Training a horse to wee before riding!!??

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Primitive Pony

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Just wondering if anyone has managed to do this? - have heard that you can whistle-train them?

I have a recurring problem with my gelding who always seems to need a wee while we're out, whether hacking or schooling. He has, on one occasion, given in and stopped on the way back, but more often waits until he's back in his stable by which point he is bursting... wouldn't be an issue but I can generally tell as he gets very slow and rather reluctant to move forward, but if I stop him and wait he still won't go.

All ideas gratefully received!!
 
I have no idea about training, but one of my most embarrassing moments ever was when my lad, being a nosey type, decided that he really wanted to look over the entrance gate to the local Church.

After a few minutes looking at the Church with the ancient graves in the yard outside, he then decided he just had to wee! Gallons of the stuff.

Luckily no one saw us, and as soon as he was done we trotted away as swiftly as I could kick him on. So I will watch this thread with interest.
 
My girl does a wee on the grass verge on the driveway out of the yard. Didn't train her to do this though just something she does, however, it all started with her wanting to eat the grass and me saying no, she then started being stubborn about moving so I just stood there once say you stubborn moo and she decided to have a wee and it's just became a habit. Good luck I'm sure others will have much more useful advice.
 
Suppose you can just whistle each time he goes to wee then he will soon associate it! maybe?

we used to have an old riding school pony who'd pretend to wee mid lesson, so whistling would either make him go or not, if not, we knew it was his way to get out of working!
 
My girl generally wees when she sees me coming to her stable or if I bring her in from the field it's the first thing she does. If I bring out the saddle and she hasn't had a recent wee that will also set her off. I have had her 2 years now and she has never ever once had a wee while riding. She also tends to have a quick poo just before or during tacking up but she is happy to poo on the move while ridden or lunged.
This isn't something I have trained her to do though, so I can't really help!
 
Mine's trained to wee before a ride or trailering. I tack her up (boot and rug up if trailering) then lead her into her stable, whistle until she performs, treat immediately (pony nut) and lead out. Even when she really doesn't need to go she 'tries' and I reward. I suppose this only works though as mine lives out so the weeing process is part of her ritual. Doubt if it'd work if she was ridden or taken out straight from the stable.
It's a handy trick to have if travelling I think as must be so uncomfy jolting around in the trailer with a bursting bladder and she never spends a penny en route.
 
Ha Ha, we used to train the Police Horses to do this.

In fact on occasion we would lead a troop of 12 horses to grass, stop and whistle in formation, and all 12 would have a wee. In fact a fair few times we would draw people who took photos on their phones of 12 horses weeing on command in unison.

To start training we would whistle when they were prepping to have a wee at night when they came in from a day out on the box. It seems better if you whistle before they are weeing, as they just think about it. Then, we would whistle when they had been on a long ride, on grass, and if they did not wee they had a long wait until we whistled when they got back to bed (before they weeed).

In the end they would push a bit out every time you took them to grass and whistled, maybe 2 or 3 times on a 4 hour ride? I think they realised that THIS was their time, and they learned to take advantage of it. Most work was on tarmac.

My Jay-man is a private horse, but he weees to whistle on the yard before bed, keeps his bedding cleaner :-).
 
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autumn7 - my boy lives out so that's fine, I could also work on getting him to have a wee in his stable when I bring him in. How did you train her? - as suggested above by whistling when she does wee?!
 
My boy always has to wee when he's just inside the gates on return to the yard: as soon as the gate shuts behind then its chocks away and undercarriage down!!!

It is SO embarrassing......

Once when he was at livery, we were on quite a steep hill - and he'd always have to do it in the same place, i.e. in the middle of the hill - and it would run down the road beside him like someone had spilt a keg of beer, it was all frothy and dark, and steaming. OMG so embarrassing. Firstly because of the liquid, secondly because it honked, and thirdly because when he saw it running down the hill beside him, the great loon would then spook at it. One day we met an old guy walking a dog........... oh gosh, I died the death that day (blushes).

Sorry I digress. No practical suggestions I'm afraid other than to shake some straw underneath his belly when you want the desired result???
 
My friends horse wees on command and to get a treat. Get him out to ride - he wees before you get on. Get home and ask him to wee for a treat before you put him in stable. Last thing at night, take him to grass, a late night wee. Keeps the stable cleaner but the stops on the way in and out the field can be infuriating.
 
I trained my pony to wee into a bucket when he had to be stabled due to an injury, it drove me mad when I'd mucked out when the first thing he did on a clean bed was p**s all over it!

Just wondering how your saddle is fitting? Is it causing pressure thus making him want to wee?
 
Mine both wee to a whistle, although when out and about one does like to find the right "place".

You just start by whistling when they pee and they very quickly associate it - I didn't even use a reward system with mine, just association. I keep skip buckets in stables and it makes it nice and easy to catch any pee too - saving bedding.

Mine gets whistled at to pee before we go anywhere, and given the choice he will ask to go in his stable, before we leave just to make sure.
 
Mine live out 24/7, but I taught my gelding to wee using the whistling. Every time he weed and I was around I would whistle (you just have to use the same whistle). Eventually he would wee when I whistled - however it needs to be somewhere they are comfortable peeing, otherwise they just won't.

I found it useful for making sure he was comfortable on long trips, also for proving urine samples. Plus a horse hanging on will have an elevated HR and he was my endurance horse.

Sven, that's a bit unlikely. Just because there isn't anyone around to whistle, doesn't mean they won't wee.
 
Thanks again for all the replies!

Falconers - interesting point about the saddle. I am waiting for my saddler to come back out - very confident in saddle fit as after all sorts of problems he is now saddled by Kay Humphries, but he has just about grown into his saddle now in terms of muscle, so I shall check that it's not putting pressure in the wrong place. You might well be right as this is relatively recent, or at least more frequent recently.
 
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