"Oh, I don't train tricks"

"Oh, I'm not interested in tricks. I have far too many other (more important) things to be doing..."

Hey that's cool. I'm totally fine with that, to each their own.  I too have little time and lots of important things to be training (and *cough*toomanyhorses*cough*). I do make time to train some tricks though, and here's why. 

• Horses have a fantastic sense of humour, if you just lighten up and take your eyes off the goal posts for 5 minutes and let them express themselves.  ​Most equestrians, in my opinion, take ourselves and our sport way too seriously. Life is short and should be joyful. Have fun with your horse.  ​  ​​
• P.S. I don't mean "do things you find fun, on your horse", I actually mean have fun with your horse, with an eye to reciprocal enjoyment. ​​

Photo credit: Bridie Rose Photography

• NO PRESSURE: ​Tricks are a fantastic opportunity to practice full focus, zero pressure training. This sort of training is like a beautiful flowing conversation between you and the animal. There is no risk of ego or ambition tainting your purpose; you'd be hard pressed to get even a little bit impatient or downcast if things don't go quite right when you're teaching your horse to smile. In contrast, if our overwhelming focus day after week after month is preparation for the next show we have already paid entry fees for, or fixing that problem behaviour, we are much more likely to pour on the pressure and the negative talk. The horse suffers for it. (Doesn't mean you can't compete. Doesn't mean you shouldn't do "serious" training. Just means you should be aware of the potential impact of doing nothing else but that).

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• KEY SKILLS: It's also a great way to practice timing and training plans and reinforcement schedules and adding cues and getting stimulus control and all that important stuff.

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• GOALS! With tricks you have a concrete, black and white goal you are working towards. Your dressage horse will never be "finished" (unless his name is Valegro in which case omg Charlotte what the hell are you doing reading my blog PLEASE leave a nice comment?!). There is always something more to work on, to improve upon, and that's precisely why so many of us love the sport. I know that Western and jumping are the same. BUT this complexity does make it more difficult to have clear criteria for each training session. With tricks, you hone your instincts by shaping a single specific behaviour and rapidly seeing the horse progress towards the goal (or not) as a result of your training choices. ​​

 

• "TRICKS"? An equally valid argument is that to the horse, it's all tricks. If you break up the components of basic groundwork and your chosen ridden discipline into small chunks (as you should, because you are a good trainer), then who decides what is "trick" and what is not? A clicker trained horse performing piaffe in hand at liberty... is that a trick? Or an advanced dressage movement? Certainly the horse doesn't differentiate, unless the training methods and/or the attitude of their human is different for one vs the other.   ​​

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• JOY: For some of the above reasons or for reasons of their own, the horses looooove it. Seriously. If your horses aren't fighting over who gets to come out the gate and play today, if you have never trained your horse naked at liberty (by that I mean no sticks and strings and ropes... but clothes optional and probably preferable) in a big open paddock and have them choose to stay entirely focused on you and engrossed in the shaping session, you're truly missing out.

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• ​PLUS... It's fun to show off to your friends and visitors. Who wouldn't want to play fetch with a horse?​​

Photo credit: Bridie Rose Photography

All that said, I admit I find this whole thing a little tricky (haha), after all I don't want to perpetuate that myth that clicker training is "just for tricks".  I personally clicker train my young warmblood during every schooling session, to mark the moments she softens and engages, gives me some lateral movement, or a soft balanced transition.  With clients I am most often supporting them to resolve problem behaviours or bad habits, as well as working toward ridden and groundwork goals.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on all of this - if you don't train tricks, why not?  If you do train tricks, what's your favourite thing you've ever taught your horse to do?  

​x Bex