Tricks

[Taylor Richelle]

Does anyone else teach their mini's to do tricks? If so what kinds? I have seen some incredible acts done by mini's and ponies! What about yours?

Tricks i have taught mine include..

 

-Bowing

-Rearing

-Counting

-Shaking

-Standing on a bucket, stool ect.

My main boy Sox is trained in Liberty,trail,halter,showmanship, driving ect

 

[hobbyhorse23]

Yes, I got into it a few years ago to keep my mini busy while he recovered from a leg surgery.

His formal tricks are:

rear

bow

give kisses

shakes hands on either foreleg

lies down

stands on a pedestal

plays soccer

picks pockets

hands me buckets

He's working on:

Spanish Walk

sitting up

playing dead

End of the Trail pose on a pedestal

He does all the regular things like pivoting, sidepassing, backing, setting up, lifting his feet, coming to call, etc. off voice commands too so we can do just about any routine at liberty just by combining commands. He's got commands for doing things and for not doing things so I can put a feed sack on his back and have him ignore it or go climb on the pedestal while wearing it, then pull it off when I tell him to. It's lots of fun! He's got a very active mind so tricks are almost a necessity to keep him busy when he's laid up.

I have purposely not taught him to count, steal my hat, nod "yes" or shake his head "no" because he's the type that would go overboard with those and start doing them in harness. I don't want to give him any ideas!

For the same reason my colt is not being taught anything involving using his mouth or hooves right now. He's working on obstacle and body work at liberty, ground-tying and the beginnings of bowing. I wasn't going to teach a stud colt to give kisses in case he decided to bite but he saw Kody doing it and taught himself!

Leia

 

[Taylor Richelle]

Yes, I got into it a few years ago to keep my mini busy while he recovered from a leg surgery.

His formal tricks are:

rear

bow

give kisses

shakes hands on either foreleg

lies down

stands on a pedestal

plays soccer

picks pockets

hands me buckets

He's working on:

Spanish Walk

sitting up

playing dead

End of the Trail pose on a pedestal

He does all the regular things like pivoting, sidepassing, backing, setting up, lifting his feet, coming to call, etc. off voice commands too so we can do just about any routine at liberty just by combining commands. He's got commands for doing things and for not doing things so I can put a feed sack on his back and have him ignore it or go climb on the pedestal while wearing it, then pull it off when I tell him to. It's lots of fun! He's got a very active mind so tricks are almost a necessity to keep him busy when he's laid up.

I have purposely not taught him to count, steal my hat, nod "yes" or shake his head "no" because he's the type that would go overboard with those and start doing them in harness. I don't want to give him any ideas!

For the same reason my colt is not being taught anything involving using his mouth or hooves right now. He's working on obstacle and body work at liberty, ground-tying and the beginnings of bowing. I wasn't going to teach a stud colt to give kisses in case he decided to bite but he saw Kody doing it and taught himself!

Leia

Oh WOW he sounds like one heck of a mini! WOW!! Of course one of my mini's "Sox" is voice command trained too

Which makes Liberty so much easier! He does trail and driving ect. I would like to teach one of mine to shake their heads too!

 

[Sixstardanes]

Saber's tricks...

Kiss

Target (stand front hooves on raised object)

how to be a still limbo stick (for the Great Danes to crawl under him)

Sitting on a lap or a bench

Bow

Down (lay)

Down over (lay on his side)

Stay (for taking photos particularly with the dogs)

Turn (when I'm leading him - he'll cross over in front of me from my one side to the other)

 

[Rebecca]

Oh gosh! This is fun, I keep looking for things to teach mine.

Not sure if I can list everything but I'll try, I started clicker training my mare Kassie about 3 years ago.

She knows:

Yes, no, bow, smile, kiss, shake, stand/stay/ground tie , Spanish march, shake hands, pick up an object, target an object, voice commands for walk trot canter whoa back, etc., lie down, roll over, sit. sidepass, spin, stand on a pedestal, fetch, dunk a ball in a bucket, all the halter obstacle things, jumping off lead, etc.

