The ‘smile’ we are trying to create by teaching this trick is actually a perfectly natural behaviour for ponies called the flehmen response. In this response, they curl their upper lip, which allows them to close their nostrils and assess a new smell using their vomeronasal organ in the roof of the mouth. This is why we use an unusual smelling object (like toothpaste) to begin with, to trigger the behaviour we want to be able to ask for with our cue.
You’ll need
- You’ll need something that smells unusual to your pony but that he won’t be tempted to eat e.g. a tube of toothpaste.
- Treats that your pony likes, that are small and not too high in calories. You don’t want to be giving your pony a full carrot every time he does the trick right, so make sure your treats are cut up into small pieces or buy small training treats from a tack shop.
- A pocket or bag that is easy to get the treats from so that you can give them quickly when your pony gets the trick right.
To teach the trick
- Wave the toothpaste or other object under your pony’s nose and wait for a reaction. As you do this, open and close your hand and say ‘smile’; your hand (opening and closing) and voice (saying ‘smile’) will be your cues for getting him to smile in the future.
- If he doesn’t react to the toothpaste, you can either try a different scented object or touch the toothpaste tube to this nose and tickle him on his upper lip. This should prompt him to curl the lip.
- When you see him curl his lip even a little bit, reward him with a treat and remove the toothpaste.
- Repeat this process by showing him the toothpaste and using your cues to ask him to smile. If you reward him each time he smiles, he will soon learn what it is you are asking him to do (i.e. smile in response to your cues).
- Over time you can ask him to hold the smile for a few seconds longer before you give him the reward. This can teach him to hold the pose.
- When you are confident that your pony fully understands what you are asking, you can remove the toothpaste and just use your hand and say ‘smile’ to trigger him to smile. Reward each time, and you will have taught your first trick!
