Ideas for treats for carrot stretches

[Orangehorse]

I am supposed to do carrot stretches with my horse, simple enough you would think. If I use real carrots I took the precaution of using a plastic coffee cup (yikes, not saving the planet) to protect my hand, which was a good thing as he swung round with his mouth wide open! Don't do that again! I managed to survive with my fingers intact, but it was obviously storing up trouble, from a horse that has always very good manners. The trouble is that if I use actual carrots he is forever trying to mug me, as I MUST have some carrots somewhere, just waiting to go into his mouth. So even though I say a firm "all gone" at the end of the session he is not convinced and it was starting to be a problem even when I just go up to the stable door to undo the latch, he is convinced he is going to get carrots.

So someone suggested using a Likit to tempt him. I bought a nice minty one and he was completely un interested in it, took one sniff and looked superior and "no thank you."

Hay won't work, not worth the effort.


So any brilliant ideas so he does his exercise, keeps his manners and I get to keep my fingers?

 

[be positive]

Once they know what is required I sometimes stop using a treat to get them round and just get them following my hand, they then get the odd ordinary treat as a reward but not to entice them, the bright ones pick it up quickly, one of mine had to stretch round while I held up his hind foot, when we were doing his exercises as soon as I got in position he would pick his foot up and start to come round way ahead of me and he wouldn't be the brightest and not overly treat orientated but he did want to please so a vocal reward was enough for him.

Clicker training would be worth looking into or something less tasty such as celery or just a handful of grass, none of mine would even look at a lickit let alone work for one.

 

[Equi]

As said, get them to use "touch" more than treat following. You can then treat on the floor or something. Some horses are just too ignorant to use treats on, mine included.

 

[tristar]

when i started one with stretches he was like a vulture, so i bought a set of serving tongs from a cheap shop,with 8 inch arms, the sort of thing you might use to pick up food like bacon etc.

i must say though now he is fine, he has learned to look forward to the stretch treats and accepts the end of the session and although he looks to initiate a session at other times, when i push him away he just stops,oh and now i only use my hands, but understand completely the hazard when they first start because they are to quick to grab the treat.

 

[Keith_Beef]

I had to look up pictures of this to know what it meant...

I've seen people do this at the yard where I ride, and so gave it a go, too, gently, not wanting the horse to over stretch before going out to warm up.

Back when the supermarket used to sell carrots at between €0.69 and €1.69 a kg in the same week, I used to wait for them being at the lowest price and buy 5kg at a time. Now that they are always at over €1.50 a kg, I use the little Kerbl horse treats that I buy in 3kg buckets.

But whether using carrots, bits of apple or treats, I don't get my hands bitten.

I remember that when I was small, my mother always used to remind me to present treats on the palm of my hand, held out flat, so the horse couldn't accidentally bite me. A child's temptation is to hold the treat with the fingertips. But by presenting the treat on my open palm, I found that the horse would bump against my hand, knocking the treats to the floor. :rolleyes3:

So what I started doing, is to hold the treat or carrot in my fist, with a bit of the treat poking out between forefinger and thumb, and presenting at an angle so that my wrist is against the horse's nose. No matter how wide he opens his mouth, he can't bite me. He'll feel for the treat with his lips, and by holding the treat lightly enough he can pull it from my hand.

 

[Orangehorse]

Thanks for the advice everyone. Got on a lot better today, so will keep practicing. I think he will learn to do this without the treat quite soon as he was offering this morning.

 

[Birker2020]

I use liquorice sticks. They are about an inch long pencil shaped and I 'cut' them I half with my teeth so four will go eight stretches. Aldi sell them at 49 pence a bag, you probably get about 50 in there. Then I stretch to each side alternating between a stretch down between the front legs and always end with a long stretch out front to stretch her neck as this is what my physio advised doing.