Equuality: Reflections on Life with Horses

Laying with Intuition

About the Book

For whereas the mind works in possibilities, the intuitions work in actualities, and what you intuitively desire, that is possible to you. Whereas what you mentally or "consciously" desire is nine times out of ten impossible; hitch your wagon to a star, or you will just stay where you are. -D. H. Lawrence

Recently, Kali and I were discussing the idea of teaching ponies in our program to bow and lay down on cue. We had seen and read about it being done several different ways. "Laying the horse down," is often done very forcibly by trainers early on in the starting of a colt in order to assert the dominance of the human. We didn't want to have anything to do with this as the idea of subjugating a horse in any way goes against our core principles. We wanted to ensure that whatever approach we took included the horse as a full, willing, and dignified partner. In short, all we wanted to do was add a cue to the horse's natural ability to lay down so that they would be able to offer it as a desirable behavior just like any other.

Today, as we were driving to the barn, though we had not talked about it in some while, the subject came up again. Kali asked me which of the ponies in our program I thought would be the most likely candidate for laying down. After a brief inventory, we both agreed that Wallie, a very mellow 11.3 hand Section B Welsh would be the most likely to enjoy the process and offer the behavior. I asked what had prompted Kali to ask, and she said it was just on her mind today.

We didn't make any plan to try working on laying down or bowing with Wallie, and by the time we got all of the kids and ponies organized for the day's lesson, the idea had totally fallen off the radar. Zoey, Wallie's eight-year-old partner, got him groomed and tacked up and warmed him up on the ground. Then, out of nowhere, while she was waiting for me to finish with another student, Wallie began to lay down with the saddle on, a move he had never tried before, even during long periods of standing tacked up. Zoey pulled him back up to standing, and I didn't think too much of it. Zoey mounted up and we proceeded with the ridden portion of her lesson.

After just a couple of minutes Wallie stopped, turned toward me, and very purposefully began to lay down again, rider and all. Zoey yelped, did a perfect emergency dismount, and just managed to keep him on all four feet. It was at this point that Kali came over, a big grin on her face, and said, "I guess it's time to teach Wallie to lay down!"

Kali began to work first on the bow movement, asking Wallie for one foot and then using her hand as a target to get him to tuck his head down towards the ground. While Kali helped Wallie maneuver his body, Zoey, got a treat ready and slipped it to him when he was in the proper position. Within minutes, he was dipping to his knee, extending his other leg, and giving an extremely deep, very relaxed bow. Each time he gracefully stood back up, he looked at us with a very pleased expression on his face.

The next time Zoey brought Wallie out, he went right over to the place we had been working and laid down. Zoey gave him a treat and Wallie offered the behavior three more times that day. Before long, all Zoey had to do was paw with her foot and Wallie would drop to the ground just about any where.

As I said, Wallie had never before exhibited a special propensity for laying down and we hadn't discussed the idea at all with the kids. I'm not sure if it was our intention that shaped the energy of that day, or the energy of the day that shaped our intention. However, I am grateful for Kali's insight in turning the "problem" of Wallie trying to lay down with the saddle into an opportunity to teach a new behavior and take our relationship with him to the next level. She had the insight to abandon our conscious plan and hitch the wagon of our day to the stars of intuition.

Wallie now lays down reliably on cue in a variety of situations. He also helped inspire Zoey's sister's pony to learn to lay down on cue. Consequently, this pair of cute ponies has become a real inspiration at shows, laying down and sitting up on cue. Wallie even flops on a beanbag!