by the end of this week our pretty city girls will be used to rough country terrain.

After all they need to learn that because the farm isn’t exactly a show arena.

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