Teaching a horse to do tricks is very similar to how you would teach a dog to do tricks. With Ruby, I actually managed to teach her a little on accident. When I first started riding her, I would finish riding, untack, grab her chin, kiss her, and give her a treat. Every single time. Eventually, she started anticipating what I was going to do, and would reach out to "kiss" me right after I went to grab her chin.
Noticing that she was starting to do this, I then decided to teach her the word, to see if I could get her to kiss me outside of our routine. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, but it worked! First, I would touch her chin, point to my face, and say kiss. If she reached out to me, I praised her. When she actually touched my face, she got a treat. We continued doing this for a few weeks. Eventually, she learned that the word "kiss" meant that I wanted her to reach out and touch my face- we no longer needed the hand signal.
Getting her to kiss other people was more of a challenge. Sometimes she would listen, and other times she acted like she had no idea what that other person asked her to do. So, I made up a new trick: "go get 'em." I followed the same procedure I had before: touch her chin, point to a friend's face, and say "go get 'em" until she figured out that one too!
Now, Ruby is quite the kisser. Bring a peppermint with you, and you will for sure get a pony kiss!
My two loves :)
Brayler (brother-in-law) getting a kiss
Julia (twin sister) getting a kiss
Me getting a kiss from my pony
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