I've known people all over the spectrum. I tend to give Courage a couple of carrots a day, but not at a particularly set for or for a fixed behavior because I don't want him to learn to anticipate them.
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Tuesday, July 26, 2016
Teach Me Tuesday: Horse Treats
Alright, I'm curious. How do you feed horse treats? Do you trick train? Abstain completely?
I've known people all over the spectrum. I tend to give Courage a couple of carrots a day, but not at a particularly set for or for a fixed behavior because I don't want him to learn to anticipate them.
But there's so much more to treats than that. Do you make you own? Bake for the whole barn? How do you uses treats with horses?
I've known people all over the spectrum. I tend to give Courage a couple of carrots a day, but not at a particularly set for or for a fixed behavior because I don't want him to learn to anticipate them.
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They get a treat after a ride or a work out. I also do carrot stretches with my horses. Max anticipates the treats and will bow if he thinks it will get him one. If they start to get mouthy, the treats go away.
ReplyDeleteI only do treats AFTER a ride, and then carrot stretches after a ride as well. Sometimes I'll mix it up and put the treats in his feed bucket bc I don't want Roger to get mouthy or learn to maul me as soon as we set foot in the barn after we're done. He's pretty good about it though, and I want him to stay that way. Manners, they matter.
ReplyDeleteI've never been a huge treat feeder, probably from my years on self care, followed by having my horses at home. I'm giving you multiple meals a day, what more do you want from me??? Now that I'm back in a boarding situation, I feed the occasional treat when i think about it, but don't do so for any particular reason. More like oh, here's a treat, because I remembered.
ReplyDeleteI give treats all the time for absolutely everything. No control.
ReplyDelete^ lol this.
DeleteYep. Same. Cookies for breathing, cookies for standing, cookies for looking to the left, cookies for looking to the right, all cookies all the time.
DeleteSounds about right. YOU EXIST!! YOU GET SNAX!!!
DeleteI do some trick training, just minor stuff. My gelding loves learning them so it's fun when we can't ride for some reason. I don't give them all the time so he doesn't learn to anticipate them or get mouthy, but he's generally really good about staying polite. My two mares only get them every so often, and always in their pan because they are a bit nippy anyways.
ReplyDeleteI give a treat after every ride, sometimes immediately after, sometimes when I'm about to release her into the stall, sometimes in the middle of untacking, in order to prevent mouthy and rude expectations. And to reward good behavior under conditions that are very convincing to not be good. (For example, when getting the first bath of the season from the suddenly terrifying hose, I'll give a treat as needed throughout the event to reward standing still - but she has to actually be good for a certain randomized period of time to get it, and the clock resets the instant she makes even a hint of not being good.)
ReplyDeleteSpeedy ADORES peppermints, any hard candy actually, so he gets two after every ride. I also dole out small treats when I think about it. Speedy also gets treats if he does something that he doesn't like to do - getting fly sprayed for example. He is highly food motivated, so treats tell him he did it right. Izzy is not food motivated, but I do give him little treats when he does a good job or after a ride. He always seems surprised by them though. :0)
ReplyDeleteCourage definitely had to be trained to eat treats. He had NO IDEA what they were when he came off the track. Fortunately, I had the best BOs in the entire world and they made it their personal mission to teach him about treats.
DeleteI stuff Cosmo with treats before and after we ride. #bribery
ReplyDeleteI buy the biggest, cheapest bag, he eats anything. He gets about 4 treats throughout the grooming process and then probably another 4 as I put him away. Most lessons trainer also gives him a carrot.
Val gets lots of treats as long as he stays polite, and it really helps his attitude about life. He's generally got a good work ethic but he's much more excited to see me and do things when he knows there are treats involved. I do often make him do something for the treat like stretches or bowing, just because he's a smart guy, and he pesters me less for cookies if he knows he gets them for doing a thing.
ReplyDeleteI feed a couple treats when I catch a horse, a couple while I tack up, and a couple when I'm done riding. Moe is a terrible treat beggar, so I try not to feed him very many during our daily routine. Special occasions merit donuts or donut holes- he basically gets a dozen after every show lol
ReplyDeleteI used treats a lot in the beginning with Stinker. When he would start to lose his marbles, I would shove a treat in his mouth. He knew that they were rewards so sometimes it would break the cycle. Now I randomly give him treats, because if I give them consistently he will maul me for them.
