How to Teach Your Horse to Lay Down

This trick is much more advanced than any other trick that Lilo and I have done. Not because of the difficulty, but because of the time that it takes to get there! In fact, Lilo doesn't completely know what I am asking of him yet. With laying down, I 100% disagree with any form of force to get the horse on the ground. It is a tremendous invasion of trust, space, and respect. So, I like to do it in a much more natural way. What I do is I start off by rinsing the horse off, and taking them to an area where they like to roll (for Lilo, it is in the arena!). If the horse is uncomfortable rolling when people are near, give them their space, and let them know that you aren't a threat to them when they are in such a vulnerable position. Once they feel more comfortable rolling near people, I click and reward when they go down, and then reward a ton when they're laying down near me. 

Once they know that laying down is something that you want them to do, you can add a cue. For Lilo, I point to the ground and say "down". When they are laying down, give them the cue, and after a while of repeating those steps, they should be able to put the cue and the action together!

Me giving the cue for Lilo to lay down.

Learning to lay down :)

I hope you've enjoyed this weeks post!