This is all done off lead. She's so fun! We're headed towards some tougher stuff together, slowly working on things such as the piaffe and really getting her Spanish march down.

I started clicker training my gelding Rusty as soon as I got him in the spring. I'm impressed by how quickly he picks up on things!

He currently knows lifting his legs alternately, spin, smile, bow, voice commands off lead, jumping off lead, target, ground tie, stand on pedestal, working on pivoting and sidepass, etc. He's currently working on lying down and a handful of other fun things.

Again, off lead.

Also, I won't teach my horses to rear, but I have taught them to allow me to hold their forelegs, and I ask them to "lean back" and they will stand, calmly, like this (on hind legs, holding weight while I hold forelegs). I have not done this with Kassie, although she has been doing tricks longer, she is not the kind of horse who really is trustworthy with a trick like this and gets fidgety. Know your horse(s)!

There's really no limit to what they can learn!

If you ever have any questions, feel free to ask! Tricks are a lot of fun all around.

Rebecca

 

[midnight star stables]

Tricks are something that I used to be very active in, but have since lost the time.

ALL of my minis do a few tricks. All my past minis outside of four(one I never had at my house nor did I own her for long, one is an older broodmare who had other priorities to be taught first and then she was sent off to be bred and the other two are a gelding and a weanling that I just simply have not had the time to train yet.)were trained to lie down. Many smile, count, lie down, grown tie, "dance", follow verbal comands and stand on stools. Joy, Nitro and Dove all come and follow me on cue. Also most of my horses are/were skilled in show ring "tricks" - showmanship, jumping, obstacle, driving, halter and liberty.

Midnight was my star "trick horse".

He did all the normal tricks of lying, sitting, bowing, rearing, yes/no etc. but also did some extreme tricks too. He would play dead while I walked around/away, cracked a whip, walked over him or jumped up or down. Nothing phased him. He would also role on to his back and hold this position. He could roll over on cue. He would buck on cue. He could free lung too. He was really truly unique. He had performed his tricks to many many people, but I wish I had gotten him on video. I miss him terribly - He was amazing.

My mare Joy is learning some of Midnight's tricks now. She lies down and plays dead. She can do MANY things halter and lead less. She is learning to smile, count, bow, roll over etc. but her training is sparse between school.

I have not ever tried the piaffe nor Spanish march. Hmmmmm Maybe this is my next area to try.

 

[hobbyhorse23]

Oooh, spinning! That's one I'd started working on then forgot about. Thanks Rebecca! Kody's ground-tie is so ironclad that I can pretty much station him and then forget about him, within reason.

It's absolutely necessary when trying to work both horses together as Kody wants to be constantly herding Turbo and keeping him away from me so I have to tell him to stay and then ask Turbo to do something. I wasn't really able to pose them together for pictures until recently because poor Turbo didn't understand that Kody wouldn't move and would bolt away as soon as I wasn't between them because he expected to be beaten up. Now that Turbo has learned Whoa Stand himself, for the first time I've been able to put them each on a stay and work with them together. Sunday (our second session as a group) I put Kody on a whoa-stand, asked Turbo to walk on, then put him on a stand and asked Kody to walk up to us then lay down. That was a big deal for my boys! Turbo has to learn to trust me to manage Kody, Kody and Turbo both have to learn to listen for their names before responding, and both have to learn to ignore outside interference when they're working with me.

Kody does lateral work like shoulder-ins and leg-yields at liberty too, and both horses know to lean back away from me with their feet set off a hand cue to rebalance themselves for halter. Kody actually "talks" on cue too! I've clicked him so often for nickering at me as I come out of the house that he'll back away as I open the gate, nickering frantically under his breath until I click him.

It's kinda fun.

Leia

 

[Double T]

My little stud is the trick master, lol We got to the local school every year and perform for the kids and have been to a few in NM when we lived there too, also did the Vacation Bible school this year. He does:

Kiss, (this is a huge one with the kids, cause I'll let them choose a teacher to get one at the end of the skit)

shake hands

mini version of the hug

shake his head yes and no

plays soccer

smile

line dance with me lol

count

I know I'm missing a few, but can't think of them right now.