Woman teaches her horse new tricks

Kula Ridges Stables owner Jacquie Becker says she's been teaching tricks to her 9-year old thoroughbred,  Maui's Moon Dancer, in an effort to break his habit of bucking people. Becker put "Moonie" through his paces in the stables' Omaopio arena Thursday morning, then traded sugar treats for kisses from the horse. She said he was born in Kahakuloa, the son of a thoroughbred with racing bloodlines. "He's a typical thoroughbred," she said of Moony. " He's pretty high strung. Only four people have been on his back, and only two have stayed on."
Becker is among those who have been bucked off. She said that teaching him tricks, like rearing up on his hind legs, is a way to get her horse into her space. " Once I get him into my space, it's easy to use my energy to lift him," she said. "He will lie down and to all sorts of silly tricks. He really loves it. It's one of the ways I got him him to stop bucking everybody off."
Becker said teaching Moony tricks might also land him a role in films."
                             The Maui News/ MATTHEW SLAYER photos