Hey guys I was wondering any tricks I could teach my horse. He is quite large (16.2hh) so anything really dangerous might be a little hard but I’m willing to try anything fun and safe. So far we have learnt smile and the beginning of bow. Hopefully you may have some ideas:)
I taught my horse to pick up orange cones and hand them to me.
So if your barn ever becomes littered with orange cones–he is your guy!
Do think of how tricks “can go wrong” if horse applies them inappropriately. Bowing for the Farrier might have them both on the ground. Pocket handkerchief pulling can have horse pushing Farrier, Vet, barn help, over to get SOMETHING from them.
Sorry to be a wet blanket here, but the tricks I have seen taught, ALWAYS ended up with horse being a PITA, getting disciplined for doing them at poor times, using tricks to avoid behaving. I sure as heck would be slapping some horse who got nosy on me! Horse has no discrimination, to know when or where to do these tricks and some can be an UGLY surprise when you try to handle them. I would “think” an unknown horse diving to the ground is sick, hurt, not trick-trained to lay down. And he would be punished if he did it often, did not GET UP quickly when asked. None of it is really the horse’s fault, he has been rewarded for doing this “not-normal” or get-in-my-space (think aggressive horse trying to intimidate you by crowding) stuff that needs to BE FIXED to protect ME.
Worst are the gate latch openers, door unhooking, door opening tricks to get himself out, turn everyone loose. Some horses even learn this by accident, making them hard to keep contained in safe places.
So far I can’t think of cone fetching going wrong, but maybe other folks have had issues with it. Ours will play with cones if turned out in the grass arena, but don’t fetch them.
You may not own this horse forever, future owners probably won’t think tricks are cute at all, so horse again, gets reprimanded for them. Kind of sad.
I’ve taught my horse numerous tricks successfully and have never had them “go bad”. There are certain things I wouldn’t consider teaching for liability reasons, rearing for example, but since I’m not a Hollywood trainer working on a western, that’s not a big deal.
There are always going to be “debbie downers” telling you not to do stuff. However, teaching “tricks” can be useful if applied properly and with the right horse. I wouldn’t teach tricks to a horse that was very aggressive, pushy, or mouthy. However, with a quiet sensible type, I would consider it.
My horse picks up his feet on command based on verbal instructions or hand signals. This is very useful when the farrier works on his feet or if I am in the wash rack and my horse steps on the hose.
My horse also knows how to pick up objects on command and hand them back to me. This is useful say if I drop a whip and I don’t want to dismount in order to pick it up again. If I’m off on the trails and drop a crop, I’m not likely to dismount to get it since I might not find an easy way to get back on. lol. I give him a verbal command and point to the thing I want him to pick up then he turns around and hands it to me if I’m mounted or walks over and hands it to me if I’m on the ground. he waits to drop it in my hand until I either put my hands under his muzzle, or until I give him the command to drop the object.
I’ve taught him many other “tricks”, but those are examples of some that have turned out to be quite useful.
I’ve taught my horse to smile, touch his hoof to my toe, Spanish walk in hand (it’s pretty wonky though) and bow. I use a crop as a target for his knees to hit during the Spanish walk. I use the crop as a target along with the command “touch” which he seems to like.
What Goodhors said is something to consider when choosing tricks. However, the examples given seem to be horses that didn’t have a lot of structure around their tricks. For example, my horse isn’t allowed to do tricks in the barn. He can only do tricks outside. I have also, during my training, only rewarded him for doing a trick when given a cue. He knows he doesn’t get any kind of reward for spouting off his arsenal of tricks, so he doesn’t try them without a cue. This keeps him from using his tricks for evil during feeding time, farrier/vet/dentist visits and other times his tricks shouldn’t be used.
As long as you give your horse clear boundaries and follow them to a “T” then your tricks will be just that, tricks. I am staying away from potentially dangerous tricks, such as rearing, at least while my horse is an active riding mount. Have fun with the process, I know my horse loves the mental stimulation.
