QuarterHorses

This could be a crazy question, but... anyone who has watched Roy Rogers and Trigger knows that Roy just whistles at Trigger and he comes running. How did they train trigger to do that? If I whistled at my horse, she would flip me the hoof and run to the other side of my property.

crazyqueen

I think animal trainers have the most patience in the world, next to parents that is. I cant even train my dog to after the past two years, let alone an animal that could easier knock me on my bum. Animal trainers, professional and personal have always been able to have the guts to work with the animal for whatever amount of time is needed to train them, I wish I had that much patience.

tikitowel

Positive reinforcement. You bring a carrot or some grain every time you go to get your horse and soon she'll be begging to come in after a couple weeks. Then you add the whistle and phase out the treat. At the end of it she will come when you whistle if you do it right and she doesn't completely hate you, lol.

GiddyUp

What I find interesting is when an actor runs from behind the horse and jumps up over the back end of the horse into the saddle! Allowing a man to run up from the blind spot of a horse and jump onto it's back is amazing. Can you do that with food training? I haven't seen any trainer take on this, so I don't know.

pumpkinflirt

Horses are trained to trust humans to make the decisions. Most movie horses are over trained so nothing bothers them. Vaulting is similar and plenty of horses allow you to hang all over them in various ways. If you teach your horse its ok to jump on their back from behind then thats what they will think. You would just have to teach the horse that there is nothing to fear from a human appearing out of nowhere and hitting your back. I personally can't do that, at least not without a ramp or something.