Can your horses do any tricks?

Zabby

Zabby

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As the title say; can your horses do any tricks? :) And in that case what tricks and how did you teach it? Pictures too if you have ^__^
 
My Appy knows quite a few. :)

Say please (waving front leg in the air)
Bowing (Unmounted and mounted!)
Put his head in the air and smile
Drink out of a bottle
He also lets me stand up on his back and sit on him facing backwards and slide off his tail! :D
I can also ride him in a head collar and even jump him like this!
He will also respond to direct transitions and rein back when ridden in a headcollar as he has learnt to respond to nose pressure.

I trained him using treats and by choosing a certain word/action for each trick. Repetition is key, so make sure you repeat it lots until the horse gets the hang of it. :)
 
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Naw, that doesn't sound like good tricks.. xD

Crow only teach himself good tricks. A few weeks ago he taught himself to make a passage-like trot. I was aiming for a canter (which we found the other day instead) but he's set in his trot on that cue now xD Before he would only do the race trot, so I'm not complaining..
 
ShowJumping Superstars said:
My Appy knows quite a few. :)

Say please (waving front leg in the air)
Bowing (Unmounted and mounted!)
Put his head in the air and smile
Drink out of a bottle
He also lets me stand up on his back and sit on him facing backwards and slide off his tail! :D
Click to expand...

That's more the tricks I meant :P

How did you tech the bow?
 
I've taught my horse to pick up his front legs on demand, left or right. I stand in front of him and point to which one I want, saying 'left' or 'right' and he will pick up the one I'm asking for.

I started by saying the word and picking up his leg, pulling it forwards. Then rewarding him with a treat. He soon cottoned on.
 
We never really taught him the tricks, as such- he just picked them up!

If you asked him "Do you love me?" he'd 'kiss' you (yum!) and if you asked him "Do you think that's funny?" he'd curl his upper lip and it'd look like he was laughing at you. If you stood with your back to him he'd grab your hood/ pony tail and pull you back into him and he was a dab hand at undoing doors. If I said "stay" he'd normally stay still. He could undo any knot you tried (so I stopped bothering to tie him up properly...) and would then come and find you to let you know that he'd undone himself again. He could take the lids of treacle jars.

He was a brilliant horse really- he had a wicked sense of humour and would do anything for a bit of attention. Completely lived up to his name as well- he was called Cheeky! The tricks he did weren't really what people expected of a very dignified looking bay TB though!

We also had a pony who would curtsey for a carrot...
 
Zabby said:
That's more the tricks I meant :P

How did you tech the bow?
Click to expand...

I used treats and started off by guiding his head down by offering him the treat between his front legs. I gradually asked him to stretch further down until he dropped a foreleg and bowed. Then I gave him a treat and praised him. I repeated it regularly and he soon got the hang of it. (He will do anything for food!) Now, all I have to do is stand next to his shoulder and bend down slightly and he will bow! :) I did the same when I taught him how to do it with me on him, by reaching down and giving him a treat. It was actually quite easy to teach him how to do this with me on him as he already knew what I wanted him to do from when I taught him on the ground.

Hope this helps and good luck! Beware though, as once they have learnt how to do it, they tend to do it a lot! I can be in my boy's stable and I'll turn my back on him for a minute and when I turn around, there he is bowing on his own and waiting for a treat! :rolleyes:
 
Ah, ok :)
Crow knows how to bow, but I lifted his hoof and quietly asked him to back with the halter. I can do it without any halter now, but I still need to pick his hoof for him. Picking it up and placing the other hand on his withers will fix it. Just can't do that when mounted.. :3 And he's not food oriented either.. xD

He's learning to lie down, but we need more practice before it's smooth. And he has an awkward way of lying down too, bows, then kinda falls to the side.. looks like I'm killing him.. O_o He does it like that in the pasture too sometimes..

