Would you buy a trick trained horse?

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Patterdale

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Just wondering....

I may or may not sell mine in the distant future, but wondered if it would put people off, or even make him more attractive to buyers?
He can currently bow, Spanish walk, touch an object, and is beginning to work at liberty and we are starting lying down. No real reason - I just enjoy doing it.

Someone rode him the other day, and went to mount with a schooling whip in their left hand which touched his leg. He immediately lifted and stretched it very high and nearly caught her. Made me wonder. Could be difficult or even dangerous in the wrong hands.

The more I do with him the more I like him so I probably will never sell him but just wondered what the general consensus was.

Would being trick trained increase or decrease a horses value?
 
If you were selling him I would get intouch with people like hannah dawson - I think she may even have a selling page? She does trick training etc etc.

It wouldn't put me off at all but then again I enjoy trick-training. You'd just have to make it very clear what the horse currently understands.
 
Yes, but I would insist on a detailed Instruction Manual :) ;)

Unless I was specifically buying a trick trained horse I would not pay more than any other similar horse.

A lot of my horses do the common or garden stuff, you know, fetching, waving flags, standing on pedestals, ringing bells, bowing, a couple rear on command etc, etc I would not expect their repertoire to increase their value or desirability, in fact, some people do not want a horse that has extra buttons. To those who are unaware, as you illustrated, tricks can be annoying or even injurious. Farriers and Vets do not thank you for a horse that lies down, bows or picks a leg up unasked.

The two greatest 'tricks' any, and every, horse should be taught are "Stand/Ho!" (and by that I mean stop still and do not move a foot) and "Head down"
Head down is invaluable for bridling, handling etc, but also a horse that will lower his head on command is a relaxed horse, they cannot spook with their head down.

A friend of mine has taught her Paso 'Down' just by a touch on the neck, the horse goes to sleep on command, very useful. :D
 
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Yes! But I'd want you to show me all the tricks and how to do them.
But it's not just trick trained horses. Someone on my yard bought a mounted games pony. He's different to the others, so they had to learn his "buttons".
 
Agree with Enfys, the two best 'tricks are 'stand' and 'head down'.

I also teach mine to halt when I take my feet out of the stirrups, (not if my foot slips - that could be tricky over a jump :D). They are also taught to stand still once I dismount, so that if I fall off in the middle of nowhere, they don't run off.

I think the benefit of trick training is that they enjoy learning different things, it increases confidence as some tricks have a practical application. Kelly Marks teaches the saw -see plank which is handy if you're riding over a slightly unstable obstacle. We've had to ride over a bit of rocky wood on a cattle grit.
One horse of mine was taught to climb onto a block and she thought it was fun.
I think its important to think about why you are teaching each skill, how it could be used, both positively and negatively. Opening the latch on a gate might be very useful when you're hacking but not so great when leaving them in the field.
I remember a guy who taught all his youngsters to halt immediately at any pace, when they heard 'whoah!'
It was so ingrained that all his horses would stop on command in any circumstances which is pretty useful for any horse to be reliably stoppable with any rider.
 
My trick trained horse is off on his holidays tomorrow, to stay with my friend while I'm away. He did this last year too and it coincided with her annual house party, so everybody was trailed down to the field to see him perform. Of course, he just stood there looking mildly annoyed that a large group of people were holding apples and polos and not giving them to him ;) Oops, I forgot to tell her which button to press! This year he will also be there for the party - and he's bringing his hula hoop along with basic instructions on how to get him to flip it over his head rather than stand looking picturesque :D

I agree with "stand" and "head down" - and would add "head up" which is also invaluable :) Leading nicely without a lead rope is also something I teach all new horses in the field, very useful in escaped horses situations. I would definitely provide an instruction manual for anybody needing to handle him, but there's nothing he does without a clear cue, and most of the cues are unlikely to be given accidentally.
 
Yes I would buy a trick trained horse so long S the owner showed me the cues. Wouldn't pay more for one though.

You really should be warning people prior to them riding
 
Enfys said:
Yes, but I would insist on a detailed Instruction Manual :) ;)

Unless I was specifically buying a trick trained horse I would not pay more than any other similar horse.
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This. What may increase value a little bit would be a horse who did useful things, like loading itself into a trailer, you know stuff which makes day to day life easier! I think you'd just have to make sure you showed interested people exactly what tricks she does and how you do it so they can avoid accidentally asking for something!
 
Maybe. Am considering some trick training with mine if he ends up being nothing more than a field ornament, may as well have a funny field ornament I reckon! :)
 
I wouldn't as I prefer to train my own... Unless it was really awesome, I guess. I do think some of Fergs tricks are "value added" as they make him very easy to handle and he will load onto anything / cross anything hacking etc - he's worked over worse things, so you can be confident he'll tackle almost anything. Tricks like striking / bowing / rearing are only value added in film / stunt markets really though :p
 
It depends what the trick was- a friend of mine taught her horse to take a carrot from between her teeth, and got me to do it with him too. Turned into a massive PITA as every time you went into his stable eating a peppermint he would try to get it out of your mouth! So I don't teach mine tricks as she's usually one step ahead of me anyway ;)
 
Just curious but how would you go about teaching the "head down" command? I ought to start teaching it to my giraffe like youngster! :)
 
Thanks for all the replies!
Just to clarify - he was taught stop (until asked too move) go, back etc before anything else :) basically I want to train the ultimate horse lol, as obedient as a good dog with a few amusing tricks thrown in. He's a section d so he's basically a border collie anyway!