My old mare knows how to come when called, bow, lie down and die, count to what ever number I want (its a secret cue so she can look smart) pushes people, nods yes, shakes no, shakes hands, takes things off her back and whips them away and will take something out of your hand and throw it… likely other things but I can’t remember lol.
Other than lying down, which caught me off guard when asking her for something new and pushing her a bit lol none have ever gone bad. Its about impulse control. This horse was also a lesson horse and has shown all over at low level everything with students. Her tricks have never been an issue. Once standing at ringside she made a handy seat. I cued her to lay down (on her sternum) and sat on her whilst she calmly ate all the grass she could reach.
She has done TV work as my animals do that sort of thing. But I taught her most of these things long before I got into that.
Here is a video I made when I was doing a talk at my local University on animal behavour (Her dying on cue) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcP7xqqPIV8
As to the OP…
I would teach tricks that play into your horse’s mind set. Is he mouthy? Teach him some ways to use his mouth that is ok. Ie picking up things.
If you want any suggestions on how to teach a particular trick let me know!
Lining up to mounting block
Picking up feet on cue
Husbandry (teeth, shots, thermometer,etc)
Stand still
Back up
Haunches over
Shoulders over
Etc, etc
Basically before teaching “tricks” I teach useful behaviors. I also put things on cues pretty quick. After the initial stages, they are never rewarded for doing the behavior off cue.
Incidentally, I sold my first “trick” horse to someone who wasn’t into it and although they were aware and were shown his tricks, from the updates I get here and there, he does not offer them unprompted.
He had a good Spanish Walk, bow, retrieve glove from ground and hand to me in saddle, etc, etc.
I put cues on that would be hard to stumble upon by mistake. For example my bow cue is not something that would occur while picking feet/farrier work, but those are all very good points.
Also taught many a trick without a horse ever wreaking havoc…the important thing to remember is that you need to be specific about when and where the trick is “asked”, and that IT IS asked.
You do it right, and you’ll never have an issue with the horse becoming an escape artist or a PITA. Those horses belong to people who don’t establish boundaries.
I’ve taught:
Spanish walk
Nod/shake head “no”
Plie bow
Regular bow
Mount a circus drum
“Smile”
“Wave” by lifting and wagging a foreleg
Fetch
It’s a load of fun, excellent training in focus, and can really strengthen your relationship with your horse. A nice break from the hum-drum of arena work or showing.
[QUOTE=SnicklefritzG;7839996]
My horse also knows how to pick up objects on command and hand them back to me. This is useful say if I drop a whip and I don’t want to dismount in order to pick it up again. [/QUOTE]
Cool! How did you teach this?
[QUOTE=zakattack;7840123]
Cool! How did you teach this?[/QUOTE]
Send me a PM and I can give you the write-up. Someone else asked about this not too long ago so I put together a list of how to teach this trick by chaining several simpler ones together.
My old rodeo pony knew how to nod his head “yes” or “no” and bow. His new owners were two little girls who were absolutely thrilled that they had a trick pony and I’m sure he was asked a million questions a day for at least three months. 
My mare’s previous owner taught my mare’s filly how to open her stall. I have no idea why you would teach a horse this and yes, filly would escape and let other horses out.
My 27 YO shetland pony can rear, bow, and paw if you scratch his knee.
My paint gelding just learned how to open a refrigerator on Sunday. :lol:
[QUOTE=Abbie.S;7840122]
It’s a load of fun, excellent training in focus, and can really strengthen your relationship with your horse. A nice break from the hum-drum of arena work or showing.[/QUOTE]
Yes! I couldn’t agree more. Last winter I couldn’t ride at all so we started learning tricks instead. My gelding is a smart boy and really likes learning new tricks. He’s very proud of himself when he gets a trick down. You will inevitably spend a lot of time with your horse. It’s a great way to get to know them better and strengthen your bond.
Aven, I have seen your video before and LOVE it! And your little dog, too!
This is a fun thread! I agree with the posters upthread that not reinforcing behaviors that have not be cued for is key. Horses are smarter than we think. Any activity you can do that will get your horse to respectfully listen to you can only be a good thing.
