Teaching a horse to come to call

[starry94]

Have any of you taught your horses to come to call? I'm just interested how to teach it

 

[Crugeran Celt]

All 4 of mine come to call and to be honest not really sure how they learned it, the oldest is 19 and from the moment she was born I would call her and always make a fuss of her and as she got older would give her a treat, always in a bucket, and she just continued to come to the call of her name. My cob I bought 5 years ago and he has always come to the call of his name even if he is in the furthest field away he will come straight over. My two miniatures don't even have to be called as soon as they hear me coming out of the door they are waiting by the gate. In the morning they only have to hear my voice through the window and they are calling me!

 

[Wagtail]

All the horses come when I call, even the liveries. But only my mare knows her name and would come if I call her by name. One of my dogs has a similar sounding name and sometimes when I have been calling the dog, my mare appears at the gate. None of the other horses do, so she thinks I am calling her name, bless her. I didn't really teach her consciously. If I want all the horses to come then I just holla down the field 'Come on!' and they all come cantering. But usually they get fed or brought in to haylage, and so I guess it is cupboard love more than anything.

 

[kal40]

My cob comes to the gate when he sees me whether I call for him or not. When my car arrive at the farm he goes to the gate and neighs until I get there.

Not sure how you would teach them to come as I have never had to teach them - all the horses I have had just come automatically. They probably just think here comes soft touch

 

[soulfull]

Mine too have always just come when I call. New one is the same. Came to call after about a week. I have never given him any treats not even to catch.

 

[MrVelvet]

My horse always used to come to call. Now he ignores me and pretends he hasn't seen me until the last moment.. Now we have a little ritual where he walks off for about 20 seconds then let's me catch him. Strange boy

 

[TwoStroke]

My youngster comes whenever I call, probably due to the possibility of getting fed. My TB never used to, but since he started living out he comes now too - maybe he just follows the youngster, though.

 

[Littlelegs]

I just shout 'come on' &/or their names. An unknown horse will probably require you to walk to it at first, but sooner or later they catch on. Easier if you already have one that comes, the new one will automatically follow 9/10 so it becomes habit.

 

[dafthoss]

I have been trying and failing for the past 2 years, he hears me, looks the other way and carries on eating until I get about 10 meters away then comes to me little git! Despite offering him sweeties when ever he is caught, its just his little game.

 

[Elsiecat]

Cupboard love.
I stand at the gate and shout them whilst holding their feed buckets full of tea in the air, they gallop down, eat it and p*ss off again.
So now I just hold an empty feed bucket in the air when I want them for any other reason and just give them a polo when they come

 

[xRobyn]

Mr velvet mine is the same! I may actually try and sort this with clicker training! Once he realises imthere, if he's muzzled he follows me about like a puppy, if not its a battle to get his attention. Were far improve from not catching for two hours though!

 

[Littlelegs]

Dafthoss, don't expect that to change. Mine comes when she knows there is food involved, eg winter nights, times she associates with a carrot & a quick check over etc. Summer afternoons though she is still doing the 10m walk after 21yrs of practice! Plus even in winter, if its muddy near the gate she stops on the closest dry bit so you have to wade through too.

 

[Suziq77]

I have been trying and failing for the past 2 years, he hears me, looks the other way and carries on eating until I get about 10 meters away then comes to me little git! Despite offering him sweeties when ever he is caught, its just his little game.

In the winter my grey pony likes to make me walk all the way down to her, then once I am about 5 yards away she sticks her head in the air and charges back up the field to the gate. Grrrrr

 

[Dry Rot]

All mine come to call. I even trained them to come to a gunshot as a purchaser was worried her pony would be upset by shooting parties! But they are Highlands and highly motivated by food.

I also trained cattle on summer grazing to come to call. At the end of the summer when they were to go home, the owner took one load and said he would come back and help me corral the rest so we could load them next. I had them all in the loading pen when he came back and he is still wondering how I did it!

The deal is to call them when coming is to their benefit. They get called when I open a gate to fresh grass, also for hard feed, occasionally for a carrot (thrown on the ground so I don't get mugged), and (less frequently) for work. Reward and repetition. If you have to do something they won't like, make sure nice things happen immediately after they come and postpone the nasty as long as possible!

 

[Kat]

I have been trying and failing for the past 2 years, he hears me, looks the other way and carries on eating until I get about 10 meters away then comes to me little git! Despite offering him sweeties when ever he is caught, its just his little game.

Mine does this, I call her, she looks up sees it is me and puts her head down hoping I haven't seen her/might forget about her/might get her mixed up with one of the others. I walk up and she starts to realise I am in fact going to bring her in and she gets down to cramming as much grass in her gob as possible in case she never gets fed again. I get to about 5ft away and she admits defeat, gives me a little whicker and comes over for a fuss and a treat.

She will once I've gone over follow me to the gate without a headcollar though and never tries to evade caputre.

She occasionally comes to call but I'm not daft I know it is only when she is hungry and the is weather turning cold.

This is despite always giving her a little treat when caught, and only ever bringing her in to a stable with a full haynet and giving her a feed when she comes in.

Bloody animal!

 

[pottamus]

I dont need to call my horse, he can see me walking down the lane and prepares himself for tea at the electric fence. As I climb over the gate to enter his field, he turns around and walks straight into his field stable and is stood 'waiting' for his tea bucket when I approach a few seconds later!!! This is a routine that he took up straight after we got him his field stable and has continued for years ever since.

 

[claireandnadia]

Mine do come to call most of the time but then saying that, they are usually hanging around the gate at bringing in time anyway.

