Horse Learns Tricks With A Click

Equestrians know horses are smart, we’ve seen them think through problems and figure out new skills. But Peggy Hogan and her team took their training to a whole new level when Hogan learned about clicker training. Since then, she has used shaping, capturing, luring and targeting methods to teach horse behaviors ranging form agility to freestyle to medical procedures.

In this video Hogan is working with McKee, a horse who has learned to distinguish between different sounds AND colors.

When he touches the purple button, he is supposed to back up. When he touches the orange button, he is supposed to touch another target (in this case, a target stick). Hogan is pairing the target with a sound, so that the bell chime will mean touch a target and the horn will mean back-up.

Eventually, McKee will back up when he hears the horn cue (without the presence of the button) and will touch a target when he hears a bell. It’s some fun training and great if you are looking for something to do with your horse when the weather is too bad for riding!