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Laying down a horse

Faster horses

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 11, 2005
Messages
30,517
Location
NE WY at the foot of the Big Horn mountains
There was a discussion here a few days ago about laying down
a horse. Our daughter picked up what she thought was a nice
horse at a horse sale. Well, come to find out, he is nice and he
is also very scared. The only thing to do to get him through this
(after much discussion with horsemen we respect) is to lay
him down. Mr. Fh understands the procedure and I got a few
pictures. Thought they were worth sharing.

I want to make mention that you don't lay them down, they
finally give up and lay down on their own. Then you let them up
and love on them as if you saved their life. No abuse, nothing
but a nice, nice experience. The first time, it took Mr. FH
45 minutes to get the horse to give it up. The second time,
about 20-25 minutes. And lo and behold, it is making a
difference in his attitude. Now it needs to happen again, til
the horse gets through whatever has traumitized him. This
was necessary, because this horse was going to hurt someone.
We only can hope that laying him down will do the trick.

Starting the process:

IMG_0922.jpg


Down he goes:

IMG_0924.jpg
 
Laying down is something I have seen done many times. Always gentle and quiet. Works really well. I unfortunately have not had a mentor to teach me this valuable skill. I live in the "fuzzy bunny" world of horsemanship and I swear without a word of a lie you would probably go to jail for doing that here :mad: So stupid.
 
Judith said:
Laying down is something I have seen done many times. Always gentle and quiet. Works really well. I unfortunately have not had a mentor to teach me this valuable skill. I live in the "fuzzy bunny" world of horsemanship and I swear without a word of a lie you would probably go to jail for doing that here :mad: So stupid.

Get out. Get out of there fast! And I am very serious. They will eventually get you. Move dammit!
 
Umm JB who is going to get me hunny bunny? ( Is the paranoia coming back again? )
 
hi fh
i'm glad you put those pic's on here
they show the procedure pretty good
i just wish you had some of the horse laying on the ground calm and cool getting over his fear
as i know it's as much about how you get them down as much as how you treat them and what you do to them while they are on the ground that has the possitive or negative affect on the horse
i know if you treat one badly while he's on the ground he will get up worse than he was before

btw nice looking shapy kind of horse
looks like my kind
until later
jerry
 
Thanks Jerry. Actually, the batteries quit on my camera
is why I didn't get a picture of the horse laying down and
how Mr. FH loved on his head when he got up.
Isn't that how it works? Get to the important part and
DEAD BATTERIES.

I'll try to get that picture the next time he works with the horse.
One other thing, it would be nice to have some ground that
is worked up or sandy instead of the ground in front of the
barn. But Mr. FH is pretty careful about the spot where he
goes down. You sure don't want any rocks or ridges there.

Soft and sandy would be best.

Also, Jerry, he is a really nice soft traveling kind of horse.
Mr. FH likes him too, that is why he hates to give up on him.
 
pprm
you don't have to have them saddled
you and tye one front foot up and get it done but it's harder and takes longer
with the tail of the rope from the saddle horn you can pull a little hand lay him down faster and then if he trys to get up you can hold him down with preassure on the horn also
and alot of times when i let a colt up i'll just step across them and be riding them when they gett on their feet
until later
jerry
 
just curious how long do you keep the horse on the ground. and if you decide to get on the horse right away do they tend to buck or are they played out from being on the ground[/quote]
 
young gun
i keep them on the ground until they are tottaly relaxed and will lay still while i handle their feet,swing a rope,and crack a whip with staying relaxed
this usally doesn't take long 5 or 10 minutes normally
and they are relaxed when i let them up if they are not then in my opinion the prosses was not done properly

when i get on one as he is getting up again they are relaxed so rarely do they do any more than just walk around with their head down they are very submissive

as jb said on this subject if you don't understand the prosses completely then you will be better off to get someone to show you how to do it correctly before you try it on your own as you can start a big fight if you go at in the wrong manner and it will not get a possitive response from all your hard work

sorry so long and i still have not expained the whole procedure as it would take pages of typing to explain all to whens and what if's and hows
until later
jerry
 
I agree. Don't try this unless you KNOW what you are doing.

One way to see how relaxed they are is to pick up their tail.
A horse that is defensive or not relaxed will not allow his tail
to be raised in the air (what I am saying, is raise their tail
over their back.) It is a great indication of their mental attitude.
 

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