Feeding titbits...

FionaM12 said:
And yet Monty Roberts says, "Horses do not regard food from the hand as reward, but connect food to the human body and are thus trained to bite."

Having said that, I feed Mollie treats often. :D
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well I must be a c*** trainer then cos in 11 years of reward based training I still have not succeeded in training my horse to bite :D ...... and dont dare suggest its the horse that's dim :D :D :D :D
 
My mum trained her old mare to raise her front leg to beg when she was being offered a treat. It was going great until she was hacking out one day, saw a little girl in her front garden eating an apple and then planted herself, leg raised and ears pricked expectantly. :P
She wasn't a mugger, she just liked to try and ask nicely in the hope of finding a softie to take pity on her ;)
 
I found having something yummy in my pocket helped with leading The Bargy One, keeping his attention on me rather than dragging me around. I don't even need anything in my pocket now as soon as he sees my hand going in to my pocket he walks nicely!!
He gets a reward when he gets to the field. Also helped with the tanking off as soon as a hoof touched grass at the gate, he now waits to have his headcollar off, gets a slice of carrot and then buggers off!!!

This may not be the perfect training but it's worked for me.

I feed him treats but my pet hate is feeding them over the stable door as i think this can lead to horses begging, door kicking, biting and our walkways in the barn are narrow and i don't like having 7 heads all reaching out at me trying to mug me.
He has treats in the stable but i go in to feed them to him.

I wouldn't dream of giving someone elses horse a treat without asking them or knowing it's ok to do so.
 
i use treats as a reward and it works well e.g. getting them to stand still while getting headcollars on and off, never have any problems catching them, picking feet up etc. also when we got a pony who hadn't really been handled and he wouldn't even let you put a headcollar on this soon changed when he got a treat for it and now he is a total baby. i have a lot of respect for MR but don't agree with his view on giving treats by hand.
 
Depends on the horse. My ultra polite mare would never 'mug' you and I use treats copiously with her as it helps our relationship and with others as she is quite shy. 3 other ponies I have had were terrible if you gave them treats - made them nippy, bargy and bolshy. One would almost climb on top of you and was very rude. Father in law thought that he was just being cute and friendly and that Bert really 'liked' him unil Bert pushed him over.
 
Loving the word 'cobnobasaurus' :D:D

And that cartoon is brilliant :D:D

My lot get treats :cool:

They all get one before the head collar is taken off, which has helped with their calm manners. When we didn't treat, the excitement of going out into the big field, with their mates running up to them and the sun on their backs - it proved interesting, this way they are still focused on the handler.

None of my neds bite or mug. Dizz does the lip wobble when she knows the Polo packet is in my hand, but that's just with me and it's our game :cool::D. If any of them bit or got bargy it wouldn't be a treat they would be getting :cool:

I don't treat other peoples' horses without asking permission. One of Friend's horses knows me as Polo Lady, which is useful for catching, but if she asks me not to give him any, then I don't - her horse, her rules :cool::D
 
I only treat when I want something :) ie to load quietly without fuss, to drop the head to take off the headcollar etc etc
My super soft OH always feels the need to treat the horses though! :rolleyes: and nothing I say can stop him! :D
 
Tont gets quite a lot of treats :p

He occasionally nudges my arm if he thinks I have something, but other than that his manners are perfect. He is even used to protect you from the younsters who are barging for treats!

I do give him more than I should, but I can now do anything with him. He stands like a rock when I groom him when he's loose in the field - because he knows he'll get a few treats.

I also love his little face when he can see me get the 'sweeties' out :p He's a bit of a spoilt princess really!
 
I have always feed treats to all mine, when I get them in from field, bring them in and over the stable door and non are nippy or pushy because they have manners and know they can't cross the line with me. And this includes a yearling colt who is not nippy at all and stands and waits his turn.
I don't believe treats make the bite I think it's more about their manners and respect towards you that won't help. If they can push their luck they will, if they know not to than you won't have a problem.
 
So it looks like I've been wrong all these years
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It looks like treats aren't dangerous if you already have a well mannered horse.

Funny how you just get into a mindset and never think about other ways to do things :)

Looks like I've got 20+years worth of treats to be getting on with
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Oberon said:
So it looks like I've been wrong all these years
lol.gif
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It looks like treats aren't dangerous if you already have a well mannered horse.

Funny how you just get into a mindset and never think about other ways to do things :)

Looks like I've got 20+years worth of treats to be getting on with
eating.gif
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From what i 'know' of you (only your forum postings) I think you would find clicker training good fun! Alexandra Kurlands clicker centre is a good place to start....
http://www.theclickercenter.com/

Trina x
 
It's a common misconception of useing treats to reward, that you'll either need to carry then around with u forever OR that your horse will snap and bite. What utter rubbish , people will use food to train goats/wolves/owls/elephants - everything! Why there is such a resistance to use treats with horses is beyond me!
So I dont agree with MR either :D
 
3Beasties said:
I think it depends on the horse.

My tb gets a lot of treats at various times throughout the day, I always have them in my pocket. He never mugs me for them or gets rude and demands them, he's always polite and never nippy.

The section A and the 3 year old only get them when they deserve them, if given them all the time they become rude and nippy and will mug me for them/pull at my pockets etc!!
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I totally agree with this, there are some horses at our yard that I have to deal with that I would give them a whiff of a carrot yet my last horse would routinely get a carrot here, there and everywhere and not once in the 6 years I had him did i get so much a nibble or a nudge!

Oberon said:
So it looks like I've been wrong all these years
lol.gif
.

It looks like treats aren't dangerous if you already have a well mannered horse.

Funny how you just get into a mindset and never think about other ways to do things :)
QUOTE]

I think many people have this as OP said as well. I think its all about how you know a horse, I have a 9 month old filly and she has only started recently getting a sweetie (which she takes like a lamb even from the kiddies!) but I waited until I knew that it wasnt in her nature to be nasty and it certainly wont be in her up bringing yet if she shows to start nipping or 'looking' for them this will stop immediatly.
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I think it depends on the horse. I tend to always offer titbits when they've been good. I've had one horse over the years who was pretty food obsessed though, he started to get a bit pushy about it so I simply put the titbit on the floor for him to eat. Seemed to work! Otherwise, have never had any other probs with other horses.
 
I've always given titbits to my horses. My current horse had never had them before and didn't know an apple from a snooker ball. He does now! After he'd had his feed in the stable (and there are a couple of haynets in there already) he'll come to the door and whinny for me to come back with a few carrots which I feed by hand. In the summer, my horse is out at grass 24/7 and if I'm not riding, I give him bits of carrot, bread or whatever to keep him sweet. I always give him something when I turn him out, when I get off after a ride, and when I catch him (apart from when he's standing by the gate in the winter waiting to come in anyway). I've never had any trouble and all my horses have been easy to catch - infact, my first pony wasn't easy to catch initially, but soon was after the titbit treatment!
 
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