I've been having some fantastic help with him so hopefully everything is being done properly, and as the time passes the idea of selling him gets fainter and fainter......;)

Just interesting to see others opinions really!
 
I would not be put off by a trick trained horse. If anything that would be the last thing that I took into consideration.
 
Enfys said:
A lot of my horses do the common or garden stuff, you know, fetching, waving flags, standing on pedestals, ringing bells, bowing, a couple rear on command etc, etc. :D
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Gosh Enfys - I would LOVE to know how to teach a pony these tricks. It is something I have never done before but I am buying a beautiful black Shetland 3 year old to drive in a couple of months and I would also like to give him other things to keep his mind occupied and help build a mutual bond between us. How do I go about teaching even basic tricks? Any advice would be much appreciated. I tried to PM you but the system is changed and I got confused!
 
Patchworkpony said:
Gosh Enfys - I would LOVE to know how to teach a pony these tricks. It is something I have never done before but I am buying a beautiful black Shetland 3 year old to drive in a couple of months and I would also like to give him other things to keep his mind occupied and help build a mutual bond between us. How do I go about teaching even basic tricks? Any advice would be much appreciated. I tried to PM you but the system is changed and I got confused!
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Clicker training here:

http://www.theclickercenter.com/

Trick training, excellent sensible advice site here:

http://www.trickhorse.com/

Then there is the heavy duty trick training (site and forum) here:

www.imagineahorse.com

The joy of 'trick' training (and isn't that what any sort of training is basically?) is that behaviours can be trained out as well as in.

eg. If your horse rears on the lead line, train him to do it on command, and then stop giving the command.

Head down is easy. Simply put your hand on his poll (or if you can't reach pressure on the halter) and at the slightest downwards movement take the pressure away, you can give a verbal cue at the same time. Rewarding a correct response is up to you, a treat, a rub, or simply "good boy" will do - it has to be worth his while to do it, so ramming a bit in a sore mouth (or whatever) won't help. Short sessions work best. Keep at it until he drops his head at the cue/slightest pressure. Once you have the behaviour from the ground you can transfer the cue to the saddle, a touch on the neck and 'Down' excellent for relaxing tense horses. The methods will be on both those sites above.

PP, ponies are often very easy to train because they are generally food orientated and very, very bright. Charley, my mini picks up new things in minutes, and when I go to the paddock he is at the gate going through his entire repertoire. Crossing his legs, backing up, pirouettes, rearing (his choice to start that one, not mine) running up to the log and standing on it, if I ignore him his finale is to bow. One that he taught himself is to walk to heel and then he reverses 360 degrees around me with his shoulder in contact with my legs at all times. He is like a big black and white collie dog.
 
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Just a word though, if you do train your horse to do things then use clear commands and choose cues that are not used daily in general handling.

Running your hand down a leg for a bow or kneel is not a good idea and your Farrier will not be amused.

On the other hand buyers, vets and farriers will thank you for training a horse to put his head down and training him to stand and give a leg when asked.

If you are selling you must (if you have a conscience) disclose any tricks too, not doing so is wildly unfair to the horse, and buyer. You really do need to make up an Instruction Manual.
 
Oh, and never, EVER, teach a horse to ring a cowbell in the stable, especially not before feeding, because once he figures it out he will drive everyone absolutely insane ringing for attention! I taught an arab that and everytime he heard someone on the yard he would be beating hell out of his bell so they would go and say hello to him.

Oh, and another one. It is NOT smart to teach them to pull blankets off their backs either. Ali would take his saddle cloth off, tacking up sometimes took a very long time unless I tied him up and then he would piaffe, which was also annoying.
 
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Thanks SO much Enfys - that is amazingly helpful. Your mini sounds hilarious. Ponies are certainly more easy train than horses - or so I have always found anyway. We have always had native ponies kicking around and they are the ones that we have missed the most when they have finally gone to that great field in the sky.
 
My daughter trick-trained one of her horses that she's had since a foal. He's a smart horse and picked everything up very quickly. There's no way anyone could just come along and make the horse do these tricks though and he never does them in a normal course of a day unless she specifically asks him to. So, although she'd never sell him, no-one could ever run into trouble with him. She did not teach him using edible treats so he is not frenetic about doing his tricks, rather he does them when she specifically asks them of him. I did used to have a client keep his horse on my farm who taught his horse 'pawing' for treats, one of the dumbest things ever IMO and how his head was not smashed in sometimes when he bent over to get something out of his grooming box and accidentally rustled the bag of treats is beyond me, he usually got off lightly with just bloody scrapes on the side of his face which he used to laugh about.

I digress, no I wouldn't have any problem with buying a horse who knew some tricks if the horse did all the other things I wanted it to. If some of the tricks were what I deemed silly then I'd reteach the horse not to do them. Price wise, no difference whether the horse knew tricks or not, however it would be a bit of a plus in so far as understanding the horse was capable and willing to learn.
 
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