How vocal are your horses?

[LadyGascoyne]

Miri and Mim are quite chatty. They will neigh to greet us when we approach the field or go into the stable yard, and they both make little whickering noises when we are around. Mim will press her nose into my husband’s hair and whicker to him

Miri will give a very soft, high pitched neigh when she wants something - usually if I’m bringing her feed or hay. I call it her soprano voice.

And Mim will shout her head off if she wants to be in when she’s out, or out when she’s in. That’s a very clear demanding neigh.

I can also tell immediately from the tone of their voices if there is something wrong. Luckily it’s not often but I have been able to leap out of bed due to hearing Mim’s distressed neigh, and bring them in when a transformer had started to fail on the pylon near their field. And she has also alerted me to a deer stuck in the fence.

I was musing about this today because our friends have ponies who they say they seldom hear neigh, and yet mine will voice their feelings at the drop of a hat

Are yours vocal, and do they “talk” to you? Do they have clearly different noises they will make to communicate different things?

 

[meleeka]

My mare is very noisy. It's funny because when anyone visits they think she's pleased to see them because she neighs, but actually she neighs at everyone. She squeals at the others regularly and is just a bit of a princess about everything. When I feed her it's like she's never eaten before (and usually a high pitched neigh, right in my ear when I walk past her). One of the Shetlands occasionally neighs to me, but on the whole they are fairly quiet.

 

[little_critter]

S has a very low rumble (rather like the giant T Rex on Jurassic park!) which means “feed me”

I always visualise T as being a typical polite British man trying to get the waiters attention at a restaurant. He comes across as “erm, excuse me, I’m awfully sorry but you appear to have forgotten my hay net”
He does also have quite a specific and more forceful “I’ve finished breakfast, it’s turnout time” neigh.

 

[pistolpete]

My old horse Pete has the most ridiculously high pitched whinny for a boy bless him. The highland has a manly whinny that he always uses if hungry. Mostly he’s pretty quiet but would squeal before a burst of energy sometimes ridden or not!

 

[Boughtabay]

My two geldings are v chatty - have something to say about most things my late TB mare used to save her voice for strong opinions e.g. I once rushed down to her screaming bloody murder at the gate in the (warm summer) rain & she promptly stopped when I reappeared with a coat for her highness

The boys say hello to us in the morning, they respond to a hello in the field, they squeak at eachother a fair amount & Spanish dragon likes to call out to sheep when we’re out hacking he also once made an almighty noise at a saddle fitting calling after the husband who had gone to turn the trailer around and left us in the arena which drew a few chuckles

 

[cosmic389]

My horse is not vocal at all. I think I heard him nicker very softly once or twice. He doesn't neigh at other horses either, or at least I haven't seen him do it. He's 3 and I've only had him 7 months.
My previous horse was quite the opposite. He would neigh when he hears my car coming up the drive, nicker for his dinner etc...

 

[cauda equina]

My Arab is extremely vocal; I wonder if it's an Arab thing?
He usually nickers when he sees me, and we often have conversations - I say something then he says something, and it goes on for a while
Sometimes he says 'Huh' when given a treat, I think he's saying 'Thanks'

 

[littleshetland]

My Spanish poppet always calls out to me as soon as I walking the yard without fail, and If I call his name he'll whinny back. He's really not keen on low flying helicopters or anything the RAF chucks at us, and once he's whirled about and had a bit of a panic he responds by bursting into tears - I really can't describe it in another way - it's a proper anguished wail of whinny...poor lad. We've been living with RAF 'monsters' for 4 years now - I don't think he's ever going to get used to them.

 

[scats]

Meg talks to me constantly. We’ve really built a special bond now and she whickers whenever she hears my voice and when I walk past her stable or the end of the barn. I am definitely ‘her human’.
The bigger girls are also pretty vocal but not as much as Meg.

 

[JenJ]

My mare is very noisy. It's funny because when anyone visits they think she's pleased to see them because she neighs, but actually she neighs at everyone. She squeals at the others regularly and is just a bit of a princess about everything. When I feed her it's like she's never eaten before (and usually a high pitched neigh, right in my ear when I walk past her). One of the Shetlands occasionally neighs to me, but on the whole they are fairly quiet.

