The old saying “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks” is very obviously a misguided one. The same applies to horses. You can train an old horse to do almost anything if you go about it in the right way, with patience, calmness and kindness. We all know that lots of people use ‘clicker’ training to teach their dogs to do things; well, did you know that you can teach horses in much the same way?
Clicker Training
The clicker training method for both horses and dogs relies on the reward system. Anyone that has had a horse or looked after one will know the lengths that a horse will go to in order to persuade you to give him a mint from your pocket! He will nudge you, snuffle about around your pocket and follow you round like a lamb if he thinks it will get him a treat.
Confident horses are naturally curious and clicker training will harness this curiosity and tenacity to enable you to teach your horse a few basic tricks. You can begin by teaching him to touch something. You could fix a plastic dish or some other safe object to the wall of the stable or to the fence in the field or even hold it in your hand. Your horse, being a curious creature, will generally come over and have a sniff and a snuffle at the object. The minute he touches the object, say ‘touch’ or whatever at the same time as you click and give him a reward. It could be a slice of carrot or a mint or whatever he loves.
The next step is to show him the treat and hold it right next to the object, he will probably touch the object by accident as he tries to get the treat and the second he does, you should say the word, click and give him a treat. Do this for a couple of minutes twice a day and within two weeks you will be able to say your chosen word, in this case ‘touch’ and he will touch the object in order to get the treat.
Once he has got the idea that a click means a treat, you can move on to tricks like nodding his head, holding one foot off the ground or even knocking your hat off by holding the treat next to the object and clicking and treating as before as he does the required action. You just use the same simple technique as you did with the ‘touch’ trick.
It may take a while before he understands that the click means a treat but if you have regular, short training sessions, he will eventually get the message. As he gets to know that click means treat, don’t reward him instantly every time – leave it for 30 seconds or so or he may become too demanding during the training sessions.
Some horses are easier to teach than others and it does take time and patience to teach your old horse some new tricks. As long as you teach your tricks with kindness and a lot of patience you and your horse can have a lot of fun showing your friends how clever your horse is.
