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"Oh, I don't train tricks"

19/6/2017

7 Comments

 
"Oh, I'm not interested in tricks. I have far too many other (more important) things to be doing..."

Hey that's cool. I'm totally fine with that, to each their own.  I too have little time and lots of important things to be training (and *cough*toomanyhorses*cough*). I do make time to train some tricks though, and here's why. 


  • Horses have a fantastic sense of humour, if you just lighten up and take your eyes off the goal posts for 5 minutes and let them express themselves.  ​Most equestrians, in my opinion, take ourselves and our sport way too seriously. Life is short and should be joyful. Have fun with your horse.  ​  ​​
  • P.S. I don't mean "do things you find fun, on your horse", I actually mean have fun with your horse, with an eye to reciprocal enjoyment. ​​
Picture
Photo credit: Bridie Rose Photography
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  • NO PRESSURE: ​Tricks are a fantastic opportunity to practice full focus, zero pressure training. This sort of training is like a beautiful flowing conversation between you and the animal. There is no risk of ego or ambition tainting your purpose; you'd be hard pressed to get even a little bit impatient or downcast if things don't go quite right when you're teaching your horse to smile. In contrast, if our overwhelming focus day after week after month is preparation for the next show we have already paid entry fees for, or fixing that problem behaviour, we are much more likely to pour on the pressure and the negative talk. The horse suffers for it. (Doesn't mean you can't compete. Doesn't mean you shouldn't do "serious" training. Just means you should be aware of the potential impact of doing nothing else but that).
​​
  • KEY SKILLS: It's also a great way to practice timing and training plans and reinforcement schedules and adding cues and getting stimulus control and all that important stuff.
​​
  • GOALS! With tricks you have a concrete, black and white goal you are working towards. Your dressage horse will never be "finished" (unless his name is Valegro in which case omg Charlotte what the hell are you doing reading my blog PLEASE leave a nice comment?!). There is always something more to work on, to improve upon, and that's precisely why so many of us love the sport. I know that Western and jumping are the same. BUT this complexity does make it more difficult to have clear criteria for each training session. With tricks, you hone your instincts by shaping a single specific behaviour and rapidly seeing the horse progress towards the goal (or not) as a result of your training choices. ​​
 
  • "TRICKS"? An equally valid argument is that to the horse, it's all tricks. If you break up the components of basic groundwork and your chosen ridden discipline into small chunks (as you should, because you are a good trainer), then who decides what is "trick" and what is not? A clicker trained horse performing piaffe in hand at liberty... is that a trick? Or an advanced dressage movement? Certainly the horse doesn't differentiate, unless the training methods and/or the attitude of their human is different for one vs the other.   ​​

  • JOY: For some of the above reasons or for reasons of their own, the horses looooove it. Seriously. If your horses aren't fighting over who gets to come out the gate and play today, if you have never trained your horse naked at liberty (by that I mean no sticks and strings and ropes... but clothes optional and probably preferable) in a big open paddock and have them choose to stay entirely focused on you and engrossed in the shaping session, you're truly missing out.
​​
  • ​PLUS... It's fun to show off to your friends and visitors. Who wouldn't want to play fetch with a horse?​​
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Photo credit: Bridie Rose Photography
All that said, I admit I find this whole thing a little tricky (haha), after all I don't want to perpetuate that myth that clicker training is "just for tricks".  I personally clicker train my young warmblood during every schooling session, to mark the moments she softens and engages, gives me some lateral movement, or a soft balanced transition.  With clients I am most often supporting them to resolve problem behaviours or bad habits, as well as working toward ridden and groundwork goals.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on all of this - if you don't train tricks, why not?  If you do train tricks, what's your favourite thing you've ever taught your horse to do?  

​x Bex
7 Comments
Hertha James link
20/6/2017 05:31:20 pm

Shawna Karrasch not long ago said something to the effect that everything we do with domestic horses is a 'trick' to them, so what is different about teaching fun things that make us laugh and relax?

Reply
Tracey Tyree
20/6/2017 07:41:49 pm

If the trick doesn't humiliate the animal then I don't see any issue. To me the difference between tricks and training is the trainers perspective of it, tricks are fun to us as we don't look for exacts, piaffe has a lot of precision loaded on to it and is compared to all other piaffe's - I like tricks as they can be interject into a training session or just for when time is limited, they help build your relationship due to your awareness of fun and light heartedness :) I also love precision exercises so need to balance things for my horses so they feel appreciated offering both.

Reply
Ashlyn
20/6/2017 11:03:33 pm

When my two year old started biting because he was bored with our basic grooming sessions, I taught him to smile instead. Best decision ever, its hysterical. Especially when he goes to bite and I just wag my finger at him and he starts curling his lip.

Do you have any tips or resources I could take a look at about using a clicker to teach/motivate a horse to go forward with a little more gusto? Have a very laid back horse who likes to conserve his energy haha

Reply
Bex Tasker
21/6/2017 08:19:46 am

Hi Ashlyn,
No specific resources to direct you to, but (I assume this is when ridden), the issue is often that people simply don't provide their horse with sufficient motivation for going forward. As you know, we have two choices - motivate our horse with MORE aversive pressure, or motivate him with something he wants.
A useful trick is often to click (& reward) earlier in the piece, so cue him to go forward and the instant you start to feel his muscles respond beneath you, click treat. Rinse repeat. This will result in a faster response to your cue. If the issue is that he just doesn't want to go at all, you could also try training him to stand on a mat and then riding between mats, click and reward any acceleration as he heads toward the next mat.
Good luck!

Reply
Sandra Poppema link
21/6/2017 03:25:35 am

Love your blog and your style! I think we all should do some trick training in order to have some fun, train our training skills (planning, using positive reinforcement, see what ideas your horse has about training/offering behaviour). One could be in for a nice surprise!

Reply
Bex Tasker
21/6/2017 08:12:22 am

Thank you Sandra! That means a lot coming from you

Reply
Robin Applewhite
22/6/2017 05:15:46 pm

I have a Arab/ Appy cross. Someone taught her to pick up a front foot whenever she gets a treat. She just does it. I have no idea what the cue is, to ask her to do it. She will also shake her head "yes" if you ask her if she wants treats. She's a fun horse.

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