Mine are similar to this, but only really to me, not other people. (Yes, it's a small ego boost ). They do a very loud, high-pitched squeal whenever I arrive at the yard or field and when I'm round the corner doing their haynets or feeds, one of them does it if I'm in with the other one for 'too long'. They seem to randomly do *really* high pitched shouts when my ear is right next to their heads.

And sometimes, when they're eating their hay having just eaten their feeds, they stop eating for a moment to look at me and give a lovely soft whicker, and my heart just melts...

 

[DizzyDoughnut]

My two geldings are v chatty - have something to say about most things my late TB mare used to save her voice for strong opinions e.g. I once rushed down to her screaming bloody murder at the gate in the (warm summer) rain & she promptly stopped when I reappeared with a coat for her highness

The boys say hello to us in the morning, they respond to a hello in the field, they squeak at eachother a fair amount & Spanish dragon likes to call out to sheep when we’re out hacking he also once made an almighty noise at a saddle fitting calling after the husband who had gone to turn the trailer around and left us in the arena which drew a few chuckles

Mine also greets any sheep he sees with the cutest little whinny that he only uses for potential sheep friends, he can spot a sheep a mile off, hes always so happy to see them.

 

[Boughtabay]

Mine also greets any sheep he sees with the cutest little whinny that he only uses for potential sheep friends, he can spot a sheep a mile off, hes always so happy to see them.

The first time he did it I had such a shock Eventually twigged he was saying hello they’re so funny!

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[LadyGascoyne]

The first time he did it I had such a shock Eventually twigged he was saying hello they’re so funny!

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Oh that’s lovely they are such funny animals aren’t they. He just really likes sheep friends

 

[spotty_pony2]

My mare is always chatting away when she is talked too. My geldings do a little whicker when they see me but that’s it. I definitely think it’s a mare thing!

 

[DizzyDoughnut]

Mine also doesn't even glance at a field of stange horses even if they call to him he's not interested, he'll occasionally greet a random dog he likes the look of though

I always wonder if in his life before me he might have had a special wooly friend and every time he sees some sheep he's hoping it's his sheep. If I get the opportunity I'd like to get him his own pet sheep.

The first time he did it I had such a shock Eventually twigged he was saying hello they’re so funny!

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[TwyfordM]

Mysti doesn't shut up
She screams at the top of her lungs when I arrive, whickers if I move out of her sight/am ignoring her, squeals when something exciting is happening.
When she's ready to come in/you're late, she grumbles the whole time like she's complaining.

 

[Tiddlypom]

Mine are chatty .

The IDx’s party trick is to chat to me each time she sees me without actually raising her head from grazing. She is also apparently the only horse on the chiro vet’s books who whinnies appreciatively at each and every carrot stretch she does as part of her evaluation. She knows exactly when the carrot stretches are due and starts running through her stretches in advance of the carrot being produced.

Food looms large in her life…

 

[Equi]

Big man doesn’t really neigh much. Only if he has put in the field alone he might give a little call (while also stuffing his face) or similar if his field buddy is put out but he is in he’ll give an indignant neigh. He will nicker at me if I arrive at the yard but that’s about it.

My little ones rarely make noise if they’re out, unless one is left alone then they do a “wtf you idiots why have you gone in can’t you see she’s manipulating you, fools!!” Whinny but my favourite is in the morning when I open the stable door my oldie will give an ear screeching “let me out!!!!” Shriek. It’s a very telling one and if I don’t hear it I immediately do diagnosis on her cause it usually means she has sore feet or an infection. My other youngest mare will sometimes make the noise of a crow, as that is the first noise she heard and she copied it and it stuck

 

[PurBee]

Mine are similar and have different neighs depending on the issue. My mare tittle-tattles neigh on the gelding when he escapes and cant get back in.

I was beside my arab boy once at the top of our hill, as he had wandered far away from the mare and i wanted to get them in, so i said to him “where is she boy?”…and he then gave out an almighty thundering neigh of enquiry over the whole valley…the vibrations went through my whole body and shook me!! Wow! It was intense!
I had never heard him neigh so loud and be stood right beside him before.
All of the various frequencies in that single neigh, from deep bass tones radiating from his chest, warbles in his throat to high nasal screams, like an orchestra of various frequencies. His huge lungs and body seemed to behave like a megaphone projecting the sound as loud as possible.
I’d love to record that type of neigh close-up!

Then the mare replied weakly “im here”…he replied “come here”…she replied “no you come here” meery-go-round of neighs happened for a while!

