Can you do tricks with your TWH?

[Tanja A]

Lykke and I discussed adding some tricks when we plan the next TWH promotion show here in Denmark.
Ofcourse we will show a horse being parked, because this is not very common in Denmark, but we would like som other tricks to.

Is there anyone in here, who taught their horse to do tricks? We would appreciate guides (how-to-do) and what response you've got.

Naturally the main part of the show will be gaits, but just to add a little more, we figured it would be exciting with some tricks...

[Sam]

Hi Tanja

I train with Dancer comliment, spanish gait and some other tricks. At the moment we work with him to get him down from compliment to the ground but as I don't work on it all the time things are taking more time. I am very fortunate to have a good friend who is a trainer for tricks so I always work with professional advise and help. The main thing with tricks is that you don't rush your horse into something. If you do that you will have him do it maybe twice; the first and the last time.

If I were you I would start with compliment which is a good start to tricks and the good thing is, it is an obedience task for the horse because it is going down not up like spanish gait. I always start and end with an obidience task. As the only way to get your horse to do tricks is food, horses get sometimes very excited about tricks and start doing things without beeing asked for. A very important advice here is; only reward your horse (food) when you asked for something. If you did not ask, don't give him the reward for it. At the beginning you will have to reward for every step that he does right. In the case of compliment; he gets a lot of food when he is correctly on the ground with his leg. After a while he will get his reward when correctly done (when coming up again) and a while later he will not get a reward for every time he does it. Dancer is now at a point where he gets goodies maybe after two or three compliments nicely done.

Should you wish to train Spanish gait and up-going task please be very attentive. When they understand the task and know what you want of them they might like to show you all the time what they can and expect goodies for it. In the case of up-going task it can be dangerous for you and others very easily.

Do you have any trainers for tricks in Denmark? The best thing of course is always to learn it properly to avoid mistakes.

Good luck and have fun!

[Tanja A]

I think we may have a couple of trick trainers in Denmark, but they are probably very expensive to get lessons from. I cannot afford that right now. And I don't have my horse home at the moment.
Lykke is going to show Dixie spring 2009 at the same event as this spring, and she asked me how to teach a horse tricks, because I taught my old pony to do a compliment. But he was very easy and never made any trouble, so basically I just tempted him with a cookie and pretty soon he knew what I wanted him to do.
He has never tried to take control, so he's very easy in every way...
But maybe we can find a amateur tricks-teacher who will help.

But we will definately be careful. Don't worry

[Allanna]

Yes, TWH can be trained to do tricks. Back in the 1940's and 1950's several TWH were taught tricks for the famous singing cowboys in western TV shows and movies. Roy Rogers horse Trigger did tricks, and his TWH Trigger, Jr. (registered as Allen's Gold Zephyr) did tricks. That's just one of several. TWH from the Trigger Jr. line seem to inherit an aptitude for tricks, most of them teach themselves to untie ropes by the time they're weanlings. My mother, who is not a horse person, taught one of my mares who was not related to Trigger Jr. to fetch her feed barrel! I did have one mare who did not like tricks, she didn't even like to park out, but did because I asked. I've also had a TWH colt who thought life was a joke and he was the punch line so he was always inventing tricks all on his own. He inherited that from his sire, who liked to play harmless pranks on people. The horse will show you if it is interested in tricks. If you've got on that likes tricks training will be easy There are several books, videos, and CDs/DVDs available in the USA about teaching horses to perform tricks. I don't really know which to recommend, but perhaps you can find them from a books store or on the internet? Seems like I just saw a book in a horse catalog called Trickonometry. Johnny Berguson's World Most Complete Course in Horse Training includes a whole section on trick training, but I'm not sure if that's still available. I hope you can find some information and have fun! Allanna