ReplyDeleteI give a treat most of the time for standing still while mounting (behavior is consistent, so intermittent rewarding) and several treats for peeing on the trail (still working to solidify this behavior).
ReplyDeleteI unintentionally gave probably an eighth of the giant container when I walked off and left the pony tied over the weekend. Came back twenty minutes later to find she'd managed to unclip the lead rope and was nose-deep in cookies. Little bugger knew exactly where they were in the tack room and exactly how to pull the lid off the box.
Sydney gets a treat every once in a while, certainly not every day. Because of her metabolic disease I have to either get special treats (which are expensive so I only feed them once in a while), or just feed her hay cubes.
ReplyDeleteI treat all the time! But I separate the treats I give for tricks vs "good boys" after rides.
ReplyDeleteTrick training with clicker is the small nugget treats that come in a giant 10lbs bag at TSC. Absolutely perfect for trick training. The boys get to work when I bust out those things. Especially with carrot stretches.
After ride treats are peppermints (boys go absolutely nuts when they hear the crinkle), granola bars or a sugar cube (in moderation). They definitely look for these and know its coming but never get mouthy. They'll just stare at me until I give it to them.
Anytime treats are apples and carrots.
In summation, they are spoiled with tons of cookies, tasty nibbles and fruits and veggies literally all the time. Whooops.
I don't feed treats to client horses and my riding school kids aren't allowed to hand feed the schoolies, but I'll admit to giving my own horses piles of treats. Just to vent my inner horsecrazy little kid. Usually I give them with stretches after a ride, or to somebody who doesn't like the stable/blanket/headcollar/saddle in order to teach them to like the offending object. In general training, though, I don't use them, nor do I really feed them to horses ridden frequently by other people. If I want to feed treats, then I know I have to deal with all the related behaviour, but if I only I ride the horse then it's my own problem.
ReplyDeleteTesla is very food motivated :) To keep her from getting rude, a "Leave it" has been installed and she will turn her face away and not even look at the carrot/apple slice :D Also handy for calling her up out of the field - she comes running!
ReplyDeleteI give a treat when I bridle, and another one when I get off. It's so bad that if I put away the saddle and come out of the tackroom without a treat, whoever I'm riding just STARES at me with that sad look of anticipation.
ReplyDeleteI may also sneak Paddy treats for being adorable all the time. But don't tell anyone.
How could you not? That face is just made to stuff treats into!
Deletei give A LOT of treats. i do trick train. and i also like giving weird treats to make fun of their reaction. for example last night we tried apple chips. and a grape.
ReplyDeletegrape was not a huge hit.
i feed low sugar carrot crunchers because that's what i had for my obese horse and theyre cheap for a huge bag and theyre small (good for tricks!!)
I give my horses a mint when I catch them, a mint when I put the bit in, and a mint when I turn them out. They all come when they're called, bridle quietly and respectfully, and wait patiently when you take their halters off to turn them out. Oh, and carrot stretches. Can't forget about those! Both my mares are little piggies though, so I try not to be excessive about it & I don't feel guilty if I forget a mint!
ReplyDeleteI do treat stretches (when I remember) to help with flexibility. I also like to give a peppermint or sugar cube right before bridling (again, if I remember haha). We did have to go through a "no treats" period when Ruby mugged my barn manager in turnout (she was using treats to catch the other horse in the turnout). Sometimes if I'm feeling guilty about not riding I just shove handfuls of cookies into her (which she probably prefers to riding TBH). Last night I rode my baby and she was terrified of my husband standing in the corner of the arena so I had him give her a cookie every other lap or so and it didn't take long for him to not be scary anymore :)
ReplyDeleteMy treats of choice are cheapies from my feed mill (like $8 for a 50lb bag) and sugar cubes. My barn stocks peppermints but I don't keep them at home because they melt in my tack room and I hate sticky wrappers. Never tried making my own, although the idea intrigues me. However I can barely manage to cook for myself so...... lol.
