I've been teaching my horse and a friends horse some basic tricks recently. Things like smiling, target training and giving a hug etc.
I was wondering if anyone had any good ideas for more advanced tricks we could try?
Also, anyone who has experience with positive reinforcement training, I need a high value reward for my horse. He takes a lot to get motivated and isn't the type to get too excited and offer a lot of variation in behaviour. He will work for grain, carrots, biscuits etc but I was wondering if anyone has any really high value treat ideas?
Thank a lot
hi!
I have taught my horse to shake his head yes and no. They are both really easy tricks and I taught them to him in about a day each. To teach him to shake his head (no) I flipped his mane to the opposite side. When he shook his head to flip it back over, i immediately gave him a treat. I kept doing this until i got to the point that as soon as i pointed at his withers, he shakes his head. I added a voice cue, and now he does it on command! I have seen other ways of teaching this trick, like poking his withers with a nail, but that looked too dangerous to me. You can also try tricks like bowing, (i'm still working on that one or laying down. I would stay away from trying to teach him to rear/paw unless you really know what you are doing as these can turn into bad habits. I like using alfalfa cubes for treats because they are healthy and somewhat inexpensive. Plus you can get them in bulk.
Hope that helps!
Thanks guys!
Yeah I was thinking about yes and no. It's just about finding the right technique with mine because you could literally start WW3 around him and he would probably just take a nap lol.
He has started offering a few more behaviours now that he is getting the hang of clicker training. He's an older guy and has been traditionally trained (and very well) so he was a bit confused at getting lots of treats lol! But at first it was like blood from a stone!! Not sure if the mane thing would provoke a reaction :/ Definitely don't want to go as far as the nail in the withers though
I started teaching my friends horse to bow but I think my boy might find it a bit hard on his old joints. Which is unfortunate because I would love him to do it
At the moment he smiles, touches the floor with his nose, picks up a crop and targets a crop to do things like lateral flexion. He also lifts both his front legs on cue so I can start teaching him to Spanish walk.
Lying down would be a great one too but I have no idea where to start!
I'm working on clicker training with my rescue horse right now. So far we've only done "look away" and tonight was day 3 of target touching. He's really getting this stuff FAST. He's a pretty laid back guy, tho. Any (non-painful - nail OUCH!) suggestions to get him to smile or shake/nod his head? Those aren't usually things he does.
Clicker training is awesome! And I'm so happy to see someone else committing to it, especially with a rescue horse
For smiling I just started holding a treat up in the air with a semi-closed fist. When he goes to smell it click and treat. Gradually ask for more interest, so when he lifts his lip even the tiniest bit click and treat. You can ask for more and more movement and more duration as you build up his understanding of the clicker.
I have started head shaking now and it took me a while to find a motivator for the movement because my horse, like yours, is very laid back and stoic. I have found success in tickling his face with some baling twine (or similar material). around his nose and eyes usually elicit a shake and I can click and treat that. I only do it for a couple of minutes at a time though because I don't want him to get annoyed.
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