You will find that once you start teaching your mini tricks that it will become more alert and "smarter". The reason is because they will learn to learn and just like most people, they learn to enjoy learning.
Not to mention the added benifit of learning to trust the handler unconditionaly. Two examples: the first one was with my three abreast just before a parade. The oldest member of the team was trick trained, one of the tricks is to sit from standing. This is my middle, lead, horse. the off side horse decided to be a poop and I really don't know how it happened but he managed to hook a hind foot in the backstrap of the middle horse, then he fell. This put pressure on the middle horse, so he sat to relieve the pressure. We were easily able to un hook the off horse and the lead horse stayed sitting till he was told to rise!
The second example is a lot the same. My Quarab stallion knows a lot of tricks, also sitting from standing. My grown daughter was riding him when a pitbull escaped and attacked them. Long story short, the dog latched onto the stallion's flank and managed to trip the horse. The horse ended up sitting on top of the dog, allowing my daughter a chance to step off safely. The horse was able, because of his training to remain calm which saved my daughter's life.
So needless to say, I am a big fan of trick training.