The standard series of tricks you teach an andalusian when started under saddle are to stretch, bow, kneel, lay down, streched out flat, you may add pulling a blanket over itself, then sitting up, you may add letting a rider get on and lifting up back on all fours with a rider on board.
We also taught them, when no one was looking, kids tend to do bad things, to rear up and to kick out when you poke at their rear end behind the saddle, very bad tricks those, that horses may use as resistances.
When finally caught at that, to say "we didn’t think … " doesn’t help, the idea is that you learn, to THINK before doing something, so we don’t do something stupid, oops.
Also the spanish walk, but that was part of traditional, standard training, not tricks to teach colts just for fun.
Some fun stuff here! I never taught my gelding tricks because he gets pushy but my mare is taking to it well. She knows Kiss and Hug so far.
[QUOTE=goodhors;7839936]
Do think of how tricks “can go wrong” if horse applies them inappropriately. Bowing for the Farrier might have them both on the ground. Pocket handkerchief pulling can have horse pushing Farrier, Vet, barn help, over to get SOMETHING from them.
Sorry to be a wet blanket here, but the tricks I have seen taught, ALWAYS ended up with horse being a PITA, getting disciplined for doing them at poor times, using tricks to avoid behaving. I sure as heck would be slapping some horse who got nosy on me! Horse has no discrimination, to know when or where to do these tricks and some can be an UGLY surprise when you try to handle them. I would “think” an unknown horse diving to the ground is sick, hurt, not trick-trained to lay down. And he would be punished if he did it often, did not GET UP quickly when asked. None of it is really the horse’s fault, he has been rewarded for doing this “not-normal” or get-in-my-space (think aggressive horse trying to intimidate you by crowding) stuff that needs to BE FIXED to protect ME.
Worst are the gate latch openers, door unhooking, door opening tricks to get himself out, turn everyone loose. Some horses even learn this by accident, making them hard to keep contained in safe places.
So far I can’t think of cone fetching going wrong, but maybe other folks have had issues with it. Ours will play with cones if turned out in the grass arena, but don’t fetch them.
You may not own this horse forever, future owners probably won’t think tricks are cute at all, so horse again, gets reprimanded for them. Kind of sad.[/QUOTE]
So long as you are smart with what you teach, it should not be a problem. Obviously don’t teach a horse to rear in the barn… etc. Really, it should not be a problem.
I clicker trained my gelding during layup to do a whole bunch of things – best of which is coming when I whistle… It is great too because you would never think he knows a single trick the way he acts – but once you pull out the clicker he is ALL business. He ground-ties ANYWHERE, ties to anything (tree? no problem… rock? who cares? SUPER useful), comes when whistled even while free, will pull a lead rope/slackened lunge line out between his legs, picks up a leg based on which cue, stand attention while I fuss on his back/fix stirrups, and my personal favorite, STOPS when I dismount. All ‘tricks’ that are not, in reality, tricks for show – but great to have in your repertoire. We are currently polishing off the stopping when I emergency dismount too.
Like SnicklefritzG said there are various useful tricks to teach your horse - after all, is not riding a series of ‘tricks’ in engagement?
Clicker training is a great way to isolate behaviors and reward them, and is also a good way to make sure these behaviors are never offered unless you ask for them.
SnicklefritzG, I like the whip idea, how did you teach your guy that? The furthest I got with any sort of oral trick was teaching my guy to pick up his stall ‘buddy’, a wooden pig. I’m thinking it would be neat to teach him to pick up my jacket… I always drop them when I am riding!
When we had a horse that was rank, the kind that was scared of humans, that would almost go over a fence when you approach him, that had been roped to be caught every morning before going on to work cattle, we taught it static tricks.
When you walked in such horse’s pen, you asked for a trick like smile or pick up a foot and the horse would forget to be scared, had to think what we were asking and knew a treat was coming, so they would stand there doing their trick and so we could approach them and, once there, they were ok with the new, nice human.
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