It took a while for me to understand what each neigh meant, and i did spend a significant amount of time running to the neigh place to check them out when they were actually calling to each other and not me

 

[AutumnDays]

Mine do a shout back when I do my signature whistle to them... Kind of like a joyful "hi mum!" They both do low throaty whickers whenever I'm around and chatting to them, almost like they are talking back. There are various pitches and lengths of neighs of indignation, depending on the severity of the crime, feeding the sheep before them seems to be the one that gets the biggest "how dare you!". They both does this really funny repetitive squeak when he sees me coming with his feed... Look up baby crocodile noises, it's very similar to that, just louder!

 

[Pinkvboots]

Miri and Mim are quite chatty. They will neigh to greet us when we approach the field or go into the stable yard, and they both make little whickering noises when we are around. Mim will press her nose into my husband’s hair and whicker to him

Miri will give a very soft, high pitched neigh when she wants something - usually if I’m bringing her feed or hay. I call it her soprano voice.

And Mim will shout her head off if she wants to be in when she’s out, or out when she’s in. That’s a very clear demanding neigh.

I can also tell immediately from the tone of their voices if there is something wrong. Luckily it’s not often but I have been able to leap out of bed due to hearing Mim’s distressed neigh, and bring them in when a transformer had started to fail on the pylon near their field. And she has also alerted me to a deer stuck in the fence.

I was musing about this today because our friends have ponies who they say they seldom hear neigh, and yet mine will voice their feelings at the drop of a hat

Are yours vocal, and do they “talk” to you? Do they have clearly different noises they will make to communicate different things?

My 2 are the same they let you know exactly what they want.

If I call them they always reply back to me.

Louis will gallop up to me screaming when his had a very bad horse fly bite.

 

[Cloball]

My mare is the most chatty pony I've had I think she whickers when she hears my car, when she sees me walk towards the hay, when I am carrying the hay. She shouts to her pals quite often especially if they shout back and she squeals in a very comical way with a head flick and prance when her field mates had their flu rugs on for the first time
She once said hello to some cyclists from behind the hedge who'd stopped to chat her comic timing was perfect.

 

[Birker2020]

I used to whistle Bailey walking up the yard and she would respond by putting her head over the door and whinnying.

I'd say 9 out of ten times we visit Lari he whinnies at us, more so in the summer.

 

[JBM]

Geldings will call back when I whistle to them and occasionally make noise with the herd but mares very quiet
Penni only mare who will call back to me occasionally
Other two mares will come up to me but no noise

 

[Nocturnal]

Spud tries for a neigh when his dinners coming, but nothing much comes out, bless him. Making noise is one of the many life skills he’s yet to master.

 

[Time for Tea]

Mine are all pretty vocal. I used to have an Irish sports pony, and he would plant himself and grunt when he didn’t want to do something. I rather liked his grunt objections! He was very communicative altogether. He was protective of us too. He used to make frightful faces at other people and ponies if they dared to approach too near at a competition. He had quite a high pitched whicker

 

[94lunagem]

Neither of my little ones are particularly vocal. When I do hear my Sec A whinny I always think he sounds like a goat!

My NF mare does enjoy a squeal if she’s having a mad half hour in the field.

Both of my big boys (no longer with me) would whicker when they saw me, or when breakfast/hay was spotted etc. Or just when having a cuddle which I used to love.

My personal pet hate is separation neighing (or screaming as I call it). But thankfully none of mine have ever been that clingy as I think that would have done my head in.

 

[Zoeypxo]

My mare is very noisy. Screams and shouts when she wants to be turned out, whinnies when i go in the feed room.
She also squeels at any horse that looks at her.

 

[Mrs. Jingle]

Mine have all been very chatty with me apart from one or two. My last mare would chatter away all day but when my son took over her daily care 18 months ago she transferred her little chats to him and only gave me a very perfunctory whicker when I showed up from time to time.

 

[Boulty]

Highland is not chatty towards me unless he thinks breakfast is on the way but shrieks in an ear splitting way at other horses when out & about & has a full range of squeals used when playing with his friends. He’s also fluent in the language of shoving & bulldozing!

The Welsh D didn’t need sound to communicate his wants… he had a vast range of withering looks, icy glares, dramatic snorts & flamboyant head tosses & if all that failed he’d just start throwing things at you (or trying to kick you depending on what he was trying to tell you!)