My idiots get lots of treats. The elderly lady has a distain for mint flavored cookies and generally spits them out / eats them with enough distain that I break down and give her peppermints. She also likes carrots and (in particular) honey crisp apples. She also likes sugary breakfast cereal (apple jacks, fruit loops), which warrants a lot of happy head nodding. She's old, and I like to make her happy, so she's spoiled. The younger horse likes anything that may or may not be food, and she's much more of a mooch than her sister. She barges right into your space when you're unwrapping peppermints, so she knows one trick, and one trick only - "Look away" - so I get her nose out of my space before rewarding her. A lot of people I know have taught "smile" or other tricks and I find it super annoying when the horse does it every two seconds for a treat. I usually save treats for after the ride, but can be broken down by cute mugging. I also occasionally give B a peppermint with the bit in to see if I can get her moving her jaw and chewing before I even get on, since she tends to have phases of locking her jaw and ignoring me. This horse will also eat about anything once, but since she didn't get fed treats from a young age she's weird about new foods. But she still wants to try them, obviously, even if she spits them out.
ReplyDeleteCarrot stretches are about it. Rarely before a ride. Ain't got time to homemake them, but I have a horse cookbook! Mrs Pastures are my fave commercial treat. Steer clear of bigger treats, muffin, jolly plops as pongo choked on one!
ReplyDeleteI bring carrots to the barn with me every day and feed them in a pretty set way. The boys each get a piece when I get to their stalls, a piece when I get them out of their stall, a piece when I take the bridle off after riding, and several pieces (and a kiss on the nose) when I'm saying goodbye at night. Otherwise I keep some small hard treats in my brush box for torturous activities that might require further motivation or for when they do something extra good. Oh and Stampede gets a "special" nickerdoodle every evening as a previcox delivery tool. I made horse treats when I was a kid a lot but lets be honest I don't have time for that now!
ReplyDeleteI'm the outlier on this one. I treat Theo heavily while being ridden, rarely once on the ground. I always, always have small, hard treats in my pocket, even in the show ring. He had zero work ethic when we started. None. It started with him learning the 'touch it' command to make him braver with new things. Now I can drop his reins to the buckle and tell him to touch it and he will walk up to anything on his own. He has marched up to construction equipment, blowing tarps, anything you can think of so he can touch it and get that cookie. He also gets cookies for new concepts, coupled with his marker (a single pat on the crest with my right hand and a 'good boy', carrying a clicker while cantering is a pain). He also gets a cookie when I get him from his field, so long as he comes all the way up to his gate.
ReplyDeleteI know I'm a rare case, feeding a horse from the saddle, but it's made a huge difference. I've slipped him cookies for going past the scary judge's booth at several shows and it really changed how he sees the booth and show ring. He knows certain behaviors make me click, and then he gets a cookie. He responds very poorly to negative reinforcement, positive reinforcement turned his little brain around. Anytime he starts to get negative, brace against me, look to get nasty, we do something for a quick, easy win and reset his brain. Over time, he's learned to deal with pressure because he knows there's a concrete reward in it for him. Just don't use anything with red dye at shows. That can get awkward.
Oh, recommendation for show use, Withers and Withers! No dye, rock hard so they don't shatter in your coat pocket, tiny enough to be gone in a second, and Theo will turn himself inside out for the ginger flavored ones.
Deleteooh thanks for this. i try to feed treats from the saddle but a lot of my breeches dont have pockets and frankly the treats i have make an ENORMOUS mess falling apart in my pocket. i love using food to get them over scary stuff.
DeleteI might have to look in to these! Courage is VERY food motivated.
DeleteI try not to give treats by hand very often ... but ... ok I give treats all the time by hand. I am terrible. lol
ReplyDeleteI can't lie, I'm terrible about treating. I always hand feed at the same times (after rides)...
ReplyDeleteHarley prefers baby carrots. He always gets a couple when we get to the barn. If I am trimming his feet, he gets them periodically for standing still while I work. He also gets them post medical treatments. I taught him the Spanish walk (his version is really cute) and free jumping using carrots. He loved it and is very food motivated.
ReplyDeleteI never feed him by hand near my small children. We always put the food on the ground and watch him gobble it up. I do not want him to associate food with children's hands or faces or my children to attempt hand feeding when I am not looking.