# Training?



## 7873 (Nov 3, 2008)

Hi, everyone i was wondering if it was hard to teach a horse tricks. And how to do it.


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## Guest (Nov 4, 2008)

Hiya and welcome. Im afraid im unable to help as far as horses are concerned but im sure someone will be along to assist you who will have the answers.


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## Guest (Nov 4, 2008)

Teaching a horse tricks is no harder than teaching it anything else, e.g. to carry a rider. You have to think about what you want the end result to be, then think about how to break it down into tiny easy-to-teach steps. Think about exactly how you will teach each step, what could you do to encourage the horse to perform the action you want. e.g. to teach a horse to bow you might start by teaching him to lower his head, being happy if at first he only lowers his head a few inches. 

Whenever a horse is learning something new it can take a long time to learn properly and even longer to get good at it. Make sure each step is fully learned before moving onto the next step. eg if you were breaking in a horse you would make sure the horse was reasonably balanced and obedient in walk before trying to teach trot, then canter and of course it would be many months before the horse was actually good at walking trotting and cantering. Don't be in a hurry, if you try to teach a horse too much at once you'll fry his brain! There's only so much a horse (or human) can learn at once, teach one tiny step at a time and be happy with slow but steady progress.

In the beginning of teaching a new thing remember to praise any good effort, even if the horse hasn't quite "got it" you must reward a good try. When the work is more established don't settle for the horse saying "will that do?", if you are sure he understands what you want and is physically capable of doing it then insist he does it properly. Remember practice makes perfect. Practice also builds up muscles needed to do the job. Keep sessions short at first or when teaching something new because the horse doesn't have the muscle power for it and will tire easily. 

If a horse has to learn something on each direction then treat it as if he is learning it twice, e.g. if a horse can trot a circle on the left rein that doesn't mean he will be able to do it on the right rein, you have to teach him to circle in trot in both directions and then practice until he finds it equally easy in both directions. Horses may find things easier to do in one direction than the other, always start teaching something new in the easy direction.


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## chaospony (Sep 19, 2008)

For trick training I like to use the clicker training.

Here is my horse Rosco after 3 weeks clicker training him to do tricks...
YouTube - Rosco


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