Teaching tricks

old_woman said:
I expect, then, that you oppose show-jumping, for jumping is certainly a potentially dangerous - to both horse and rider - manoeuvre.
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In my opinion there is no comparison between training a horse or pony to become a capable show jumper and training one to perform tricks. If for any reason the owner needs to sell, there is always a market for horses and ponies with potential or proven abilities in the show ring. On the other end of the scale, there is very limited call for trick trained horses on the general equine market. If the seller is genuine and includes the information in sale particulars it turns many potential buyers from seeking further information about the animal – and this is often where the problem begins.

The owner doesn’t divulge any trick training information to the buyer and dependant on what trick or tricks have been taught, the horse soon begins rearing, striking out, attempting to roll etc. for no apparent reason – the new owner classes the tricks as vices and either has the long drawn out task of eradicating the behaviour themselves, sending the animal away for re-schooling or selling it on (often to another unsuspecting buyer). At best this often results in horse being re-educated or at worst being passed on from one auction to another.

Teaching a dog tricks does not result in the same potential fate as teaching a horse or pony cute tricks – a dog has a much better chance at being re-homed long term than a trick trained horse or pony.

In my view the long term future of the horse or pony should be the major consideration before any owner embarks on teaching these type of tricks for their own amusement.

old_woman said:
if an animal has already developed a behavioural problem/habit such as rearing, or in the case of a dog, excessive barking, then teaching them to perform this action on command is a well-recognised way of - eventually - eliminating the problem. If a horse is taught to rear, or a dog to bark, ONLY as a response to a specific cue, then you will reach a stage when the animal only rears or barks when given the cue. If you then phase out giving the cue, if the training has been done correctly and the problem was merely a behavioural issue, the unwanted behaviour will fade along with the cue-giving.
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That sound very interesting, do you have any links or details where I could find further information please. :)
 
old_woman said:
If a horse is taught to throw its leg out whenever it wants something - and to make things worse, is offered a reward for doing so - that is an entirely different matter to a horse being taught to throw its leg out in response to a specific cue. Poor choice of cues is also a huge problem.

'Safe' trick training is more about having a well-educated trainer than it is about the tricks that are trained.
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It is wrong to assume, old woman

BTW I posted that in responce to OP question... this thread has been taken out of it's context.. IMO it was meant to be light hearted.....
 
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amilet1971 - you seem to be jumping straight to a worst-case scenario (teach a horse tricks, then sell it, it is a problem horse and becomes the sad unloved horse going from auction to auction). Clearly, if you decide to teach your horse tricks, then this whole situation would be avoided if you tell a prospective buyer, who may even think that the trick is as amusing as the trainer did. As long as there is a suitable cue for the trick, which won't be mistaken for normal praise or anything else, there is no harm in teaching the trick.

And to all those saying that it is stupid to teach a horse to rear on command - would you say the same to a member of the spanish riding school?
 
a member of the spanish riding school will keep the horse with people who actually have some sense, and teach them properly in the first place.

a common horse may not have either.
 
NuttyElk said:
amilet1971 - you seem to be jumping straight to a worst-case scenario (teach a horse tricks, then sell it, it is a problem horse and becomes the sad unloved horse going from auction to auction). Clearly, if you decide to teach your horse tricks, then this whole situation would be avoided if you tell a prospective buyer, who may even think that the trick is as amusing as the trainer did. As long as there is a suitable cue for the trick, which won't be mistaken for normal praise or anything else, there is no harm in teaching the trick.

And to all those saying that it is stupid to teach a horse to rear on command - would you say the same to a member of the spanish riding school?
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I do sort of agree with Amilet, depending on what the "trick" is. When I went off to uni my horse had to be sent to an equestrian centre for a while. When we picked him up at Christmas the first thing he did was clobber me in the knee with a front hoof. Someone had obviously taught him the "beg for a polo" trick. Ignoring him would make him worse, to the point that he would purposefully boot you for attention. Telling him off for it didn't really help either and just resulted in me feeling sorry that the poor guy who had previously been rewarded for this was now (much to his puzzlement) being told off for it. 12 years on he still does it and it annoys his current owner just as much as it did me.

So it's not always the case that if you take away the cue they stop doing it unfortunately.
 
I've taught Tess to lift each front legt (left or right depending which hand I cue her with) and to 'give me a kiss'. However if she offers the trick when I haven't asked for it I just turn away and ignore it.
 
