Should i teach my horse tricks?

Question

ok so my pony will do anything for a treat so i want to teach her some stuff over summer as im bored with just riding her i wanna do new stuff. i want to teach her to bow and rear stuff like that by using clicker training. do you think this is a good idea or is there a better way i could teach her this stuff? she is 9 years old and shes a welsh cob do you know how long it will take for her to get the hang of it or does it differ with each horse? my friend taught her welsh to rear all she does is says up up and he goes into a rear and she gives him a treat however he has started to rear without her asking him to especialy when she rides him and this only started after she taught him to rear. can this happen if i teach my horse to do stuff like this will she get into the habit of doing it without me asking because i dont want her rearing all the time!! thanks alot.

Answer 1

DONT TEACH THEM TO REAR!!! what is it with people and rearing!?

do yu think it looks cool or something?

if you teach her to rear, in about 6mmonths you will be selling her or having her put down because shes so dangerous!

dont do it. rearing is a vice and cannot be stopped once it has been taught.

dont give me the "she will only do it when i tell her" line either because believe me, it will get to the point whe  your terrified to pull back on the reins because she will be going over bakwards and crushiong you!

this is not a joke because it happened to my friend.

she got bored with her 13.2hh pony so taught it to rear.

what happened??? well he reared up infront of a car and wehnt over bakwards nearly killing her.

she tried to sell him but no one wants a rearer so now he sits in the field - no one can ride him and no one wants to.

im not joking, rearing is not funny and soon enough you will have a very dangerous animal on your hands.

Once they know they can rear, it doesnt stop and they do it whenever and wherever they want and you cant stop them so just rember that.

Answer 2

Teaching a horse to rear can be very dangerous. Only a person trained to teach this should be doing it. The problem with teaching them to rear is that they will do it at will. It is very difficult to train them to do it only on command, and you could get seriously hurt if you don't know what you are doing. Teaching her to bow is fine, but again, she may just do it at will, and you could go tumbling over her head. Horses can have natural bad habits, I wouldn't ask for another one that is very difficult to deal with.

Answer 3

I wouldnt teach your horse to rear, but how much harm could bowing do? How fast they catch on depends on the horse, not the breed. Clicker training should work just fine as long as you reward her after she does the trick.

Yeah, rearing sounds like a bad idea.....

Answer 4

I agree with everyone re the rear, but yes teach him some tricks.

Any thing you do with your pony will strengthen the bond between you and that can only be a very good thing.

Mine smiles when asked and I am asking her to "talk" at the moment. She knows the difference between a wheelbarrow and a ball.

I can say touch the wheelbarrow and she will or the ball and she does.

Put things out for him to learn what they are

Tell him as he touches it what it is. Cone, wheelbarrow,ball, bucket (empty) etc. As he learns what they are you can then ask him to touch the things, in a line up. It's really cool mine gets it right every time now!!! They want to please and love the interaction. Go for it!

Answer 5

well if you teach your horse to rear and then reward it for doing so by giving it treats then it will assume that it can rear up anytime and not be disaplined. This will probably make him rear up during riding whenever it feels like it.

Answer 6

if you do you woulds need to teach her to rear when but ya

Answer 7

first u got to train her to only rear on command cuz that can be dangerous...second...teach her some tricks!!!!!!!!!!! once shes done being trained no to rear, lol.

teaching horses tricks are fun, they have brains the size of a walnut and look to be told wat to do, though some are sooooo stubborn! lol like i was riden one of my horses and she would not go....i think she was jus hungry....lol they can be sooo funny, i took a picture with her and she licked my ear in the middle of the pic!

EDIT:::***:::: wow wats up with the thumbs down?......my god.