Wilem's Tricks

Several people have asked my how I trained my horse to do tricks. The answer: I had the help of an experienced instructor. I have reproduced an article here that I wrote back in Jan 03 which I have now updated (Jul 03).

Here in Hobart I am lucky in that local instructor Amanda Massie knows how to train horses to do tricks (and everything else actually, she's a very talented girl). So of course now that I own my own young Friesian Warmblood (my lovely assistant Wallbrook Wilem, aged 14 months) I made the decision to train him as a trick horse. This decision was not taken lightly. Once a horse has learnt a trick they will do it all their lives which may be dangerous if the horse is sold in the future, for example with rear in its repertoire, to a less experienced home. Even 'take the person's hat off' will get annoying eventually. It is easiest to train them when they are young so I was in the unique position of my instructor ringing me to remind me to make a time to get started! Amanda loves baroque horses but had never actually handled a Friesian so she couldn't wait to start working with Wilem. Getting the horse to do tricks consists of encouraging them to be naughty and then rewarding them, so you need to have a certain level of horsemanship skills so that things don't get out of control. Wilem had learnt to lead, tie, have his feet done, go to shows in the float etc before we started with tricks. When I mean "learnt to lead" I REALLY mean LEAD ie walk/trot/turn and halt without pulling on the lead rope, just on the body language of the handler. You will notice that in many of the pictures Willie has his ears back. This is OK in this situation; it is just a part of being allowed to do naughty things. Wilem had his first lesson only one month before these pictures were taken, so he is very much in the early stages. My job now is to run over everything he has learned as often as possible for many months so that they will become so ingrained he will always do them.Horses are taught a trick by giving them a cue then rewarding them when they give the appropriate response. A reward consists of removing the cue and/or giving them a rest, or a rub or telling them they're a good boy. Wilem loves cuddles! In fact, as we use this as a reward a lot of the time, he is learning a cue for 'cuddles' (me holding out my arms). When you are just starting a new trick you will give a reward for the slightest move they make in the right direction. It is also important not to do anything that may be perceived by the horse as telling them off for doing the trick or they may never offer that trick again. Another thing to be aware of is that the cues for different tricks must be sufficiently different so the horse does not get confused.

Spanish walk
Wilem's best trick so far is Spanish walk. Horses are usually taught to bow first but Willie had a mental block on that one so we went onto Spanish walk. I will try to explain, but I think it is better to teach this with an instructor who knows how, I know I would have been lost without Amanda. Well, we start with the beginning of bow - lifing the leg off the ground. The cue we used was tapping the cannon bone. They should naturally want to snatch the leg away (or will eventually). As soon as this happens we stop and reward. Now think about this before you teach it - will your farrier be happy you taught him this??? Once the horse is consistant at picking up his foot, we tap on the outside of his forearm just as he picks his leg up, and he brings his leg out in front. At first they will step forward with their front legs and forget about the back ones - ending up all stretched out! Wilem did this, it was so funny - but with gentle encouragement to come forward, he worked out all his legs. Willie has now got good enough to do it by just pointing the whip rather than tapping. I am standing in front of him at this early stage; eventually I will be able to give the cue while standing at his shoulder. You will have to excuse Wilem for looking a bit odd in the photo, the paddock he is in is extremely steep and his bottom has ended up higher up the hill than the rest of him as he tries to keep his balance.

Salute
It is likely that Wilem will never be really brilliant at bow so we have taught him salute instead. All horses will be better at one thing than another. I have changed the position of the whip to the back of the leg. Eventually he will do this without me having to touch him.

Pawing
Note I have now moved the whip position. I am actually tapping the ground in front of Willie and he is pawing where indicated. Hopefully he will learn to count one day.

Rear - don't try this one at home folks!
Note the loose lead rope. It is essential that you don't pull a horse down from a rear, as it will learn that rear is a 'naughty' thing, then do it deliberately whenever they want to be naughty!!! Also to be aware of is that at first they may be unsure of their balance and come down with their legs held out straight in front of them. Wilem didn't have this problem as he is a very balanced horse and you can see his nice position in the photo.

So there you have it, this is Willie's repertoire so far. Once these tricks are firmly established, and we have improved the ones he is not so good at such as bow and kisses, Amanda and I will continue on and teach him some new ones, such as count and lie down.

Thanks to Kate Roach for coming and taking the photos for me on an unfamiliar camera in the 35 degree heat!

Update:  May - September 2004 Willie now has a new trick, lying down. He is quite keen to do this one, as it means he gets to do his second-favourite thing (ie nothing).