 

[Victoria25]

Hmmm - my arab gallops from wherever she is as soon as she sees me ... she always has done - I pretend its because she loves me so much but deep down I know its just because she knows it tea time do you bring yours in for just a cuddle/tea/brush or only when you're riding?

 

[Carrots&Mints]

If I shout mine... He looks up and sometimes (when he's hungry) hell come over if it's winter and he's ready to come in hell come when he's called. Yard owner whistles and 2 of her horses come in!

 

[Mlini]

Mine only comes when there is food involved, or when he thinks there is food involved

 

[benson21]

I started with Donovan in the school, on the lunge l would have him walking in a circle, then kind of squeak to him,( like you are blowing a long squeaky kiss is the only way i can describe it!) and gather him in on the lunge line. Then we proceeded to do it when he was loose in the school, then out in the field. to start with he always got a treat, but now its just every so often.

 

[Jazzy B]

my boy comes when I call him and did so really early on from getting him. My mare even after 17 years would look in the opposite direction and never came!

 

[mandwhy]

Mine has always been a nosey chap but as he has stopped coming over as he has not had any hard feed for a couple of months (he is out all the time and has lots of new friends next door) so he doesn't get anything from me other than the annoyance of me petting him haha. yesterday I had a bag with me and lo and behold I got some attention! So I think food is generally the answer!

 

[Brightbay]

All horses in my field come to call.

As mentioned above, even if you don't give a treat immediately the horse comes over, the horse will have learned that there is something they want (a reward) in it for them at some point in the chain - so they come over, you put headcollar on, lead them into yard... at some point they get either a tasty bucket or access to more/easier obtained food (hay/haylage) than they had in the field.

However, horses weigh up positives vs negatives, and if the negatives outweigh (the technical term is overshadow) the positives, they will sometimes be more reluctant to come.

You can overcome this by using clicker training and a "cue". The cue is a very clear signal to the horse that coming to you will mean a reward. You start with e.g two or three pony nuts, stand near the horse, give your "cue" (needs to be consistent - I use a special whistle, but if the horse's name is a fairly clear one and you can say it with the same intonation each time that will work too),wait until the horse's attention is on you and then hold out the nuts. Horse walks towards you, eats the nuts. Repeat two or three times, gradually make sure that you give the signal and then hesitate in holding out the nuts until the horse takes a step, and then two or three steps, towards you. When horse is clearly responding to signal, move a bit further away before calling - keep this up for a while and you have a horse who will reliably come to call.

 

[dafthoss]

Dafthoss, don't expect that to change. Mine comes when she knows there is food involved, eg winter nights, times she associates with a carrot & a quick check over etc. Summer afternoons though she is still doing the 10m walk after 21yrs of practice! Plus even in winter, if its muddy near the gate she stops on the closest dry bit so you have to wade through too.

Its the 'oh where did you come from?' look that gets me when he has already looked at me and decided he would rather eat some more.

In the winter my grey pony likes to make me walk all the way down to her, then once I am about 5 yards away she sticks her head in the air and charges back up the field to the gate. Grrrrr

I think its a pony thing he always looks so smug about it aswell

Mine does this, I call her, she looks up sees it is me and puts her head down hoping I haven't seen her/might forget about her/might get her mixed up with one of the others. I walk up and she starts to realise I am in fact going to bring her in and she gets down to cramming as much grass in her gob as possible in case she never gets fed again. I get to about 5ft away and she admits defeat, gives me a little whicker and comes over for a fuss and a treat.

She will once I've gone over follow me to the gate without a headcollar though and never tries to evade caputre.

She occasionally comes to call but I'm not daft I know it is only when she is hungry and the is weather turning cold.

This is despite always giving her a little treat when caught, and only ever bringing her in to a stable with a full haynet and giving her a feed when she comes in.

Bloody animal!

Its so frustrating he will also follow me to the gate loose once I have gone up to him.

Hmmm - my arab gallops from wherever she is as soon as she sees me ... she always has done - I pretend its because she loves me so much but deep down I know its just because she knows it tea time do you bring yours in for just a cuddle/tea/brush or only when you're riding?

He comes in for all sorts of things feed, groom, ground work or just a fuss it makes no diffrence to him coming to call at all. He is a very independant chap that knows his own mind and has a very stubborn streak so I'm thinking this has more to do with it than what he comes in for.

 

[Kat]

Its the 'oh where did you come from?' look that gets me when he has already looked at me and decided he would rather eat some more.

Yep I know that look! The "oh it's you!" or "what, that was me you were shouting to????" face

 

[BBP]

Mine strip graze so always come to see us! I'm trying to teach mine to put his bridle on, the other day in the arena I called him and held up his bridle and he walked straight over and shoved his head in it! He is a total Labrador though, loves food and praise.

 

[starry94]

When he was out on his own he would come when he saw me, but that's probably because he was just lonely!
He is out with 1 other pony and mine normally comes in first, but when his friend comes in he will follow him (sometimes canter to the gate if he sees him leaving!). And when i do get him in the majority of the time it will be for a groom/ hay and I will ride later on.

I've been whistling to him as i go to catch him in the hope he will start to associate me whistling with coming in, but atm no such luck!

 

[3BayGeldings]

Mine never come to call during the Summer. They always do in the winter.

Why? Because they know they're going to get fed!

 

[Pearlsasinger]

Food!
We now have 2 whose names rhyme. We've had one 20+ years and she had her name when we got her, the other has had the same name all her life, according to her passport, so neither name could be changed. If we call either the older one's head goes up immediately, the other waits for you to call a 2nd time and then strolls towards you. If it's wet and windy, they wait until you've got wet through and then leave the shelter to race towards you!