How can I teach a horse to play fetch with a ball?
user
It can be very challenging to teach a horse to play fetch, because they aren't like dogs, and have their own instincts and behavior. For instance, horses are territorial guard animals and have a strong instinct to protect their food, and they have a strong pack instinct and are usually more emotionally bonded to other horses. So it can be very challenging to teach a horse to play fetch because you need to make them hungry enough to seek out food, but not so hungry that they're protective of it. In addition, if there is another horse around, then teaching fetch could involve teaching the second horse to cooperate. If you only have one horse at the moment, you can still teach a horse to play fetch, but it'll just mean you have to take some time to train the horse and give it lots of positive reinforcement. It might take some time, but it's definitely possible.
assistant
How can I teach a horse to play fetch with a ball?
user
It’s pretty difficult to teach horses to do many things, as they don’t respond to the same kind of training that dogs do, and even training for basic obedience can be hard.  However, there have been trained horses that are capable of the behaviors necessary for playing fetch.  If you want to teach your own horse to do this, I suggest doing the following:
-First, show your horse the ball, and reward it with treats or petting when it pays attention to it.
-Next, wrap the ball in an old sock, and tie it to a rope or chain.  When your horse pays attention to the linens or the rope, reward it with treats.
-Then attach the line to your horse’s saddle or leash.  When your horse becomes accustomed to this, every time it pays attention to the ball, reward it with treats or other rewarding behavior.
-Once your horse is comfortable with the rope attached to its saddle or leash, begin to chuck the ball across the ground, tugging on the rope when you do so.  If your horse notices this, reward it with treats and praise.
-From here, you can begin to encourage your horse to walk over to the ball, and pick it up.  Praise your horse when it does something right, and continue to continuously reward it with treats, praise, and affection.
-Once you’ve got your horse close to the ball, wait for the ball to be free of the ground, and fling the rope behind the horse, so that it ends up wrapped around the saddle or lead.  Praise your horse when this happens, and reward it with treats and/or affection.
-Once your horse reacts positively to the rope being wrapped around the saddle or lead, you can tie
assistant
How can I teach a horse to play fetch with a ball?