Which Tricks Would You Like To Teach Your Horse?

 What about a useful one?

"Give me a kiss"

There are so many tricks you can teach your horse.  There are all the usual ones like Kiss Me, Hug Me, Say Yes, Say No, but also have a think about useful tricks you can teach your horse.  These can make life a lot easier (and safer) around your horse.

"Pick up your foot"

Pick up your feet.  I just point at my horse’s foot and he will pick it up.  The farrier loves this one!

Wait for dinner.  My horse knows that he must wait till I have finished mixing his feed before he is allowed to eat his dinner.  He stands about 2 foot away from his feed bin until I say “okay”.  Horses can be very pushy when it comes to feed and this trick teaches your horse good manners.

Move away, back up.  I only need to point at my horse’s hindquarter and he will move it away.  Point at his head and he will move his front end away.  I point at his chest and he backs.  Very useful (and easy) to move your horse around.

Drop your head.  I just lightly touch my horse on the top of his head and he will lower it.  Helpful when I want to put a bridle on.

Open / shut a gate.  I only need to undo the latch on a gate and he pushes the gate open.  Or he will put his head over it, back up and close it.  I never have to get off my horse to open or shut a gate when we go out trail riding.

There are loads more useful tricks. If you learn the basics of teaching one trick you can teach your horse to do any trick.  They are all taught in exactly the same way.  You will also find that once you have taught your horse a few simple tricks it gets easier and easier.

So have a think about some useful tricks you might like to teach your horse.  We will be including some in our Horse Trick Training ebook.  If there is something in particular you would like to teach your horse just fill in the form and we will try and include it in the ebook.

Share and Enjoy:

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

4 Responses to “Which Tricks Would You Like To Teach Your Horse?”

1. Holz says:

   October 24, 2009 at 1:20 pm

   I have been playing around with a litle section A mare that we have and she has learnt to: Bow
   rear
   lie down
   play dead

   and she was declared a nutter that need getting rid of so yeah you can do tricks with anything
2. Judy Gwaltney says:

   October 24, 2009 at 8:03 pm

   I love this site! I’d love to have the ebook. I would like to teach my two horses to do things together. They already do some things, like circle while the other one is on a pedestal, etc., the little mustang mare picks up things, honks the bicycle horn, opens gates, they both push a big ball, but I’d like to teach them to “play ball” together, maybe one lead the other, etc., maybe hug and kiss each other…..? They are very bonded and it’s hard to work with one only as the other feels left out…especially the big 21 year old TWH…He learns more slowly, but you can count on him once he’s got it.
3. Sunrise says:

   March 9, 2010 at 6:05 am

   This sounds awesome looking forward to the ebook!
   i’d like to teach my mini lots of things like rear on command. but i worry that if i teach him something like that then he might just go and do it when some little kid is on his back and totally freak it out! do i have to worry about that?
   I really want to teach him to stand (square) and STAY. then come when called like a dog and play with my dog with a ball or tug toy. they play as it is but its more like chaseys
   cool found you on face book
4. Jain & Trigger says:

   March 10, 2010 at 2:45 am

   Hi Sunrise, yes if little kids are going to be riding your mini then I wouldn’t teach him to rear – just to be safe. I always teach my horses that unless they are asked to do a trick they don’t get a reward and this discourages them doing unwanted tricks. But a kid may give them a trick cue by mistake and your horse will think he is being asked to do the trick. I also find that when I first start teaching a horse tricks he will sometimes try to do several unasked tricks when he/she sees me in the hope that they will get a reward. It’s usually funny but in this situation it could be dangerous.

   You can use the same method to teach a trick as you can to teach loads of other useful things, like standing square and staying. I had a huge 16.2hh thoroughbred that would chase a ball and bring it back to me. He loved this game! Some horses aren’t good fetchers, just like some dogs. Trigger, my current trick horse is very relaxed and a bit lazy and he thinks fetch is a bit too much like hard work. However he is brilliant at bowing, lying down and staying… all tricks that don’t take much energy