horsemanship tools?

Well, the method I was taught is to be used and is to be successful only when the horse is ready. At first, the horse has to respond to lower his head. Then, the ground is tapped with the crop, and light taps are applied to his lower legs, to encourage to paw the ground. From here, the horse should grasp the feeling that he has to lie down. Additinally, the body language of the human is downwards, too - looking on the ground, hands low, etc. When the horse gets the right feeling, he lies down. That's how Snickers was taught, and that's how many others were taught around here - no force, no pulling, no throwing to the ground or disbalancing by pulling legs in the air. However, if it is done not when the horse is ready or with too much energy in the cues, it can become dangerous, because I've seen horses acting up dangerously, even rearing, when it is asked incorrectly. Or just doing nothing at all, on the other hand, if the trainer isn't being clear enough. So I'm glad you're leaving this for later, when you and your horse have gained more experience. ;)

Sitting comes from lying down. I think I described the process in one of the previous comments.

You can also teach your mare to hug you. Stand right by her shoulder and, using the lead rope attached to your rope halter, ask her lightly for lateral flexion, so that she "hugs" you with her neck. Praise her, and with every next time try to keep her like this for a couple more seconds, a treat can be used at his point, and a vocal command for when you will be trying this at liberty.

So you ask for the horse to lower their head by tapping on the ground- (see why I need to be absolutely clear(; ) I just wanna make sure I do the right thing:) then you progress to other parts of the body like the legs.. like bowing? And from there you can lye down?:)

How long did it take you to teach your horse a new trick?

Sorry for all the questions ! I just get interested by it:p and I shall be buying that book later!

No, I ask him to lower his head by keeping my energy "on the ground" and applying light pressure on his halter. If he responds by dropping the head even a for an inch - good. If he doesn't, I continue doing it rythmically and gradually increasing the weight of the pull, but not yanking on his head. To encourage to drop head, one can also give a light tap on his belly, while asking with the halter.

Then, when he is keeping his head low willingly, when asked, tapping the ground and legs may be added, but one cannot just tap ground mindlessly - there has to be a clear intention in your mind. I never ask for a bow when I ask to lie down, I ask to think "low" and to associate low head and the idea of pawing the ground with lying down naturally.

Snickers is smart, so it takes very little time to teach him new things if he likes them. For instance, he learned to climb on objects in one day, but sitting took longer, because it is psychologically and physically much harder. Also, each element can be refined into more complicated actionis with time, so the training never really stops.

Right :) I think I got what I need to go and start myself! Cheers for the advice! Let me know if you learn any new tricks haha, how old is snickers?

Do you know if age would effect anything?

You're welcome - just be patient with starting the lying down stuff. You don't want to rush it, that might make your mare fearful and resistant. It takes a LOT of trust for a horse to lie down by command.

Snickers turned 6 this february, he is still a youngster.

Age, to my mind, doesn't affect much, if we're not speaking about foals and yearlings. If a horse has matured mentally, then even an old horse can learn tons of new things. It's all about his mindset and the training approach. For instance, the book I suggested in my first comment in this thread, is oriented exactly to older horses that cannot do much physically, but need to keep their minds busy. How old is Jolie?

You might be interested to check out the Parelli "horsenality" chart - I'm not really a Parelli fan, but they have some good tips and ideas upon their sleeve. For example, Snickers is a typical Left brain Extrovert. Knowing your horses' mind can tell a lot about what training methods to apply and what activities the horse would enjoy most.

http://files.parelli.com/HorsenalityChart.pdf
Working with Your Horse
Horsenality - Personality of Horses | Parelli | Parelli

Yeah I saw that I did find out what they were but I can't remember now:P kody was an extrovert n jolie an introvert, jolie is 15 :) yeaah I will do shall update later on how things turn out!:)

Jolie is in her best years, you shouldn't be concerned about her age when it comes to learning! At 15 and, if in good health, a horse is just in his bloom! :)

Yeah she seems to still have her buzz :P ill upload a picture of kody the baby :)

N this is jolie his mum :) who I shall be doing the tricks with

:)