It's so nice to meet you!

After buying Carole Fletcher’s book Trickonometry, I decided to train Beau to shake hands. But I didn’t follow Carole’s instructions which included tying a lead rope around the horse’s foot. I have a fear of hurting horses with ropes and I prefer to use more positive and less restrictive methods.

Since Beau already knows to lift each foot on command it was an easy trick for him to learn. For anyone wanting to teach ‘shake hands’ I would recommend teaching your horse to lift his feet first rather than using a rope around the leg. Teaching him to lift his feet comes in handy for so many other tricks like Spanish Walk, as well as hoof picking and farrier work.

Beau has a pedestal which he loves, so I decided to do the trick with the pedestal for a couple of reasons. One reason is it is easier to shake his hoof when I don’t have to lean over or bend down. The second reason is that trick trained horses like to spontaneously offer their tricks. Tricks that involve the front legs like shaking hands and Spanish Walk can be dangerous to people on the ground who are not expecting the trick. This way he will associate ‘shake hands’ with the pedestal and hopefully will not offer it from the ground.

All I had to do was teach him the cue. I decided the cue would be walking towards him quickly with my right arm extended while saying “It’s nice to meet you”. I approached, asked him to lift his right foot, caught it with my right hand, clicked and praised. It only took a few times for him to understand the cue. In the following sessions we will work on remembering to only offer his right hoof, and lifting the hoof higher and more forward so I don’t have to reach out to him.

Here is a very good video I found on the Internet of Toby the Percheron learning to shake hands.

More tricks for horses:

Pick up feet on command

Stand on a mat

Pick up a handkerchief

Smile

We hung it in a nearby oak. I’d like it farther out in the pasture and I’m worried this branch might break, but for observation purposes, this is a good spot. So far Jubee is a bit nervous around it because it swings like a punching bag. But it doesn’t bother big ol’ Beau!

With help from my husband Jason and my nephew George we brought the horses out and played a little bit. Then I tacked up and got on. We had a lot of fun as you can see!

Later George took this awesome picture of Beau. I’m hoping Jason can ‘Photoshop’ a unicorn horn on his beautiful forehead.