What is Trick Training?
The term "Trick" training is a misnomer.
There is no trick about it. It is
simply more training. We are working
on our relationship with our horse as we ask
more and more of him. We use the
phrase "trick training" since this is the
standard term.
Trick training is like any other kind of
training. We give a horse a signal or cue
and they react with a trained or conditioned
response. In this case, we are teaching
horses to do fun or fantastic feats. You can
teach your horse anything from "counting" to
"shaking hands" to "rearing." Only your
imagination limits what you can do.
Methods
There are several methods to teaching horses
tricks. I use a treat reward method to teach
my horses. You can use clicker training; you
can use a different type of reward other
than treats. It all depends on how you
prefer to train. I understand that when I
give my horse treats, I must be responsible
to make sure that he never nips, bites, or
nuzzles to get treats. You can train your
horses without treats, but it might take
longer. It us up to you to decide
which method you are most comfortable with.
Motivation
I use treats to help encourage my horse to
learn the tricks. Once my horses learn a
trick, I start to wean them off of treats.
This way, they will to the tricks anytime
with only an occasional treat. I also use
lots of verbal and physical praise. Horses,
like dogs and other animals, respond very
well to your tone of voice. If you use a
high pitched, excited voice, they will pick
up on that. If you use a low, bored voice,
well, they might fall asleep.
Is Trick Training for You?
Trick training is very fun. It also takes a
lot of work to have a good trick horse. To
teach some of the other more advanced
tricks, plan to spend at least an hour a
day, every day. If you only have time to
train on the weekends, plan to teach some of
the simpler tricks such as, "yes," "no,"
"count," and "kiss." There are quite a few
that you could teach that are simple and
learned in a relatively short amount of
time. People will still be amazed at what
your horse can do and you will have fun
teaching your horse.
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Basic Trick Training
$560 per month*
Includes board
Requires the owner to be somewhat
involved |
Trick Training Clinic
Ask me how you can host a trick
training clinic in your area! |
email.JPG) |
