Teaching Ponies Tricks

QUESTION: I've seen horses that will "bow" for their owners when asked. I think this is cute. How can I teach my pony to bow?

ANSWER: This is an easy trick to teach if done in steps. Also, I use clicker training to achieve this. For you need to teach your horse what a "click" is and that it’s a promise of a treat-to-come. Simply "clicking" (you don't need a mechanical clicker to do this - just a click of your tongue will do nicely) Very easy steps to do this ...

1. "Click" and give your horse a treat. (a couple of bits of grain or a Cheerio work well as treats) Repeat several times.

2. When you think he/she "has it down" then have a friend distract your pony (or wait until he's distracted) and then CLICK ... See if he turns his attention right back to you expecting a treat. If so, he's learned to associate the "click" with the treat.

3. NOW ... You can teach the horse to "target" an object. A small, Walmart orange soccer cone does well for this or some other easy to see object that is safe and won't cause harm to the pony. Hold the cone about 3 feet out from the pony's nose and wait for the pony to "investigate" and touch with his nose. Tell him "Touch!" At the INSTANT he touches the cone with his nose, CLICK then give a Cheerio or piece of grain. Repeat ... 3 - 4 times. At first you may have to "help" him touch the cone ... Wait to see if he reaches his head out towards the cone then touch his nose with the cone and CLICK! Then hand a treat. Once the pony has successfully touched the cone upon request 3 - 4 times he's got is down.

4. Now, you can try moving the cone around a bit so he has to reach down or up or around to touch it. Again, 3 or 4 times of touching it successfully and he's got it.

5. Try a different object. Repeat the steps above.

6. Once you are sure the horse is understanding the cue "TOUCH" you can now begin to take an object and holding it down and between the ponies legs, encourage him to "touch" the object there.

7. OK, now you've got the pony stretching down and back to touch the object ... Time to teach him to lift his leg at the same time. Do this step by step as you did with the "touch". ...
--Ask the pony to lift its hoof. CLICK the INSTANT his hoof is coming UP. Treat.
--Once pony is responding to just a touch to his shoulder to lift his hoof, start to teach him to HOLD his hoof up by using an "intermediate" click (intermediate bridge signal) ...
--Once you have the "hoof in hand" ask the pony to "Hold it! Hold it! Hold it!" (int. bridge) and then CLICK (terminal bridge meaning the task is done)! TREAT. When the pony has held his hoof up "long enough" (as per your own judgement for time) ...

8. Now put the two behaviors together ... Ask the pony to bring his head down then while his head is down ask for his hoof. I use the cue for this combined behavior of "Can you bow, please?".

Doesn't take long for the pony to learn this. Ponies and horses are SMART!

Clicker Training can be utilized to teach a horse or pony all sorts of behaviors ... Its not just for "tricks"! The concept is to use POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT training ... That is, marking (clicking) and rewarding the pony for executing a favorable behavior (requested behavior).

DO NOT PUNISH the horse for a "wrong" answer ... There IS NO WRONG ANSWER! The pony/horse will only be trying to understand your cue and reacting accordingly. It's a LEARNING process for the pony and a TEACHING process for you. Not a "demand" to do something.

Remember, the pony or horse only need repeat a behavior 3 or 4 times perfectly and its forever embedded in their memory. They may, at one time or another, choose NOT to comply with you for whatever reason. And that's OK ... And they may not adapt quickly to something new because YOU are not being clear to them with your cues. So always be sure YOU are correct with your cues and REWARD THE TRY!

This is a wonderful, FUN way to help ponies and horses face spooky things, too ... simply encourage them to "touch" a scary object and it soon becomes a "game" for them!