Rewarding with sugar cubes during a ride

[Gwyneth]

How many people give their horse a sugar cube/ peppermint during a ride after they have done something that you deem worthy of getting a food reward? Currently I just give my mare a sugar cube right before I get on her. Since she is food motivated, I’ve been wondering if giving her a treat after she has done something well will help her to be more willing to do it again/ to understand that whatever she has just done is what I want.

How many people do this? I’m not talking about giving a sugar cube every couple of minutes, but maybe once or twice a ride when she does something really well. Do you just bend over from the saddle and give your horse a treat? Do you find that this makes your horse develop any bad habits (turning their head around to the saddle searching for a treat even when you weren’t offering one)?

[Dressage59]

I used to give my horse a treat right after I mounted as he wasn’t fond of the mounting process. After that, nothing during the ride and he got something after the ride. I know someone who does this after her horse does about anything. She rides for fun though!

[KBC]

Not something I would do, I give verbal reward, and or a scratch and loose rein walk, depending on level of accomplishment. If it is something amazing, I will halt the lesson there and jump off, then feed treat…but never from the saddle, mine would be constantly looking for them of I did.

[mydogs]

I don’t do it every ride but if I remember, I will put a few in my pocket. If I know I am going to be working on something harder that day, I may give 1 or 2 sugar cubes before, during, or after a ride. I found my guy stays more positive this way.
In my mind, I can tell myself that my horse “likes” pats, but I know he loves sugar. I also don’t keep a tight noseband so it is pretty easy for him to eat a sugar cube comfortably. The number of sugar cubes really just depends on how I am feeling that day.

But I can’t do it every ride because he does turn to look at him while we are standing, which is perfectly fine, except I don’t want to increase the risk of him getting the bit caught on my stirrup or something. I never thought of that until I read something on facebook or an article about that happening to someone else. So I don’t go overboard with the sugar cubes undersaddle all the time.

[sascha]

I do. I have for many years with many horses. Normal horses, I lean forward and offer it under their chin. Long necked horses learn that a tap on the shoulder means they are allowed to turn their snout back far enough to reach my outstretched hand.

Unless you are stupid about it, it won’t have any negative impact on work ethic or anything else. If you can’t trust yourself to keep it a reward and not let the horse ask for a treat on demand, don’t do it .

I’m editing to add reinforcement. If your horse uses you as a Pez dispenser on the ground, do NOT feed treats from the saddle. To be absolutely safe, you need to offer the treat and limit how far the horse is allowed to turn its head.

[Tory]

I just scratch my horses on their wither (with one or two fingers right in front of the saddle). I can do this at any time, even during a test.

I have started this process when they are babies. It feels good, makes them happy and also relaxed if they are nervous or stressed. This really works for me.

The cookies/treats are right before bridling and when I take the bridle off.

​​​​​​ I guess I got into a restrictive treat habit when I owned a severe beggar.:yes:

[Toblersmom]

I would if I could figure out (and remember to use) a better way to carry treats while riding. I’m a big believer in food reinforcements for food-motivated critters, and boy is my guy food-motivated. I’d probably use carrot sticks rather than sugar or anything else (I often use knock-off Frosted Mini Wheats on the ground). Easier to offer with less room for error with stray teeth. Somebody I know who offers treats in the saddle makes sure to precede an offering with a sing-song verbal cue of “TURRR-EAT!”, and only offers a treat with whatever hand she doesn’t use for a dressage salute. If I figure out the carrying treats part (and the remembering to bring enough carrot sticks to use as a reward when riding AND do carrot stretches after), I’ll follow that model.

[Dark_horse17]

I think it’s a great idea…

https://thehorse.com/157596/study-horses-prefer-food-rewards-to-verbal-praise/

My guy waits patiently at the mounting block for his mint (a carrot stretch on EACH side before we march off)… I also keep some in my pockets – after some awesome work, I’ll give him a reward.

Since my gelding has had some stomach issues in the past, my “Mints” are actually mint-flavored TUMS, which he scarfs down eagerly.

[RedHorses]

I do with my younger horse. He was very anxious about getting things right in the beginning and I found stopping him and giving him a treat really helped him understand that the weird sideways thing really was what I wanted him to do. He is exceptionally food motivated (think Labrador Retriever in a horse costume) and I had discovered that when he was a weanling.

