Steps
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1
Walk out into an arena or an open space with your horse in a halter and lead rope.
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2
Give your horse a short warm-up session.
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3
Once you’re done, walk into the center of the area you are working in.
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4
Loosen your horse’s neck muscles by stretching its neck to the left, right and down.
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5
Before you start, gather several small-sized rewards like broken-up carrots or treats.
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6
Stand on one side of the horse and put the leadrope between the front legs.(Be careful with this, if your horse spooks, this could be a dangerous situation.)
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7
Put slight pressure on the leadrope with one hand to get the horse to follow your other hand with the treat in it down towards the ground.
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8
Once your horse lowers it’s head a little ways, reward him/her and release the pressure.
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9
Repeat steps 7 and 8 and get your horse’s head a little lower than before.
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10
Continue steps 7-9 until you get your horse’s head down so far that it has to bend a knee to retrieve the reward that’s between its front legs. Once you have reached this point, reward him/her lavishly.
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11
Give your horse a short break, then continue with steps 7-10 to get to where you left off before, or even lower.
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12
Practice, practice, practice!