When horses sigh.....

[Capriole]

slightly of topic but mine hums to herself when hacking

Mine does that

 

[cheeryplatypus]

slightly of topic but mine hums to herself when hacking

Mine does this too, but only if I sing and am riding properly. He kind of goes hmm, hmm, hmm to each footfall in a kind of rythmn!
So glad someone else knows what I mean.

On the sighing side I often feel when I should sigh during schooling. If I feel the kind of tension thing, I sigh and usually my pony will sigh pretty much right away. Then I give him a rest to think about it and his work improves right after.

 

[Capriole]

Naturally, I laughed when I read that, he sounds like a character

 

[TTK]

slightly of topic but mine hums to herself when hacking

So does mine, I thought he was the only humming horse. He signs when he is happy & relaxed. It's not boredom, more horsey happiness.

 

[Natch]

Capriole, that he is, larger than life! On the.subject of humming he didnt do that, but once when we were at a fun ride and his mate got loaded to go home (we had to hack there) he yelled and screamed for his friend, which became a heart breaking quiet crying, and evolved into tuneful grumbling and he pretty much sung all. the. Blood.y. Way. Home. We didn't half attract some looks!

3/4 hour later he and I arrived home whereupon he saw his mate and gasped, nickered and bucked at the realisation that his mate was okay. Clown!

Said mate would do a loud vocal snort at anything scary. It was such a funny sound that it had us in creases laughing instantly, wherrupon he would look at us with distain, sigh and get over it!

 

[Natch]

On a slightly more serious note, if your horse sighs it can be a sign that you were unconsciously holding your breath. When involved with round pen teaching I used to see it a lot... as soon as the person breathed, the horse felt the release and sighed.

Yawning before tacking up I think is stretching before being bridled, particularly if you strap their mouths shut with the noseband. Back to the pony, he took yawning on to an evasion, and would yawn repeatedly for as long as he could to delay me bridling him up. He improved when I ditched the flash, but it didnt go completely.

 

[BeckyCandy]

I was also told that signing, yawning and licking were ways of relieving tension and a good sign, after I do work with my youngsters one of them yawns one after the other for about 5 minutes solid it makes us all really laugh. But the other one also yawns and sighs more after being worked and does the licking when braught back to walk or halt.

 

[lyndsayberesford]

mine sighs quite a bit

but his favourite is towards the end of a hack and he grunts/groans

"ugh, ugh, ugh, ughhhhhhhhhhh"

he lacks enthusiasm for anything tho unless it involves eating!

 

[Moggy in Manolos]

My late girl Seren was a real sigher, she was on the whole a beautifully chilled mare. She did also yawn after I had put her bridle on. My new girl Nell was yawning her head off on our walk yesterday afternoon on the way back, she seems mostly chilled too, hopefully that shall remain

 

[Miss L Toe]

I was also told that signing, yawning and licking were ways of relieving tension and a good sign, after I do work with my youngsters one of them yawns one after the other for about 5 minutes solid it makes us all really laugh. But the other one also yawns and sighs more after being worked and does the licking when braught back to walk or halt.

I don't tie his mouth down with a noseband, and the yawning occurs at any time, when I am in his stable and he has his head over the door, it is a message, but I don't understand it.
Of course he may yawn at other times and I am not there to see it.

 

[Megibo]

I love it when mine sucks in air audilby through her nose and then dramatically blows it out to make that typical relaxed snorty noise they make...


could someone explain to me what a humming horse is?! Never heard of such a thing!

 

[Parker79]

I just love this thread...so many sighing horses!!

My mare sighs, it has made us laugh on many occasions! she seems to pick the perfect moment and its like a disapproving sigh....she is like a cat.....If I had to do a voice over it would be '' oh god...you're all sooooo stupid''

 

[Spot_the_Risk]

I love it when they sigh. My rising three year old does it, then drops his head, sniffs my face with each nostril in turn... to me, that's him relaxing. The old boy rarely does it, and the youngster - well he's too wired to sigh!