It did make for some interesting rides when we did something new. He’d figured out that I said “Good boy!”, halted and gave him a treat (carrot coins). If he was really insecure about having done what I wanted he’d slam on the brakes and turn his head when I said “Good boy!” It could have been a disaster, except that once he understood what I wanted “Good boy!” just produced a chuffed “I know!” kind of response from him as he continued doing the thing.

I still carry a few bits of carrot most rides, but he’s fine if I don’t. He waits for me to offer, though he’s always hopeful when I lean down to tighten the girth! :lol:

My other horse has no interest in treats when he’s working. I actually did some clicker training with him when he was recovering from an injury. When I tried to bring it into the riding he was not interested at all. Other than follow-the-carrot stretches the horse before that couldn’t connect his actions with food rewards on the ground so I didn’t try it under saddle. Those two horses made it hard for me to fit treats into my training when I discovered the power of food over my younger horse.

[Moogles]

I give sugar or a Tums when he has done good work. My trainer will give him a sugar cube when she helps me from the ground with half step work. He’s hilarious, when he has done some really great steps he gives this look “like I know that was bomb…where’s my treat at??”. When he hasn’t tried that hard he doesn’t even bother to look for a treat…He knows it wasn’t treat worthy lol. I also give wither scratches.

Treats for him also make let him know he is ok. There was a scary tarp set up we were doing training with. He WOULD NOT go near it. I put a piece of banana on it and he’s rustling it trying to find another piece!

[WildLittleWren]

My friend gives her horse treats several times during a ride. It has started a bad habit of him stopping, and turning for a treat. It has started to become an issue for her. Whenever HE thinks he has done something correctly, he expects it.

I am not necessarily against giving a treat when mounting, but again, not a habit I would prefer to start.

[khall]

I do, not sugar cubes because my horse won’t eat them, but horse treats. We are working pretty demanding stuff (piaffe etc) and I absolutely will stop and reward him for a job well done. He is fine with it US. I also use treats when just working on the ground (I do in hand and even when lunging my young filly, she gives me a good canter and she gets to come in and get a goodie).

[CFFarm]

My horses have always been rehabs or horses with very little training. If a horse was very green and had a “lightbulb” moment I reward with a treat. After the horse has “learned how to learn” the treat moves to the end of the ride.

[Nestor]

I always have a pocket full of sugar cubes when I ride. But I generally just give some for mounting (I suddenly have a horse who stands completely still for mounting), and when I’m done. I do find that they are helpful for my horse’s anxiety, so if I find he’s getting worried about something, a sugar cube can help get his mind off of it. I think it could be disruptive to reward with a sugar cube mid-ride, because you have to do it so quickly after the good moment that you’d have to halt immediately, dig out the sugar, and feed it for it to be effective. Coming from positive reinforcement training for dogs, you can have a signal that means they did good and a reward is coming, which makes the bridge between the correct movement and the reward easier. If I really wanted to reward my horse, I could use a tap on his shoulder, which I’ve already taught him to mean he gets a sugar and he turns his head to whatever side I tap on. You could try something similar.

[Toblersmom]

@WildLittleWren

My friend gives her horse treats several times during a ride. It has started a bad habit of him stopping, and turning for a treat. It has started to become an issue for her. Whenever HE thinks he has done something correctly, he expects it.

I am not necessarily against giving a treat when mounting, but again, not a habit I would prefer to start.

That’s an overall training/obedience issue that may have started with treats, but could have been nipped in the bud very easily, and should be pretty easy to extinguish depending on how long it’s been going on. It’s the ridden equivalent of “mugging” on the ground. Key points are the food rewards are not a “given” once the response (edited to add-the response for whatever behavior you are rewarding) has been pretty clearly established, food rewards are given under the rider/handler’s terms alone (and in this case, sounds like clear, specific cues that a treat is forthcoming in addition to any general praise-speech would be a big help), and that spontaneous decision making on the part of the horse to stop (turn, move faster, change gait, anything) will NOT be tolerated. Nobody says “I’m not going to go through gates in the arena any more, I don’t want my horse to be gate sour.” If they are poor horsepeople they go ahead and allow gate-sour behavior to develop and continue. If they are good horse people they work on re-training a horse that’s already stopping at the gate by being proactive and forward as they approach and pass, reprimanding the horse if it really slows down or stops anyway, getting off if and only if the horse had responded to a clear request for halt out of an energetic gait, getting off at different places rather than right at the gate so it is longer a given to the horse that the ride is over at any given halt at any given place.

