On from patting-Praise!

I don't use my voice much, however do absolutely believe they are responsive to voice.

There used to be a woman close to where we kept the ponies.

Her normal voice was just particularly shouty and came across as having quite an aggressive tone.

Occasionally we would bump into her out hacking. It didnt matter what horse I was on, they would all get tense around her.
 
All the time.

But my horses are quite vocal with me. They all have a 'hello human' whicker when I walk across the field and very loud shouts if tea is late.

Big mare also has a begging whicker she uses for treats or muzzle removal. She has a repertoire of noises aimed at me.

Given all my cats have been vocal and apparently they only do that if their human is thick then I imagine my horses think the same.
 
I am very vocal with Dex, both in terms of our liberty work but also in terms of praise. I have to sometimes be careful when I say 'good lad' as he will think he's done with whatever exercise he's doing.. one of those things you realise too late that you have trained by accident!

He also tangibly relaxes and will stop jig jogging or snorting if I say 'ahh you're alright buddy' if he sees something he's unsure of out hacking - may be because I relax when I say it but if it works it works!
 
humblepie said:
I chat to my horse a lot. Definitely gets praise and confidence chats.
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This. My poor horse - I’m constantly talking to him! From first thing in the morning to last thing at night - I dont greet anyone with as much enthusiasm and affection as I do him, and I always say goodbye/goodnight and tell him to be good when I leave. In between then he gets lots of compliments (he does get the odd insult too to be fair). I also use my voice when schooling - he often responds better to my voice than other aids - this originally came from cues I used when lungeing him and transferred to under saddle. The poor lad also has to listen to the running commentary on the day I’ve had, or my plans, or what’s annoying me in my life, and if we’re hacking I might intersperse the verbal diarrhoea with a touch of (out of tune, quite often using the wrong lyrics) singing too. He does talk back occasionally, especially when I ask him if he’s hungry - he ALWAYS whickers back to say yes (!) and if I’m late and he’s VERY hungry he’ll add a whinney, a head toss and foot stamp too…
 
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I use my voice all the time when schooling or teaching to load. , My mare especially is a sensitive soul but tries so hard, when I give her lots of praise she seems to relax and grow in height bless her. It would be horrible not to talk to my horses.
 
Yes, I do. A lot. I often talk about what I'm doing and ask how his day has been. Pretty sure he's eye rolling and just wants me to hurry the hell up and turn him out, feed etc.

My daughter is always talking to her pony. She tells him how gorgeous he is, talks to him about her day and almost every video I have of them, ridden and on the ground, has a 'good boy' in it somewhere.

I think tone is really important and I've no doubt they understand this, if not specific words.
 
I talk to the horse I’m riding all the time too (to be fair, I talk to myself all the time too 😂). Because the horse I’m riding at the trekking centre varies from week to week (I’ve ridden 17 different horses there so far this year), and some I don’t ride very often, so I figure if I talk to them a lot, they’ll get to recognise my voice and thus recognise me. Some are quite responsive to voice commands too. Younger and less familiar horses probably get proportionally more praise to build up their confidence and mine.
 
I chat to mine all the time and I have voice trained them, if I call one of them they normally call back if they are in the field or in the stable, they do whicker alot as well especially when I'm doing ground work and sometimes when I'm riding.

I spend most of my time with them or the dogs on my own so don't have loads of human contact some days.
 
I speak to mine a lot, and they mostly seem to muddle out what I mean.
When I had Little Madam in the UK, I also rode a second pony a lot. I would get my languages mixed up and speak English to Little Madam and French to the other pony, but they both still responded in the expected way, most likely off tone of voice.
I speak a lot to Enormosaurus as she is a bit quirky and had to be ridden in "levitation" (no hands, no legs) for a while. In that case, voice is a VERY useful cue. I also praise her by voice a lot, generally accompanied by a scratch. I wish I could use food rewards, but they set off her windsucking, so treats are out.
 
Mrs G said:
This. My poor horse - I’m constantly talking to him! From first thing in the morning to last thing at night - I dont greet anyone with as much enthusiasm and affection as I do him, and I always say goodbye/goodnight and tell him to be good when I leave. In between then he gets lots of compliments (he does get the odd insult too to be fair). I also use my voice when schooling - he often responds better to my voice than other aids - this originally came from cues I used when lungeing him and transferred to under saddle. The poor lad also has to listen to the running commentary on the day I’ve had, or my plans, or what’s annoying me in my life, and if we’re hacking I might intersperse the verbal diarrhoea with a touch of (out of tune, quite often using the wrong lyrics) singing too. He does talk back occasionally, especially when I ask him if he’s hungry - he ALWAYS whickers back to say yes (!) and if I’m late and he’s VERY hungry he’ll add a whinney, a head toss and foot stamp too…
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Love this. When I was studying years ago am sure my then horse knew as much about the subject as I did given that I’d run through things verbally when out hacking 😁
 
Horses both use vocal cues to communicate (where are you? I’m coming! Disgusted snorts, soft whuffs), and understand ours easily.

Since humans and horses first met, we have been teaching verbal commands for walk/trot/canter/whoa etc.

The world is full of sound and as prey animals they absolutely instinctively pay attention to it.
 
Amber loves to be told she's a good girl, I now have to tell her she's pretty if I'm riding and I want her to keep doing the thing she's doing well as I've accidentally taught her that good girl = quit and bask in the glory of being awesome :D
We also had a mishap, and I screamed whoa at the top of my lungs from a field away as she was running for the road, she stopped dead in her tracks and looked for me, then waited for me to walk over and get her :) She's a very clever mare.
 
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I do remember an introduction to vaulting lesson a long time a go where the rider was trying to stand up on the horses back at a trot. She finally got it and the instructor praised her with an enthusiastic "YES!!!". The horse stopped dead and looked for his reward and the girl tumbled on to his shoulder!
 
I do use verbal commands, and I use my voice to praise and I scratch his withers, but we mostly ride in silence (when I am not riding with a friend). I wonder whether some horses find continuous chatter as irritating as my husband finds it when I have Radio 4 on?
I know what you mean by the assumption that "Good Boy" means "I can stop what I am doing" AB! I can't use it when I am lunging, as he just stops dead and walks towards me! I haven't managed to train him to halt on circle.
 
No time to read the replies but I read something very interesting recently that horses respond, and calm themselves better, to low tones, and we tend to use high pitched voices to praise or even calm them. The article argued we'd brought our communication style from dogs to horses, not sure how true that is but it is true that horses use a low whicker/whinny to each other in general communication and high pitched is for squealing. I'm making sure I follow this with customers' horses.
 
Tarragon said:
I do use verbal commands, and I use my voice to praise and I scratch his withers, but we mostly ride in silence (when I am not riding with a friend). I wonder whether some horses find continuous chatter as irritating as my husband finds it when I have Radio 4 on?
I know what you mean by the assumption that "Good Boy" means "I can stop what I am doing" AB! I can't use it when I am lunging, as he just stops dead and walks towards me! I haven't managed to train him to halt on circle.
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I’m sure sometimes mine thinks that.
 
Titchy Pony said:
Are we talking an actual TARDIS, or just a blue portaloo?
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The actual ones are much scarier. They make funny noises and appear out of nowhere.

We had a problem with Daleks for a while. They would guard the carpark of the garden centre at Mugdock and if you rode across the carpark after 6:30, they would shout at you in a Northern Irish accent. That was entertaining.
 
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