# Trick Training Minis



## Kootenay (Jun 19, 2006)

I was wondering if anyone has a miniature horse that knows a trick or two, such a bowing, counting, etc. I'd like to teach Buddy a few to try and take his mind off of being a pain in the rear--(two year olds are trying




: ). I don't want to teach him a trick that could be annoying--like counting because he already paws at everything with his front legs. He's almost like a little kid--always has to be touching something :lol: . I also don't want to teach him to rear either. That's a big no-no around my farm



: . Bowing might be okay. He'd look pretty smart doing that trick. I suppose i'll have to read up on how to do that one



. It'd be great to hear all your input. Thank You in advance :saludando: .

: Kim


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## Colagirl (Jun 19, 2006)

I had a 2yr old mare that I taught to bow.



I used a clicker and lured her head down a bit with a bit of carrot then clicked just before I gave her the treat. Gradually I brought her head down to her knee but if she moved her legs I said no and started again. It only took a few days!! Funny thing was she would bow whenever she wanted a treat after that and would often be bobbing her head like a good thing behind me, frantically trying to get me to treat her



: So its important to say a "finished" word so they know training is over. I also trained a mini to step up on a box with her two front legs in an afternoon using the same method. That worked brilliantly when she didnt want to load cos I would just say "step" and she put her two front feet onto the trailer and we went from there!!!!


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## eagles ring farm (Jun 19, 2006)

we have a 12 year old mare that does a few tricks 2 bows a one knee and 2 knee also stands on a platform

but she was trained when we got her training by All Star Farm their web site is under construction right now they do gypsy vanners and miniatures and are located in ohio


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## Dona (Jun 19, 2006)

We also have a trick-trained Mini. Her name is "Sweetie" and she is now 6 years old & finished out to a whoppin' 27.75". She was also trained by All-Star Farm. They are great in this area & can trick train a horse very quickly.

Check out Sweetie's page that shows her doing all her tricks.

http://www.kickapoominis.com/sweetie.htm


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## backwoodsnanny (Jun 19, 2006)

Though we dont have what I would call trick trained minis I am old and found bending to get their dishes a pain so 4 of mine when they are finished their meal will hand me their dishes for a treat. In fact two of them get impatient waiting for me to get the rest of the dishes and will throw them out over their stall doors before I get there. I also have a little mare who will smile with teeth showing for a treat only problem is whenever there are visitors in the barn she smiles continuously until someone gives her a treat but I must say everyone gets a boot out of it.


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## jleonard (Jun 19, 2006)

I have taught my one mare to shake hands and she is in the process of learning other tricks. It only took about an hour to teach her to shake, she is a smart girl. I have taught my other (big) horses to bow. My one I had going down on one knee before we sold her and the others are still learning. My other mini mare loves to give kisses. I didn't teach her that, she just loves attention!

They are easy to train, they are so smart and willing. Good luck with yours!


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## love_casper (Jun 19, 2006)

Kootenay said:


> I was wondering if anyone has a miniature horse that knows a trick or two, such a bowing, counting, etc.


at our barn, we have Golden Nugget, who was on Pet star, on animal planet. he's soooo cute. he can smile, count, add, subtract, multiply, divide, tango with a handler, untie a not, bow, lay down, and cover himself with a blanket, open a door/gate, shake hands, ....etc. (that's all i can think of right now, there's probably more)

so since you don't want rearing or pawing (understandable), we are limited to smiling, untying, bowing,blanket thing. i don't know if shaking hands falls under the "pawing" category, and opening the gate can come in handy, or be really bad. anyways, when done right, these tricks are the CUTEST!!!! all three judges on animal planet gave nugget a 10!!!!!!

hope this helps. you can probably get a book on how to do these, or just PM me, i can put you in touch with his owner. i see her every day. she owns the barn where my big horse is, so i talk to her all the time. let me know if you decide on any of these tricks, we are glad to help.


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## love_casper (Jun 19, 2006)

oh, forgot to say (but didn't want to put in in an edit of the other post) that my big horse (macy) does sooooo many tricks, she is quite entertaining. my friend at the barn, who is on crutches becuase of her belgian, can take care of macy just by voice cues.

she puts on her own halter, can hold her lead rope if asked, opens her door, stops on a dime with a simple "whoa", picks up her feet on cammand when i say "lift" and will hold it there by herself until i say "down", (i do normally hold her foot, but one time a shetland sprained my wrist, so i had to teach macy to hold her own feet, and she still does it when i ask her to), can pick up and carry the lunge whip, and when you put her back in her stall (when most horses dive for their food dishes and you are stuck in a tug of war trying to remove the halter you say "macy, let me take your halter off" and she picks her head up and holds it in front of you for however long it takes to take it off.

she also does just fun tricks that serve no purpose other than that they are cool: she can bat her eye lashes, stick her tounge out, bow, put her head in my lap. she does the cooooolest thing, that i didn't teach her, too. one person starts a stop watch (with seconds and millaseconds, sp? and all that stuff). then macy touches her nose to the stop watch when she wants the watch to stop. the another person (who hasn't seen this number) stands next to macy. she will paw out the seconds, shake her head when she's done, then paw the millaseconds. ALWAYS GETS IT RIGHT!!!! EXACTLY RIGHT, EVERY TIME!!!!!!!!!!

okay, so PM me if you'd like to know how i trained my horse to do all this stuff, or if you want to talk to Nugget's owner.


