talking to horses

S

sean2

New Member
May 16, 2005
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London
Hi everyone, thanks to those of you who replied to my first, rather nervous, posting yesterday about feet in stirrups (naturally, I sent it to the wrong bit so it's likely that not many of you even got to see it). Today's query is about chatting to horses. When I'm on any of the school ones where I am training, I find myself talking away to them like they're somebody I've just met in the pub. Usually it takes the form of encouragement or thanks, or even relief I've got round in one piece. I've been told (I can't remember by who) that talking to horses while riding could be confusing to them as they've got enough to think about with leg and rein aids etc. Anyone know if there's any truth in this? I actually quite enjoy chatting to them, but if it's going to cause problems then clearly I'll have to bite my lip, or find a way of chatting that's not upsetting.

Cheers

PS, still finding my way around this site, so if this posting ends up in the how to feed a horse section or something, please bear with me, I'll get there in the end
 
dont worry i think everyone will see it because most of us just click on new posts.i always talk to the horse when im riding.i think it encourages them.if youve seen any of my videos im always chatting away to them and always give alot of praise.i always seem to put words in there mouths too when im telling people stories lol.i imagine what they're thinking lol.i was always told to 'speak to your horse'.
 
Oh I do that all the time - get lots of funny looks for it too! But my first instructor told me to talk to them cos they like it - she never said what to talk about :D
 
I don't really talk to her while I'm riding (apart from 'good girl', 'SAFFFYYYYYYY', 'for gawd's sake', 'stop it you moo' and other things along the same lines ;) ) but I DO chatter on to her bringing her in from the field, when I'm grooming, when we're just chilling ... all of the rest of the time really.
 
Gosh, Mants must have been bored to sleep when I chatted to him! It went from "Well, lets have a good lesson today Mants!" to "That tree is NOT going to eat you... Not!" finally to "Phew, that was fun. Good lad!" with lots of "Woahs" and "Shhh" and the occasional "Don't be so stupid you pig!" half way through! I liked it though, I felt more confident and I think Mants was more relaxed.
 
Hi Sean, welcome to NR :)

I talk a great deal to my mare. Like Baymare, I do it when I'm leading her around, also whenever I'm grooming or just around her on the ground. I don't chat to her when schooling her as such, other than 'Goooood' etc when she is responding nicely and maybe 'Nooo' if she gets something wrong! but I talk away to her when warming her up or cooling her down in walk or when hacking.

My advice would be, if you and the horse are happy and its working, just do whatever works for you :)
 
I talk to the horses I ride all the time. It encourages them. When your talking, watch their ears flick around, they are alert and understanding what you are saying. Of course, they may not understand english, but they understand tones and if you angry, happy or depressed. Keep talking to them. I find it really works to use your natural aids such as your voice as well as your artificial aids like reins and stirrups.
 
talk to horses?

talk to mine all time,
i.e. ooh look, theres a scary plastic bag just about to fly across road and attack us!
seriously though i think its normal to chat away to our equine friends.
 
Do you think that horses could learn some english words? I know that sounds stupid, but my dog definately understands the odd word - like walk, dinner etc - no matter what tone of voice you say it in. In fact he even learned to spell walk too, so now we have to call it a backwards klaw - he hasn't worked that one out yet!

What do you all think, do you think horses have the same ability?
 
horse talk for hannah

hannah, I'm no animal expert, but if dogs can learn the odd english word, parrots can speak em and even aloof cats can get to grips with simple instructions then why not a horse? I had a friend in Spain once whose dog would look at you totally blank when you said some normal English command, but say the same in Spanish and he'd go bananas, wag his tail and do all the usual things an excited dog would do. Maybe you should go to Spain and chat to a horse in English, then come back and....nah, forget that idea, it's too costly.

Cheers

Sean
 
Absolutely horses CAN learn verbal commands. I'm not sure how complex these can be, but whoa, walk, trot, lope or canter etc. are usually taught. I've had instructors who had to resort to code words when giving me instructions, because if they said "walk", for example, the horse would just do it off the voice command before I could give the aid.
 
