Safety Around Horses: Laying Down On or With a Horse

I do my best to put up a variety of videos about horses, their health and well being and general behaviors of the horse, whether it’s good or bad. One thing that I like to concentrate on though is safety while around them and/or on them and today I’ve put up a video discussing safety if you were to choose to sit or lay down next to, or even on a horse.

The thing is, our horses here regularly lay down to sleep in the arena as a herd. It’s very common each day to see all five out laying down in a small group or maybe one standing guard while the others sleep to take turns. If you’ve been following this page for a while then you’d already know that from the dozens of pictures of them of course… When this happens, it’s like a magnet for us humans to want to go over and pet them or lay on them or snuggle them of some sorts. I can’t count the amount of times I’ve been asked if it’s ok to go and do so as our horses are very gentle and friendly and in all reality it would seem no problem to approach them on the ground like that.

For the most part, approaching a horse while it’s laying down shouldn’t be an issue or dangerous, but there may be certain situations where it isn’t and it’s important to recognize that. This video shows three different horses reacting three different ways completely to me approaching them and hanging around them on the ground. From straight out uncaring enough to continue snoring away, all the way to slight evasion due to worry. I talk about how to recognize each behavior and what it means and cover three things at the end on what to keep in mind if this is a goal of yours with your own horse.

Sitting down or lying down with a horse while they are sleeping is very rewarding and peaceful. Accomplishing that level of trust with them is something to be recognized and has every opportunity to be built on for further activities requiring implicit and explicit trust with each other. As the human though, it’s our responsibility to be safe for ourselves first and the horse second when placing ourselves in such a vulnerable position and I’m hoping the video will be good food for thought for such an activity and possibly a good jumping point to continue forward.

The first half of this video shows three different horses and how they all react differently to my presence while they are on the ground. Each one shows different behaviors from just laying there asleep, to some form of avoidance to be in a vulnerable or trapped position on the ground.

The second half of the video I take some time to talk specifically about three things to think about when near a horse and how you can set this activity up for success.

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Graeme