Long day at the barn yesterday. Once chores were thru, we started working horses and taking turns hauling in horses for the farrier. He had a pretty extensive list yesterday and we sure kept him busy. He ended up not finishing until nearly 9 last night.

Laid three horses down yesterday. The practice of lying a horse down is very popular at some training barns, more so out west than in this area. I've done it in the past here and there, and thought that I may get a bit more into the practice of it now. The first horse I worked is a mare who is very sweet, but very pushy and 'mare-ish'. She really was not happy about my taking her legs away and laying her down, and it took awhile for her to relax and not wrinkle her muzzle at me once she was down. She seemed much more respectful of my space afterwords, and stood very nicely for the farrier. The second horse, not sure how much he got out of the experience. This one was a stallion who has a few issues under saddle. He pretty much put up no fuss about being laid down, and lay there as tho it was his idea to be trussed up on the ground. Pretty nonchalant about the whole thing. The third horse was Cardillo, the palomino stallion that we are taking shooting this weekend. Really not having any problems with him at all, did this pretty much to remind him that people are in charge ( he's gotten a wee bit rammy with it being spring- and we did breed him for the first time not long ago ) Thought it a good idea to refresh his memory on the whole 'respecting people thing' before heading out for the weekend. He's pretty laid back, and will bow for us, has even laid down during bowing practice before, so I thought he'd be pretty easy to lay down.Wrong! He really did not like the idea of having his freedom taken away and put up a bit of a fuss. When he did go down though, he relaxed right away and was quiet.

Packing today to be ready to hit the road this afternoon with 4 horses in tow. We are off to Conn. for a weekend Mounted Shooting event!

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