Standing on the horse’s left (near) side, throw 3 the hobble cuff over his spine, letting it fall to the ground. Then attach the cuff around the horse’s left front pastern. You’ll use the hobble to keep the horse’s foot up off the ground when first teaching him to lie down. Eventually you won’t need the hobble.
Hold the lead rope in your right hand and the 4 Trick Stick in your left hand. Your horse should stand in place without you having to hold onto the reins. Hold the lead rope so that your hand is up high on the horse’s back, not quite to his spine, but almost. The higher your hand is, the more leverage you’ll have. The lead rope shouldn’t be tight, but there should only be a little bit of slack so that you’ll be able to quickly take the slack out and pull the foot up.
Ask the horse to pick up his foot by giving him the 5 verbal cue “Foot!” and then if necessary, tap his leg with the stick.
As soon as the horse picks his foot up, pull 6 down on the lead rope, pulling his foot up. At the same time, use your foot to lift the horse’s leg up as high as you can, continuing to take the slack out of the lead rope. Pull the foot up as high as you can. It should be up close to his belly. The higher you pull his foot up, the more leverage you’ll have when you ask him to lay down and the less he’ll actually struggle.
Once his leg is up high, take your foot away 7 and just stand there holding his leg up with the hobble rope. You’re just double checking that the horse stays relaxed while his foot is restricted. If you’ve done your homework with the lessons on the Hobbling and Leg Restraints DVD, the horse shouldn’t have a problem with this at all. If he does, you need to fix it now.
When the horse stands relaxed for a couple Attach the lead rope to the hobble cuff’s D-ring 8 seconds, release the hobble rope and give the (top). Then throw the hobble cuff across the horse’s cue out “All right!” Then pick up the rein with your back so that it falls to the ground (center). Attach the cuff to the horse’s left front pastern (bottom). right hand, point straight ahead with it, and walk the horse forward.
90 INSTRUCTION | Teaching the Lay Down