(slow music)
- Welcome.
I'm here with my buddy, Legend.
And today I'm gonna be teaching you guys
a really fun trick that's really basic.
And that trick is teaching your horse to smile.
So, I'm gonna demonstrate with Legend here.
You ready, Legend?
Smile.
Good boy.
I'm gonna take a quick picture of him here doing it.
All right, Legend.
Ready?
Smile.
(camera clicks)
Good boy.
Look at those pearly whites.
So this is a really easy trick to teach
and I'm gonna step in to now showing you how to teach this
to your horse at home.
(slow music)
So the first thing we're gonna need is some treats.
I really like these treats, these Apple Snap treats.
My horses really enjoy them.
You can use whatever treats you like.
These are by Buckeye.
And I love these treats because they're all natural
and there's no sugar added.
Hey, Meg.
Pretty girl.
So this is Meg.
And this will be Meg's first time learning to smile.
She's never worked on this trick before
so we're gonna see how she does today.
She's not as food motivated as Legend
so it'll be interesting to see how she picks it up
and if she picks it up quicker than Legend
or if it takes her more time.
Ready to go learn something new?
Here we go.
(slow music) (hooves clopping)
So I'm out in the ring with Meg.
I've got my treats in my pockets here.
And to teach this trick,
it's a really simple trick to teach,
I'm just gonna take one of my treats out.
I'm gonna take my treat and put it above her nose here.
And just tickle her nose a little until she lifts her lip
and then give her the treat.
Now when you're teaching this to your horse
for the first time, because we're using our treats,
we wanna make sure that she's still respectful.
So afterwards I might move her back a step
and just make sure that she's not coming
into my space as I'm working on this.
So again, I'm gonna take my treat, put it above her nose.
Smile.
Tickle her nose.
Good girl.
When she lifts her nose up like that,
I'm gonna give her the treat.
So now I'm gonna repeat this Meg a few times
until when I lift my finger and say the word, smile,
she starts to lift her lip up.
(slow music)
Smile.
Good girl.
Smile.
Good girl.
So, Meg's done this trick a few times now.
She's still got a little ways to go before she responds
to just my finger lifting, but let's see where she's at.
Smile.
See you can see...
There she goes.
Good girl.
So some horses when you teach this cue,
they're going to pick it up right away
and really lift their lip high.
Smile.
And some horses, like with Meg there...
Good girl.
Some are not gonna lift their lip
quite as high at the beginning.
And if you have a horse like Meg that is a little bit,
she's maybe not lifting quite as high,
then I'm gonna practice it with her over the next week,
just do it for a couple minutes each day
until I can ask her to smile from a further distance
with my finger, and she picks up her lip
and she holds it up a little bit higher.
So I hope you guys have fun teaching this trick.
Keep enjoying your horses over the next week,
and I look forward to seeing you in the next video.
(slow music)