That’s lovely!
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My youngster was so spooky about the rider getting on and off his back that treats were the best way to have him stop and think. I give him treats while I ride as well but he doesn’t get them unless he is being better than average for him, in whatever we are working on. If he even thinks about “needing” a treat without my input, he is pushed forward and worked a bit more until that better moment is reached. He is a hard worker and wants his reward…I usually use Mrs Pastures cookies since they are his favorites besides anything peppermint.
He’s old, he proves himself every day, he gets a ton of treats. They all do. No ride doesn’t end with either a handful of cubes or a peppermint. It’s just how it’s done. <3
I’ve been known to give sugar/mint during the ride, but not as a general rule, usually just at the end, and on our way back home.
When I ride I don’t like to give treats during the ride, only after. Some horses get treats tossed into their grain buckets, if they are the mouthy type, or the treats get used to help stretch the neck after a ride.
You can always try giving your horse a treat during a ride, when you feel he has done something for that reward, and see how he behaves. 
I take a similar approach with my younger one. He was so spooky about mounting and dismounting…and about people…and about life. Clicker training really helped him “come out” more and feel more confident.
He also knows he cannot beg for a treat. He must look away/be out of my space. Occasionally he will see me reach into my pocket and turn his head to me, and then immediately turns away when he remembers the “rules” this works for us and he is not nippy/in your pocket/pushy.
I carry 2 sugar cubes when riding. He gets one at the mounting block (munching while I mount works best for him), and one at the end of the ride or after a big accomplishment. Occasionally I’ll forget the cubes, and life goes on. He notices, but is not rude about it.
I’d prefer something other than sugar, but this seems to be the best option with a bit in his mouth. When training on the ground, not in a bridle, I don’t use sugar cubes.
I think using food reinforcements is ok if you establish proper boundaries.
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I thought of this thread yesterday. My trainer just got a weird little golf cart which looks like a chopped up Smart car, and my mare thought it was VERY bizarre. We walked over to it, and she snorted a few times, then chose to walk up closer. She kept looking at it, then turning and making eye contact with me, then looking back at it. I thought she was begging for sugar for being brave.
Turns out she was trying to figure out why there were two of me since she saw my reflection in the windshield. :lol: But she did get a sugar when she was calm about standing with her nose on it, when I chose to have her walk away.
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This would be a lot easier if all breeches had reasonably sized pockets. 3/4 of my breeches either don’t have pockets at all, or have one teeny tiny pocket that can maybe fit two cookies. Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy does the world think women don’t need pockets???
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I have the same thing with my horse :lol:
When we started working on half steps from the ground, he would get a sugar cube when he made significant progress. After a period of time he figured it out and then he’s nicker for his treat as soon as he knew he did them correctly.
Now he’s pretty good about keeping quiet until the treat is given to him (i.e. doesn’t beg for it) but in the beginning he definitely did once he figured out the deal.
I may use a treat to reward a behavior until that behavior has become habit. For instance, I hack my horse before working in arena. I’ve taught him to empty his bladder while on the hack. That little habit sure has made arena work so much easier!
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I tried as I was really having a hard time getting my mare to pick up the right lead. I would reward if she picked up the right lead after I cued her to stop. I did it for one session.
It resulted in her picking up the right lead 75,000 times in one ride then sliding to a stop and looking for her treat. Worst idea ever for her!
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Nope. If my horses do something correctly they get a loose rein walk. Mine get a treat when I go get them before I ride, and another when I put them away.
I’ve ridden with trainers who will hand the horse a treat when they come back out of the ring at a show.
I reward with a pat and release of pressue (stretch, walk on long rein).
I give a treat when I mount. He used to move all over the place when I got on, so he only gets it if he approaches and then stands and waits whilst I organize myself. He did get an extra treat when a giant piece of machinery drove directly at the sand ring and then along side it and he stood and watched it. (it was one of those sprayer things with 8ft wheels and the sprayer thing even when not open sticks out about 10 feet on either side).
I do it. My trainers do it. Robert Dover does it and insists his students do as well. I was watching video clip of him working with Jan Eblings son at latest Horse Mastership Clinic in Wellington and Robert paused and asked if rider rode with sugar for his horse. Rider responded no and Dover produced his own cube, instructing rider “always ride with sugar because you can’t train a seal without treats.” Article by JJ Tate about developing “X” factor with her horses and for those who are particularly food motivated, sugar cubes at high points reinforces the training.
Have you tried something like this? I use one for when I’m training my dogs, I imagine it would work well for horse treats as well (my pony is a treat beggar - and I’m a treat pushover - so I won’t try it with her or I suspect she’ll spend our rides trying to get them lol)
Not getting into the “wouldn’t happen in nature” debate. To get back to the original question: I don’t think there is a really practical way to reward the horse for most movements with a sugar cube. In order to get the sugar to the horse, you have to stop him. The horse is pretty simple minded and will think that he is being rewarded for the last thing he did – the halt – not the movement which came before it. You CAN reward a horse with treats for halting, or for standing quietly. If you are a handler on the ground, it is sometimes possible to reward passage or piaffe groundwork with treats. I don’t think it hurts anything to go ahead and give your horse treats during a break, or after a training session. He won’t think of it as a reward for any particular movement, but it will make the training session more pleasant for him in general.
As mentioned before, clicker training would be a way to mark the moment you are rewarding with the clicker, then give the horse a treat to reward that behavior. That takes a lot of prior training to teach the horse what the click is about. IMO it could be useful if you are already using clicker training for some other reason (i.e. it is great for teaching tricks, or re-training a horse that needs to build trust in humans). But most people don’t find clicker training to be worth all the effort if your primary goal is using it to improve your dressage training.
Clicker training is pretty simple, even for horses. I use ‘yes’ as it is distinctive with its sssss sound and doesn’t carry well in the wind
This is very interesting:
https://www.ironspringfarm.com/article-detail/2014-04-23/clicker-training-with-shawna-karrasch
http://www.chronofhorse.com/article/show-jumping-horse-year-judgement-isf
Beezie and John knew they’d have to conquer Judgement’s water jump phobia to realize his full potential. “But the water issue wasn’t so much that he was trying to work against the rider–it was that he had a genuine fear of it. If you walked him up next to the water, his heart would pound,” Beezie said. They used positive reinforcement training–“clicker” training–to assure Judgement that water wasn’t to be feared. They didn’t show him for the whole first year they had him in their barn, while working on getting him confident about water jumps.
Judgement first showed with Beezie at the summer series in Spruce Meadows in 2001, where water jumps were frequently on courses. Their patience paid off, and Judgement tackled the water jumps and liverpools without problem. While they occasionally refresh Judgement’s clicker training, he’s become a reliable water jumper.
I’m pretty sure you believe horses to be far simpler than they really are. “Whoa” can work exactly the same as a clicker, as can a tongue click, a hand clap, a “good boy”, or any other particular noise. A clicker is not a magical device that trains an animal for you. It is a consistent sound for those who are too unfocussed to create their own “treat coming” noise. It’s been a really well marketed completely unnecessary device. Good trainers all use “clicker training” it’s just that they don’t use an actual clicker and the reward can vary from verbal praise, to a lessening of aids, to a loose rein walk, to a treat.
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