Ive clicker trained my pony to "wave" and "smile" , and to fetch objects on cue. These have led to me trainng him to do spanish walk and hackney trot and have also made teaching him more "normal" things a lot easier as he know she will get a reward if he gets it right. If he offers any of them without being asked to it is ignored, and he is only rewarded when he responds to cues. I also taught my first pony to fetch,smile and to rear up on command (I was only sixteen;)) and she never ever did it without being asked or with a person on her. I think smart trick training ON CUE and only when asked helps a lot to teach the horse other things and gets them listening to you. My pony also thinks that standing still while I get on him , jumping a jump and standing still for the farrier are tricks for instance.
 
Woah there everyone!

This post was meant to be for just people discussing the tricks they've taught their horse to do etc.
NOT to start a debate about whether we agree or disagree with it.

If you have taught your horse to do any sort of trick on command then thats cool and everyone can chat about it, but if you don't like 'tricks' then you could have really just ignored this post.
 
I teach all mine to lift each foot and put it into my hand, so I need to bend as little as possible.

My old driving pony backs himself into the shafts. He also lies down and plays dead (except that he can't resist twitching his ears!) on command. He doesn't back himself into anything else, or into random set of shafts. Neither does he attempt to lie down when being ridden or driven - only when loose or on a lunge rein, and when specifically told to.

He also appears to outsiders to know the difference between right and left. I use a discreet body language cue for him to lift his left hoof, and a different one to lift his right hoof. So we can get people to ask him questions and he will answer them by using his right and left hooves for different answers ... :D

All of them, including the sheep, stand with their front legs on a piece of old tree-trunk. The biggest challenge is to keep Sheepie from bouncing up over anything; the horses soon picked up the trick. My little pony stands on the edge of a raised platform to make it easier for me to rasp his hooves! Sheepie also stands there and has learnt to lift her little feet to be trimmed and treated when necessary. Much easier on the old back than slinging her over!

We also dance the waltz and the polka which involves circling, pirouettes, dancing alongside each other and a final bow or curtsy to your partner. It is not always in time to the music, but I never was a very good dancer and have two left feet. The horses' feet are little better than mine.

We play mimics, too. This one Rosie is REALLY good at - mimicing my body language and way of movement - strutting, slouching, high-stepping, dragging my feet - she will do the same when we are in the yard and she is loose. Does that count as a trick? I think it does. My other mare thinks she is above mimicing me, and my gelding thinks it's fun once in while, but soon loses interest, so I have never persisted with either of them.
 
old_woman said:
We play mimics, too. This one Rosie is REALLY good at - mimicing my body language and way of movement - strutting, slouching, high-stepping, dragging my feet - she will do the same when we are in the yard and she is loose. Does that count as a trick?
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I don't know if it's a trick but it certainly sounds like a fantastically enjoyable way of interacting with your horse. I've not had a chance to explore this yet but when I have a bit of a "play" in the school (in-hand and loose) with my retired boy he does seem to start trotting when I myself make "preparing to start running" movements with my body. When I slow he slows. I really want to explore this further and see if he really mimics like Rosie does.
 
I taught a Clydesdale filly to take treats from my mouth - started off with apple quarters, then went down to Extra Strong mints! There are videos on YouTube....

Also taught her mum to do it, too....

Not for the faint-hearted, and certainly not a trick I would try with any horse!
 
My friend taught her horse to say 'Please' by lifting his left fore leg up when she had a treat. It took about a year to teach.
Basically she would show him the treat, say 'Say Please' as she lifted his left hoof and brought it forward. She just kept doing it over the long time period.
He started to lift his foot up (like hoof picking) and then eventually brought it forward himself. Now he does it when he knows he is going to get a treat, and all friend has to say is: 'Say Please'.
 
Not necessarily a trick, but Ace knows that if I whip out the paddle brush and walk near his back end, he anticipates getting a good scratch with it, so his top lip goes wobbly before I even touch him with it!
 
graciemoo said:
My friend taught her horse to say 'Please' by lifting his left fore leg up when she had a treat. It took about a year to teach.
Basically she would show him the treat, say 'Say Please' as she lifted his left hoof and brought it forward. She just kept doing it over the long time period.
He started to lift his foot up (like hoof picking) and then eventually brought it forward himself. Now he does it when he knows he is going to get a treat, and all friend has to say is: 'Say Please'.
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I taught my pony to do this but I just pointed at her leg and she would lift it for a treat - and even when I rustled a treat bag she'd automatically do it haha :D Took about 3 days to teach it. She was a clever pony :)
 
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