1994 was the first year I started riding colts for the public. One horse I rode that spring was a Tennessee Walker named Kakaya. He belonged to the forest service and was one they had used for years. They just wanted him ridden for 2 weeks to get the kinks out and get him in shape for summer.
They told me he was bad about crossing water, “We just work around it.” , they said. “Everyone has tried to get him to cross it and he won’t, so don’t even try it, just ride him.”
That spring we had a lot of rain so there were mud puddles everywhere. He would snort at them and stay as far away as he could. I just kept him going down the road or trail and didn’t do anything else. After a day or two he got to where he didn’t snort and eventually would get closer to the puddles with out any help from me.
He finally started going through them on his own. When this happened I started riding him by the creeks more and would point him across and he would go on a slack rein. It was a great feeling!
This was a rare situation where the do’s and don’ts for success were there inspite of my inexperience.
Do get them moving by what scares them. Don’t try to force them through it and eventually they will loose all fear.