dcrivers

I'm familiar with dog training. I know dogs learn verbal commands even they usually have no idea what the word really means, they learn what is expected of them when that sound is made. A lot of what they learn and react to is based on the tone of voice. Dogs also learn body language and hand signals much quicker and easier than verbal commands.


But what about horses? Are they similar to dogs? Is their even any comparison? Or, are they completely different?

alexis

I honestly have no idea. My friends horse is more of a pet than a show horse, even though she shows the horse off every chance she gets. Right now, I have the patience to train just about anything, but my dog will be 3 in Jan and he is still in the "pup stage". I wonder if horses are like this too, and for how long. We are talking about moving again, and I think it would be awesome to get a horse for my girl. I just don't want to have to call some armed guards for help "O my horse wont listen to me, I need help" kind of deal.

I think that a horse should be able to learn by hand signals, seems fairly simple (if a baby can do it, or a monkey, why not a horse). And on the note of the tone of voice, I think that alot of people end up getting frustrated too easy and become over stern with the animal, and that is why many end up failing to train them.

purplefdu

Most training and learning is done through a limited number of ways:negative or positive reinforcement or positive or negative punishment.
positive reinforcement (i.e., the trainer adds stimuli the animal desires)
negative punishment (i.e., the trainer removes stimuli the animal desires)
positive punishment(i.e., the trainer adds stimuli the animal dislikes)
negative reinforcement(i.e., the trainer removes stimuli the animal dislikes)

This is something I learned about when Clicker Training my dog. We adopted him and choke chains did no good. We accomplished in a week what two other owners couldn't in a year. Clicker training is also used alot with horses, and would be my method of choice should I get the chance to train my own. Karen Pryor's website has information about using clickers for training many different species and horses are a big portion. The beauty of a clicker training method is it pinpoints the wanted behavior for the animal. There is no guessing if you're rewarding the act of sitting down, when he sits, or when he sits and stays sitting. The clicker tell the animal the exact second.

Hudsons Bolt

Purple, what do you mean by "clicker" training? Do you mean by when you make the sound with your tongue or by some other noise?

I think training a horse would be a lot more difficult than training a dog because they're a much larger animal and can be a lot more dangerous too.

purplefdu

A traditional clicker is a metal and plastic item that makes an audible click.


However anything can be used for the click. A whistle, sound, etc. One of the newer variety has four sounds and two sound settings. Once an animal is focused on the clicker they have tunnel vision usually. And if a horse is dangerous you would obviously have someone there to help and watch your back. Most horses aren't really more dangerous than a dog, unless they have been abused or mistreated in my experience.

BlackStallion

I just thought about Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers, he part where Gandalf called for the "Lord of Horses", its really a beautiful white horse. The thing is he whistled for the horse to come. And I saw this kind of calling in many movies. Is this true on real life or its just on movies?

mark

We had a dog we tried training with a clicker. We got the dog from a shelter when she was about 1 1/2 years old. She was afraid of the clicker noise! It took us awhile to get her over that. We still had to wrap the clicker on something to mute the sound, but other than that it worked really well.

I can understand how the sounds gives the animal a clear signal of what is the right action. Never thought about it before, but I can see how one could be used with a horse just as well.

SpiritWind

I clicker train my dog, and was surprised when it was mentioned as being used for a horse. It makes perfect sense though, it's just a tool to say "THAT WAS CORRECT!!" ahaha.

Thaworth

Training any kind of animal is hard, for me at least. I rely on my family members to train any pets we have, and I keep the end result .

purplefdu

I've ridden a couple horses that came when you whistled. Cowboys are often keen on training their horses to come when they whistle, as they often have large areas they turn them out in along with the cattle sometimes which can be alot larger than you want to walk through for your horse.

Many of the horses you see on TV and in movies are "trick" trained for these specific behaviors. They bow, lay down and come when you whistle. But when you look at it, doesn't a dog often come when you whistle? horses aren't that much different, we just often look at training a horse depending on how it can help our riding/working with them not in other more frivolous ways. A do is trained to come when you whistle or call its name because you need that when you let them off the leash. Since we don't normally walk our horses without a halter and leadrope we don't think to train them to come when they are called.

dcrivers

That makes good sense purplefdu. And it doesn’t seem like it would be hard to train a horse to come when you whistled. Just start giving a treat when you whistle, then continue with one when the horse comes to you after you whistle.

mark

I always thought it was cool how in some books I’ve read, they trained the horse to throw off the rider and come back to the owner when they whistled. Kept people from stealing their horse.