[sascha]

@WildLittleWren

My friend gives her horse treats several times during a ride. It has started a bad habit of him stopping, and turning for a treat. It has started to become an issue for her. Whenever HE thinks he has done something correctly, he expects it.

I am not necessarily against giving a treat when mounting, but again, not a habit I would prefer to start.

Your friend is exactly the type of rider who shouldn’t ever give treats from the saddle. The horse didn’t spontaneously learn to be able to extract treats by stopping and turning, she trained him to do it. She trained the naughtiness right into him. It would be dead simple for a very experienced trainer to fix, but the fix would only last as long as the owner was able to maintain boundaries, which … not likely lol

[TheHotSensitiveType]

I go through a pocket of treats every ride… My mare is extremely lazy and would have loved nothing more than having an owner that just told her how pretty she was and left her out in the pasture. In an effort to improve her attitude and try under saddle, at the suggestion of my main instructor I clicker trained her under saddle. She gives me a solid effort for anything? She gets clicked and gets a treat. After the first ride, she already had the idea and after the 3rd ride she totally understood what was going on (and I learned that I need to sit deeper in the saddle to not end up on her neck when she does the sliding stop for her treats! Bonus!!! )

Clicker training is what helped us make the jump from working 1st schooling some 2nd level to working 2nd schooling some 3rd level… Sure there are issues, for instance: Maresy: Stopping… “That was good and I deserve a treat!” Me: “No, get back to work, and you wait until I click you.” Maresy: Goes back to work until I click her. She surprised me the other day with obnoxious begging on the ground for treats… nipped that in the rear within a few minutes.

I have worked with horses that do not get hand fed treats at all for MONTHS until they are respectful and obedient on the ground. Even then, I still limit the number of treats they get (often only one when getting caught) because it can re-ignite the pushy behavior I worked so hard on getting past.

[Mondo]

I don’t have a problem with treats as rewards during the ride. I know a very well respected judge who has sugar cubes on the ledge around the school. If the horse does something very well, she allows him to eat one.

However: please don’t routinely give your horse sugar cubes or peppermints (or other candy). Find another treat that isn’t sugar. It does the exact same thing to their teeth that it does to ours. Horses do not eat sugar as a natural part of their diet. It really isn’t good for them. But yeah, you are only giving a tiny sugar cube, I get it. Those add up! Just MHO - you can obviously feed your horse whatever you choose.

[Scribbler]

@TheHotSensitiveType

I go through a pocket of treats every ride… My mare is extremely lazy and would have loved nothing more than having an owner that just told her how pretty she was and left her out in the pasture. In an effort to improve her attitude and try under saddle, at the suggestion of my main instructor I clicker trained her under saddle. She gives me a solid effort for anything? She gets clicked and gets a treat. After the first ride, she already had the idea and after the 3rd ride she totally understood what was going on (and I learned that I need to sit deeper in the saddle to not end up on her neck when she does the sliding stop for her treats! Bonus!!! )

Clicker training is what helped us make the jump from working 1st schooling some 2nd level to working 2nd schooling some 3rd level… Sure there are issues, for instance: Maresy: Stopping… “That was good and I deserve a treat!” Me: “No, get back to work, and you wait until I click you.” Maresy: Goes back to work until I click her. She surprised me the other day with obnoxious begging on the ground for treats… nipped that in the rear within a few minutes.

I have worked with horses that do not get hand fed treats at all for MONTHS until they are respectful and obedient on the ground. Even then, I still limit the number of treats they get (often only one when getting caught) because it can re-ignite the pushy behavior I worked so hard on getting past.

This. OP, if you want to incorporate positive reward training, learn about clicker training which will teach you how to use treats for maximum effectiveness and avoid common problems with nippy or pushy.

I stumbled into clicker training and have used it for all kinds of fun stuff on the ground. But I stopped using it under saddle because it was reinforcing random stops and random begging. I did like the sliding stops though!

If you are going to clicker training you need a fair handful of treats per session. So stop the sugar cubes and move to a chunky extruded feed, and get a fanny pack to carry them in.

It’s impossible to carry a clicker and ride so I started making a distinctive singke cluck sound with my mouth.

[Magicboy]

I had a mare that would take a treat at the mounting block right off of the toe of my boot. Only time she got a treat.