8/5/13

My horse knows more tricks than your dog.

^^Maybe not true yet, but....

So far Red knows three "tricks". One is the kiss command, where I make a "kiss" noise and say, "Kiss, Red" and he puts his nose to me, like this:
 ^^^Skip to 1:18, sorry, couldn't find a better video!

 What I did was put a treat up to my cheek and say, "Kiss" until he did it every time I said the word. Lol!

Then, he knows how to hug on command. He would run up to me and wrap his head around me without me even teaching him the trick, just being Red, but I thought it would be cute for him to do it on command and just not randomly, so I used the same concept as the kiss command, but put the treat on my other side and said, "hug". :)
This is him doing it by himself, but this is what he does. :))

Then I  taught him the follow command, all I did for this was hold a treat in front of him and make him walk to get it, then once he got that, we worked on the trotting to me, then cantering, then galloping. :) :) It was still something he did by himself most of the time but I wanted him to know how to do it in case it was ever needed for some reason.

Now I think we'll work on bowing. I've found a few ways to do it but my favorite and, in my opinion, the gentlest way of doing it is picking up his hoof like you would clean it, then putting a treat to his chest so he goes to get it. :) Any ideas?

9 comments:

  1. I am teaching my horse how to bow right now, and I am doing what you said with a treat.
    I taught him to pick up his hoof when I tap on his leg and then put the treat under him. And then just keep putting the treat further and further. I have gotten my horse to bow, but right now I am at the point where I need to teach him to stay down. = )
    So fun!

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    1. Treats are important. I don't like making my horse do something without rewarding his *good* behavior because I feel like he gives me the ability to randomly hop on his back without fighting me, so he deserves it. Which is why I tend to stay away from harsh bits, crops, whips and etc. :)

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  2. Haha my horse acts more like a dog then some dogs, that's for sure :)

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  3. hey do you mind if I try some of your techniques? I would love to teach glory some tricks!!!

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    1. No, not at all! I put them on here so others could use them. :) I recommend starting with the follow command first. It's good groundwork and sets them up to do the others easier, in my opinion. Plus it's a good thing for them to know.

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  4. You have one snugly horse! Too cute!!

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    1. That i do! :)) :)) Today when I was letting him out of the barn he wrapped his head around my neck and refused to leave me. :)) Wish I had someone to video tape it at that moment! J and A were cracking up....

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  5. This is cool!! I taught Poppy to kiss (except she moves her lips about on my cheek) do the Spanish walk and to rear on command (not recommended). At the moment I am teaching her to smile and go down on one leg and bow.
    You could also teach your horse to, shake hands, nod yes, shake the head no, count to five (by pawing the ground) and other things like that. You can teach your horse HEAPS of things, just let your imagination go....
    Cant wait to hear what you do next!

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