I've had horses that were VERY fond of water and you could swim them, but you had to keep em moving in the shallows or down they would go. Let them drink, but when they start pawing or even just barley moving their front feet around, they were looking for a place to go down.
My mule will do any water crossing, and so far never offered to roll with me, but I had a 28 yr old "bomb proof, been there, done that" geldiing on a pony line with two 5yr old girls him when he decided to roll in the sand! It was like slow motion. I watched the front end start to go down, and I thought, he just stumbled or something, but then the back end started down and I just hollerd at the girls to get off. It was like a camel dismount! Both girls got off, we watched him roll and I pulled up him. Scared the crap out of the girls, but no one got hurt. My daughter climbed back on her horse and trotted on down the trail, but her friend wouldn't get back on that horse and had to ride home with my friend and her mule. Both girls (8 now) still love to tell the story.
My mule will do any water crossing, and so far never offered to roll with me, but I had a 28 yr old "bomb proof, been there, done that" geldiing on a pony line with two 5yr old girls him when he decided to roll in the sand! It was like slow motion. I watched the front end start to go down, and I thought, he just stumbled or something, but then the back end started down and I just hollerd at the girls to get off. It was like a camel dismount! Both girls got off, we watched him roll and I pulled up him. Scared the crap out of the girls, but no one got hurt. My daughter climbed back on her horse and trotted on down the trail, but her friend wouldn't get back on that horse and had to ride home with my friend and her mule. Both girls (8 now) still love to tell the story.
