Horse Training Voice Commands
To the uninitiated, voice commands for
the horse are nothing more than words. But to the horse they
are only sounds.
Obviously, horses cannot speak our language. Since they
cannot speak our language we should think through what we say
to them when we want certain responses from them.
Take the word "whoa" for instance. I have no doubt this is
the most abused word in the human/horse language. When the
rider says "whoa" then the horse should know to stop.
But the problem is this. Often the word "whoa" is said when
the rider wants the horse to slow down...not stop. Before you
know it, the rider has conditioned the horse to slow down at
the word "whoa" instead of stopping. Then the rider can't
understand why the "stupid" horse won't stop when he says
"whoa!".
Telling your horse a command when you mean for it to do
something else is lying to your horse. You never lie to your
horse because the results you get will not be what you want.
Jesse Beery, a famous horse trainer from the 1800's, knew this
well and was the first to say "don't lie to your horse".
Thus, when you say "whoa" to your horse, you must only say
it because you want to stop...not slow down.
Also, when using voice commands be sure to use simple words
with as few syllables as possible.
Thus, if you want a horse to back up then say "back". If you
want him to walk then say "walk". If you want him to trot then
say "trot".
Next, when using voice commands be sure to associate an
action with the command. For instance, let's say you're
teaching your horse to gallop at the command "gallop". So while
in the round pen you use one of your aids to teach him to
gallop. So first you say "gallop" then bring in the aid to
motivate his movement to a higher speed.
If you want to teach your horse to walk then start your
horse around the pen in the opposite direction from which you
taught him to gallop. When he's gone around several times, stop
him, and pet him. If he goes too fast use the word "walk" and
have him go slower by making a slight move to the front of
him.
Lastly, I'm a big advocate of being careful how you talk to
your horse.
If you use commands that sound threatening (by yelling a
command), you can actually increase your horse's heart rate,
frighten and confuse him, and he may take longer to learn.
For instance, a popular command to teach a horse is the word
"step". When driving a horse, using this command means for the
horse to move forward...take a step. When teaching it, be
careful not to yell the command because it may be perceived by
the horse as a punishment.
But if you calmly say "step" you will get better results
than if you yell it. Often times, when a horse isn't "getting
what you want", there's a tendency to get frustrated and thus,
mad - and your voice volume can escalate. Then you're back to
sounding threatening and perhaps your horse will take even
longer to understand what you want.
I've seen where horses were being taught to drive where the
owner taught the word "step". When teaching it, he would loudly
say "STEP!". It wasn't long before the horse was actually
balking. Then the owner was getting frustrated and kept
repeating his command even louder...as if the horse couldn't
hear him.
It reminds me of a show I once saw on television. One
english speaking man was talking with a spanish speaking man.
The spanish speaking man knew no english. The english speaking
man was trying to communicate with the spanish speaking man.
After a minute of obvious noncommunication, the english
speaking man spoke slower and louder. Unfortuantely, the
spanish speaking man didn't understand english whether or not
it was spoke loud, soft, fast, or slow.
In summary, use short words. Use the word when you want a
certain action - only say the word when you want that
particular action. If you want your horse to slow down then say
something like "easy". (Don't say "slow" because he may take it
for "whoa".)
Next, associate actions with commands and calmly talk to
your horse. Horses can hear very well and yelling command will
not make the command any more clear - if anything, it will
frighten and confuse him.
About The Author: Andy Curry is a nationally known
horse trainer and author of several best selling horse training
and horse care books. For information visit his website at
www.horsetrainingandtips.com. He is also
the leading expert on Jesse Beery's horse training methods
which can be seen at
www.horsetrainingandtips.com/Jesse_Beerya.htm.
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