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## Devon (Jun 19, 2006)

MY Wee Man Rears on comand he also counts and shakes a hoof. The best one is when he says "NO" he does a full head and neck sjqake its funny he'll do it everytime hehe he had a trick for our 4h trick class where you ask him if he was one and hed say not hen all the way to his age then he'd paw 1st place to


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## EAD Minis (Jun 20, 2006)

*Roy will laydown, shake a hoof, buck, bow, nod yes and rear on command. I had alot of time on my hands last summer :bgrin . I am currently teaching him in hand dressage. I love just working with him to see what he can do.



: *


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## mizbeth (Jun 20, 2006)

I have a colt that comes up behind me and pinches on the butt when I'm not looking, with the edges of his teeth. Is that a trick? He thinks its really funny....................he runs away, bucks and does side kicks, then turns and looks at me!

I am teaching him to play frisbie with a paper plate. He can almost catch it in mid air, but will reach down and get it if it falls. He holds it in his mouth trying to decide if he should bring it to me or not. Soon, tho., he will get the hang of it. SMART horse, I've only done this with him a couple of times.

Yes, I know.......bad letting him get away with pinching, he is gone in less than 3 seconds so cannot apply the 3 second rule.



He has not tried it tied, leading or being handled. He does seem to know the difference between play and work and I'm thankful for that. I would hate to have to curb that wonderful personality he has.

Beth


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## Loren&Rocky (Jun 20, 2006)

I would like to teach mine tricks too, except the rear. I will have to see about that one. I already have a problem with Slick rearing when I have to do anything with his ears and even put his bridle on him. Rearing can tune into a bad habit, even in a small horse.


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## Firefall (Jun 20, 2006)

mizbeth said:


> I have a colt that comes up behind me and pinches on the butt when I'm not looking, with the edges of his teeth. Is that a trick? He thinks its really funny....................he runs away, bucks and does side kicks, then turns and looks at me


:aktion033: :lol: :lol: My colt does the same thing.


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## Jennie_07 (Jun 20, 2006)

I have a 3 year old gelding who can rear on command, shake and if you point to youre cheek he will lift his top lip and kiss you on the cheek, its very cute!!


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## KanoasDestiny (Jun 20, 2006)

My four month old filly gives kisses. I just got her 9 days ago, so I am wondering if her prior owners taught her it.?. I'll be out sitting in my lawn chair, and up she comes, giving kisses, and she just loves when you kiss her nose back.



:


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## Colagirl (Jun 20, 2006)

Wow!! Lots of very talented horses on our Forum isnt there?? :aktion033: :aktion033:

Dona, I had a look at Sweetie`s page on your website......WHAT a cutie!!!


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## BallynoeBaby (Jun 21, 2006)

My girl will roll over and let you scratch her belly. Although recently she has been deciding that she does not want to do it so its touch and go whether she does it or not.


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## Mercysmom (Jun 21, 2006)

Mercy was on Animal Planet's "A Pet Story" - she can nod her head "yes" and shake her head "no" when we ask questions, she can shake hands, give kisses, bow, kick a ball and fetch her feed pan (if she is ticked off at me, it will be thrown at me).

We are just scratching the surface of trick training....I am just grateful that we communicate on a basic level and hope to make that grow!

Denise

Silversong Farm

home to Haligonian Mercy Bo Cool - 2006 Equine Affaire (MA) Celebrity Horse


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## SarahSchaaf1996 (Dec 29, 2013)

I have taught my mini to bow, shake hands, lie down, circus bow, kneel, touch his chest, rear, stand on 3 types of pedestals (that's his favorite- he does it on his own in the hay all the time), give hugs, spin around and we are now working on classical dressage moves such as Piaffe, and the airs above ground. I really think it depends on the horse, but it isn't that hard to train them. If you need any help or suggestions email me @- [email protected]


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## Foxhaven (Dec 30, 2013)

I need a book or step by step video! Working on smiling for treats now. As far as shaking hands, the minis caught on right away, now even Sam the Donkey figured it out (he is not stupid by any means... he just needs more time to contemplate...).



mizbeth said:


> I have a colt that comes up behind me and pinches on the butt when I'm not looking, with the edges of his teeth. Is that a trick? He thinks its really funny....................he runs away, bucks and does side kicks, then turns and looks at me!
> 
> I am teaching him to play frisbie with a paper plate. He can almost catch it in mid air, but will reach down and get it if it falls. He holds it in his mouth trying to decide if he should bring it to me or not. Soon, tho., he will get the hang of it. SMART horse, I've only done this with him a couple of times.
> 
> ...


LOL, he is a pistol. I bet he does the same with his peers. For teeth inhibition, try mutual grooming with him, just correct him when he goes from lipping to nibbling ("NO TEETH!").

I don't discourage natural bonding behavior with the boys (guess I got that from dogs) but teeth are another matter. I don't have furry pajamas!!


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## Miniitis (Dec 31, 2013)

This is wonderful to see and very inspiring. I just started clicker training with my new girl and we are just charging the clicker at the moment. It's so great to see the light bulb go off when they start getting it.

Next will be touching the target. All I know so far from lots of research is not to rush things. If you don't get the basics down in cement things can go wrong down the track, leaving you wondering why it's not happening.

It's my goal for the future to learn heaps of tricks as this is one of the main reasons I bought her.


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