“The best place for him is the feedlot. He’s gone too far; he’s in such a mess he’s not coming back.” Those were the words of a trainer called in to assess a nine-year-old gelding that was quickly becoming unmanageable. Lukas had started his life as a promising racehorse, but injury had ended his career before it began, and a succession of abusive and neglectful homes had left him with little hope and even less encouragement. Purchased as a “budget project horse” from a show jumping stable where, once again, he had failed to fit in, Lukas was well on his way to fulfill that trainer’s prediction.
Lukas was bought with Dressage competitions in mind, a type of English riding. But he had other ideas. Only being handed out from the invisible monsters that then followed him to his own place. After numerous disappointments and many frustrating days, his last owner turned to trick training as a way to gain his trust. This playful and interactive way of engaging with animals has long been a way for trainers to enhance learning and make horses more attractive for adoption. But could it also be a way to help Lukas reach his potential?
This is how the journey began: face hacks are the easiest and simplest, the smile was tried first. As a psychiatric nurse for 25 years, the owner of Lukas had developed a system that includes a combination of behavior modification techniques and her own version of clicker training. She also uses a wide variety of bits and pieces from many different areas: circus to cowboy, Spanish riding school to Sea World. Kindness and freedom (free/free) training are the foundation of her system along with positive reinforcement and short, enjoyable lessons that provide the most beneficial results for both student and trainer.
He immediately began to notice a change in Lukas’s attitude: Lukas would greet his arrival with a loud neigh instead of the stubborn defiance of the past. Practices were now games that he started with happy eagerness and incessant enthusiasm. The smile had been learned in a matter of days and Lukas had been adding new tricks weekly to his ever-expanding repertoire.
His creepiness disappeared as his confidence, confidence, and focus improved. And her work under the saddle? Through play, she had “learned how to learn” and had become a joy to ride.
Around this time, Lukas’s trainer began to wonder how much Lukas could learn. He picked up the book Beautiful Jim Key, a fascinating story about a horse that lived at the turn of the century. Jim is considered to be the most intelligent horse that ever lived: his IQ was estimated to be equivalent to that of a fifth grader. He then began to include cognitive tasks in Lukas’s lessons, and the rest is history, as they say.
To date, Lukas’ talents include smiling, yes, no, kissing, posing, yawning, catching, fetching, blindfolding, crossing front legs, acting lame, bowing, greeting, going to a mark, job pedestal, Spanish andar (walk with high steps), legette (three-legged pivot), passage (like jumping), stoop, sit, lie down, put your feet all together, play hide-and-seek, stay and come, push a cart and the rear.
Most of her acclaim comes from her abilities to spell, count, identify shapes, discriminate colors, and her understanding of object permanence, spatial relationships, proportion, same/different, and absence. Additionally, the special bond Lukas has with his trainer has been celebrated by animal lovers around the world.
What’s next for Lucas? His owner plans to continue sharing the happy results of the gentle training and show how smart and wonderful animals are for the best treatment of him. Like the sign on his door that says “Fairy tales come true.”