I always talk to whatever horse I'm riding, especially if it's my own horse...she gets an earful :D

I've learned that talking to them keeps them focused on you...you want to be sure they are 'paying attention' to you and not to that plastic bag floating along the side of the road twenty yards ahead! ;) So, yeah, definitely keep on talking if you want to!

The thing with animals learning voice commands...it doesn't seem to be really the 'word' so much as the WAY you say it...I'm sure it's not really done consciously, but think about it...you have a certain way you talk to your animals, especially, say a dog...they prick their ears at certain words, but that's because of the tone of your voice, the way it sounds, and the way you say it...for example, you could say dinner two different ways (the way you normally say it to your dog) and a totally different way...he'd answer one but most likely not the other.
I used to experiment with my dogs at home (tooo much time on my hands). Animals are told if they are good or bad by the tone of your voice...you could talk in the sweetest, most gentle way while saying the cruelest things to your puppy, and he'd wag his tail and look at you adoringly...or you could say "I love you" in the most hateful way you can think of...and he'd put his tail down, ears back, and cower....

Anyhow...I'm done with my lecture now...it's really late...i shouldn't even still be up!!! hehehe

Ahhh, and by the way, welcome to the place, Sean (and I'm really not usually like this, i swear! ;) )
 
Welcome to NR :)

I talk to my horses and the other animals all the time. Frits gets to hear all my deep dark secrets so here hoping equine don't all of a sudden develop the ability to speak human :eek:

I agree with Kalypso it is the tone rather than the words that they understand. Frits is a Dutch horse and english is new to him but he understands back off very well and also comes when you call his name. I have a dog that understands signs as well as voice commands and the other dog has no idea what the various hand signal mean and they are both trained by me the same way, mind you Sabi is a bit of an air head anyway :)
 
Kalypso said:
The thing with animals learning voice commands...it doesn't seem to be really the 'word' so much as the WAY you say it...I'm sure it's not really done consciously, but think about it...you have a certain way you talk to your animals, especially, say a dog...they prick their ears at certain words, but that's because of the tone of your voice, the way it sounds, and the way you say it...for example, you could say dinner two different ways (the way you normally say it to your dog) and a totally different way...he'd answer one but most likely not the other.
Click to expand...

I don't agree--at least not entirely. Yes, if you're teaching a command, you need to be consistent in how you say it as well as in the word used. They cue on the whole package. I proved this to my son once by calling our dog: "Fred" (which is NOT his name, but the same length word and I called in the "calling" way)...no reaction. "Jack" (which is his name) ears perk, looks at me, gets up and comes over to see what I want. He also reacts to his name used in conversation, even when it's not "called", but not as strongly--he'll look to see if I'm really talking to him.
 
Talking to my horse helps my nerves at times!!! When hacking alone I even sing!!! Must admit ears normally pointing forward - must be out of key!!!
But I have a job where I can talk all day, so sometimes just to be able to go and destress after a long day at work and talk to my boy about it is wonderful, I get all the moans out of my system and all he does is look at me with those big brown eyes soft and gentle and says OK that was today, tomorrow is a new day and oh by the way - now where is my tea!!! But I feel better - even better if I groom whilst destressing - oh boy is he shiney too!!!
So talking to horses has to be one of the best things I do anyway!!!
 
when I was riding my last project lol the one that is now broken and schooled and with some rich little girl somewhere when I took him on the road on his lomesone for the first time if you stopped talking he panicked and went skitz so lol some horses ignore you if you don't and others have a cow, so I think it's a comfort thing
 
I wondered cos although horses do respond to voice commands, we normally pronounce them in a very specific way, which means that they could just be responding to the tone of voice rather than to the word itself. My dog reacts to people he knows talking much more than to strangers, tho if anyone says the 'W' word then that's it! I wondered if maybe horses learned to understand their owners, I ride school horses so they hear lots of different voices every day and learn to ignore them! :rolleyes:

Lets face it, you don't really have to worry about talking to your horse until they start answering back!
 
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