I'd like to teach him to bow from the saddle but I don't really know how.. :/

He also knows to rear from saddle and ground. He's always ben a bit light on the forehand, never really reared but kinda skipped abit in front. I took controle of it by teaching a proper rearing from the ground, which also meant I could teach a stop command. It worked, then again he's special. Figured I could just as well bring the rearing to the saddle, so I did, never high though. From the ground he'll rear up high if asked, but never from the saddle. And I made sure not to confuse it with the backing up (in the rear I just lift my rein. Now he's a very easy horse that does exactly what I ask him, and if the rein is to the side it means turn, back and it means backing, low hands is asking a lower frame, so it's natural to follow it up.. xD Never had tou touch his mouth.) It was a few years since I taught him and he has still never done it out of cue. I'm not recommending that method though...
When he doesn't want to rear he high fives with the leg stretched forward, then just keeps it there.. I should make that a trick too.. x)

Rear and high five:
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Bow, although I shoiuld get a new pic of that..it was in the beginning still..
(you can see I'm not holding the rope, he decided to rub his face and take a snack before getting up..) I tried with a treat like you described first, but he's the least food orientated horse I know..
oneendhownow.jpg


And lying down.. this is the hardest one though. When it's perfect I'll try to make it a sit too..
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Btw.. everyone say rearing is a dangerous trick.. after starting with lying down, Crow would try to lie down at the most stupid places, with me in the saddle, once he was sweaty.. :3 We had to put a stop to that though.. xD

ShowJumping Superstars said:
I used treats and started off by guiding his head down by offering him the treat between his front legs. I gradually asked him to stretch further down until he dropped a foreleg and bowed. Then I gave him a treat and praised him. I repeated it regularly and he soon got the hang of it. (He will do anything for food!) Now, all I have to do is stand next to his shoulder and bend down slightly and he will bow! :) I did the same when I taught him how to do it with me on him, by reaching down and giving him a treat. It was actually quite easy to teach him how to do this with me on him as he already knew what I wanted him to do from when I taught him on the ground.

Hope this helps and good luck! Beware though, as once they have learnt how to do it, they tend to do it a lot! I can be in my boy's stable and I'll turn my back on him for a minute and when I turn around, there he is bowing on his own and waiting for a treat! :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
 
Mine doesn't do any 'tricks' as such but he's the fastest horse I know when it comes to unbolting a stable door!!! Dunno where he learned that trick as he's done it ever since I got him as a 4 yo (him 4 not me!)

My first pony when i was 10 used to curl his lip up when he wanted a treat. You'd hold your hand up in the air and he'd curl his lip up. I didn't teach him that either but he used to do it alot!
 
Zabby said:
As the title say; can your horses do any tricks? :) And in that case what tricks and how did you teach it? Pictures too if you have ^__^
Click to expand...

Not sure you'd class it as 'tricks' but if you call him from the field and he starts walking over and you say 'Bailey trot on' most times he will trot towards you. He also does this on the walker (although obviously not for far if its walking speed)! He will pick his feet up for you in order as you want them picked up for picking out. I have taught him to 'wait' a few feet from the gate whilst I negotiate the deep mud in order to open it and go back to collect him before walking through it. He also knows 'steady' on the lunge and will do a lovely collected trot which is like a piaffe at times, I use this command to collect him before sending him on when he will then do a lovely extended trot. My total pet hate is horses that paw the ground, so I am reluctant to teach him tricks that involve 'shaking hands' or similiar as I think it will encourage him to react by pawing the ground.
 
Ted will give me a hug on command.

I tried to teach him to bow, but he doesnt get that if he follows the treat its still there, just as hes about to get it from between his legs he seems to forget that its there. lol. DOH! haha!

If you look on youtube, quite a few teenagers have made videos of how to teach your horse to do certain tricks, thats what I duid and they really work - Food must be involved to train lol.
 
Thanks for sharing your experienses :P

(I didn't make this thread to teach me or my horse any tricks, I was just curious to see what your horses did and how they does it :P)

I'm not agreeing that horses needs treat to do tricks though :P For me, a trick is like any other training, except that you do it because you feel like it, and not to work on to mae something else better. For what is riding more than just a huge trick, if we look at it that way? We teach the horses to do pointless things as carrying us and trotting on the spot and so on.. Just a big trick to make us happy ;)
 
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