How to Train Your Horse to Shake Hands

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By mommyhen42
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Everybody loves a dog that shakes hands, but did you know that you can train your horse to shake hands also???

It really is the easiest of the tricks to train your horse to do. If you have trained a dog to shake hands you can train your horse to shake hands also...

So bring out your horse, the clicker if you have one and his favorite treats and lets get started.

Hint, apple jacks cereal is a perfect training treat... tastes like apples and are very small so it will take a lot before your horse is no longer hungry... If he is like mine was he would never get full of apple jacks!

This trick is also good for building a relationship with your horse or a new horse.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

horse
clicker (optional)
treats (I love apple jacks cereal for training treats)

Step 1

Have your horse in halter and lead rope and tie him to a fence post so that he can't decide to run and play catch me if you can...

Condition him to the clicker if you wish to train with a clicker... (really the best thing out there for training purposes for any animal not just dogs anymore)

To condition him to a clicker all you do is click then treat. The picture you present should be click-treat-click-treat-click-treat you get the idea. Give only one treat at a time, if you are using apple jacks you only give him one of the pieces of cereal every time you click. This should be your first training session and should only last a few minutes. When you are finished, brush your horse and clean his feet. Then take him for a nice ride
Step 2

Next session you will begin as you did before click-treat-click-treat-click-treat. Now that you have his attention you will tap his knee and ask for his foot. It doesn't matter if he understands that a knee tap means to pick up his foot or not at this point. If he begins to tip his toe like he is going to lift his foot you click the clicker and give him a treat. Let his weight settle back down on his foot before asking again.
Step 3

If he does not lift his foot or tip his toe you will tap his knee and lean into his shoulder on the same side as you tap. This will take a little weight off of that front foot. Immediately click and treat! Do this about 10 times and stop, brush him and walk him around the paddock area before beginning again.
Step 4

Do as before tap the knee, lean into his shoulder if you have to and as soon as the weight comes off of that foot click and treat. Do this again about 10 times. Stop for this session. Tell him how wonderful he is and give him several treats in your hand as a reward.
Step 5

This time you will do as above but now you will ask him to actually begin to pick up the foot before clicking and treating. Simply stated do not click till he picks his foot up a little further! He will get frustrated that he is not getting the click so he may offer to raise his foot somewhat quickly.
Step 6

If he is picking up his foot a centimeter or two off of the ground or at least tipping his foot so that only the toe is touching the ground, you can now help him out a bit by taking his pastern into your hand and bring his foot up and forward a little bit. While his foot is up and forward you will click and treat. Do this 10 times and stop for awhile to brush or ride him.
Step 7

By this time he should be at the very least letting you pick up his foot with you being in front of him. Pull his foot up and forward, tell him "shake hands" click and treat lavishly the first time... It doesn't matter that you physically picked up his foot, you want to make a big impression in his mind about the picture of what he is to do... Do this only once and brush him, scratch his jaw, rub his eyes, whatever he totally loves in addition to the treats. Wait about 10 minutes or so before beginning again with the next step.
Step 8

He may be stuck in the idea that you are the one to pick up his foot instead of him doing it himself. Don't despair he will do it in time. Be patient and persistent. Now you will tell him "Shake hands" and tap his knee at the same time. As soon as he lifts his foot click and treat. each time wait a split second longer than last time for him to raise his foot higher in the air before you make contact with his pastern and then click and treat. Work in small steps and only a few behaviors at a time so that he has time to think in between training sessions.
Step 9

Each time you work with him, he will get better and better at understanding what you are trying to teach. If this is the first thing you are teaching with the clicker it will take him a little longer as he learns to understand the language of the clicker. Horses like dogs must learn how to learn... Some people train by force which prevents learning/thinking and promotes only direct responses. You want your horse to think and try to figure out what you want him to do. This is the key to learning for any species.
Step 10

Train daily at least 2 or 3 times a day in short sessions and you will be surprised how much he figures out between training sessions. Soon you will have your horse shaking hands with everyone just like a well trained dog. Why stop here??? there are tons of behaviors you can train your horse to do with a clicker... keep on going!

Comments

harrietcat said

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on 3/19/2009 That's just great. I made my husband promise me before we were married that I could have a horse before I was too old to enjoy one. I don't have it yet....I was pleased to see you are a horse and garden person just like me! 5*