How to Teach a Horse to Smile

How to Teach a Horse to Smile. Teaching a horse to smile is a fun and simple trick that required very little effort, due to the expressive nature of a horse's mouth. Horses tend to lift their lips upward in a smile whenever a strange scent appears, so it will be easy to condition your horse to make the same gesture on command. Read on to learn how to teach a horse to smile.

Things Needed

• Halter and lead
• Carrot
• Ammonia
• Onion
• Feather

Step 1

Fit your horse with a halter and lead before you teach it to smile. Ensure that the lead is made of relatively soft rope so that you will not hurt the skin of the animal if it lifts or rears its head suddenly during the training session. You may want to teach your horse to smile while it is standing in a stall or next to a fence for added stability.

Step 2

Stand directly in front of your horse and stick a strange smelling item under its nose, such as ammonia or a freshly cut onion. Take care not to place the object too close to the animal's nostrils. Horses have a highly developed sense of smell, and it won't take much to achieve the desired effect.

Step 3

Wait for your horse to lift its upper lip in a smile gesture, which is the horse's natural reaction to the strange smell. Once you get your horse to smile, reinforce the reaction by saying, "Smile!" Give the horse a carrot for its trouble and use a clicker to praise the horse's response.

Step 4

Try using a feather under the horse's nose to achieve the same effect. Some horse owners consider it cruel to stick smelly objects, especially ammonia, near a horse's nostrils.

Step 5

Reward the horse each time you teach it to smile with a carrot or a gentle scratch under its withers. Maintain a soothing tone to your voice, especially when you call out the smile command. You don't want the horse to associate the smile command with any type of fear or dread by shouting too loudly.

Step 6

Repeat the smile command until you are able to achieve the desired effect without the use of a smelly object. Take care to practice this trick sporadically so as not to annoy your horse. Remember to praise your horse with either a clicker, lots of verbal praise and plenty of petting and scratching in its favorite spot.

Warnings

• Avoid practicing the smile command too much. Horses tend to get bored quickly with tricks and will eventually refuse to respond to your command if you overdo it.