I received an email today from Darrell of JUNGLES IN PARIS who sent a video he had produced about swimming with horses in Jamaica.
Sounded great!
So, I watched the video and clicked on the link to the Resort, Half Moon Rose Hall – Jamaica, to check it out… (No Affiliation – I wish!)
What I found fascinating about the information in this video was that these swimming horses were mostly OTTBs (another good job for them)… In fact, since most OTTB have already learned to swim in treadmill pools, they are naturals at this new venture. Love that!
…And the Director of the swimming horse program, Trina DeLisser, said that you could ride horses all your life and never feel this feeling – of total power and smoothness – like you do when swimming with them.
Wow. I want to try that! (NO AFFILIATION – I wish!)
Click image to go to website
Nice! Do you see the horse?
IS SWIMMING WITH HORSES SAFE?
Generally, I say it is not safe to swim with your horse. Why? Well, because horses that don’t swim all the time can become frightened and erratic. I’ve seen horses actually climb on top of their owners to find security when the water became too deep.
Yup.
Also, one has to be smart about the temperature and swiftness of any moving water…
However, these horses in Jamaica are trained swimmers. Trained to swim with kicking humans hanging onto them.
So, in this case, I think it would be an incredible adventure!
You hang on and swim along side…
WHAT THE PRODUCER OF THE VIDEO HAD TO SAY…
In Jamaica, Horses swim in the sea. Not all over the island, but at a deluxe beach resort called Half Moon. Trina DeLisser, director of the place’s 28-stall equestrian center, started this program for guests three decades ago. “Everybody has this romantic idea of horses on the beach at sunset,” she says. “I thought: Anyone can walk along a beach! Let’s try swimming.”
The animals really are swimming, DeLisser stresses—not just walking in the shallows, as they do at some other Caribbean resorts. While not an indigenous practice by any means, the swimming makes perfect sense in the temperate waters of Jamaica. And the country’s numerous racetracks produce a steady supply of retirement-ready veterans.
Rescue horses make up about 60 percent of the roster at Half Moon, and many thoroughbreds arrive having already learned how to swim in the racetracks’ injury-rehab pools. “Like people or dogs, they’re not natural-born swimmers,” DeLisser says. “But because of the power of their legs, they’re actually very good once they’re taught.”
Half Moon’s scheduled swims are in the morning, when the water is less choppy, and for the ride back to shore, riders can slip off the horse’s back, grab its tail and be towed in. The animals, possessed of a laid-back island mentality, don’t seem to mind.
Fun!
I CHECKED OUT THE RESORT WEBSITE… NEED TO GO. NEED TO SWIM WITH HORSES.
I went to the website for the Resort and found a bunch of wonderful activities for the whole family.
But, I must say, the Equestrian Centre looked impressive. And, it is right on the water. What’s not to like…?
Could you imagine riding for a while and then taking your hot self and hot horse down to the beach for a stroll in the water?!
Dream a little dream, dreamdreamdream…
I liked this shot from the website…
THE VIDEO
Click the link below and watch the very pretty short film about swimming the horses in Jamaica…
Click image to watch this pretty film about swimming horses in Jamaica.
APRIL BUCKET FUND are all the displaced horses from the WA mudslide!
we took our horses swimming all the time as well as had friends and their horses join us. I have only ever seen one horse not swim first try and she just walked along the bottom way over her head! She got the hang of it and loved it! We had one horse (4years old at the time) that would run out and swim all on his own, he would get so excited as soon ad he saw that we were at the beach.
I swam with a horse once, and I was so totally awesome! It is something that I will NEVER forget!