Some Horses Want To Lay And Roll While Being Riden

I like this video, it shows a horse lying in the snow and rolling while it is being ridden. I had a horse do this to me one time in white sand in the Sandhills at the Lumber River Campground. On that same ride another rider, a young lady had had her horse lay down with her and roll on the way to the midway point, and asked me if I know how to keep a horse from doing it. I had to say no, that I had never experienced it, but on the way back my horse gave me that experience. It is a long painful story which I will spare you the telling.

Since then I have learned what to watch for, to lay down the horse has to put his head down to the ground, watch the video and you will see what I mean. So if you have a horse that is prone to lay down with you yet in the saddle keep a close watch on his head, and if he starts to lower it, pull it back up and he cannot lay down. Keep your horse's nose off the ground while you are on his back.

The one time it happened to me the horse at first just went down to its belly. Thinking that he had stepped into a hole I started to dismount, and as I did the toes of my left foot rotated into the horse's flank, and that is when he rolled to the left and tapping my foot, toes up/heels down into the ground. He tries to roll on over but could not because I was in the way. My foot was still in the stirrup so I did not want him getting up until I had freed it. So while in excruciating pain I would let his rock a boat but prevented his from getting up until I was able to free my foot. While I was able to remount and ride back camp I had to cut that trip short because my ankle swollen such I could not get my boot back on, heck I could hardly get it off and there for a bit I though that I was going to have to have it cut off.

It was a learning experience and did teach me what to watch for to prevent a horse from lying down with me on him. For a while after that I started paying close attention to how the horses lay down. Generally after a ride and soon after I turn them back into the pasture they will lay and roll. That is when I noticed that before they lay down that they always put their nose to the ground as they walked around just before lying down. It is instinctual, like a dog always goes in a tight circle just before it lays down if it can. So I learned to watch for it while I am riding.