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By: Andy Curry
 To the uninitiated, voice commands for the horse are
nothing more than words. But to the horse they are only sounds.
Obviously, horses cannot speak our language.
Since they cannot speak our language we should think through what we say to them
when we want certain responses from them. Take the word "whoa" for instance. I have no
doubt this is the most abused word in the human/horse language. When the rider
says "whoa" then the horse should know to stop. But the problem is this. Often the word "whoa" is
said when the rider wants the horse to slow down...not stop. Before you know it,
the rider has conditioned the horse to slow down at the word "whoa" instead of
stopping. Then the rider can't understand why the "stupid" horse won't stop when
he says "whoa!".
Telling your horse a command when you mean for it
to do something else is lying to your horse. You never lie to your horse because
the results you get will not be what you want. Jesse Beery, a famous horse
trainer from the 1800's, knew this well and was the first to say "don't lie to
your horse". Thus, when you say "whoa" to your horse, you must
only say it because you want to stop...not slow down. Also, when using voice commands be sure to use
simple words with as few syllables as possible. Thus, if you want a horse to back up then say
"back". If you want him to walk then say "walk". If you want him to trot then
say "trot".
 Next, when using voice commands be sure to
associate an action with the command. For instance, let's say you're teaching
your horse to gallop at the command "gallop". So while in the round pen you use
one of your aids to teach him to gallop. So first you say "gallop" then bring in
the aid to motivate his movement to a higher speed. If you want to teach your horse to walk then
start your horse around the pen in the opposite direction from which you taught
him to gallop. When he's gone around several times, stop him, and pet him. If he
goes too fast use the word "walk" and have him go slower by making a slight move
to the front of him.
Lastly, I'm a big advocate of being careful how
you talk to your horse.
If you use commands that sound threatening (by
yelling a command), you can actually increase your horse's heart rate, frighten
and confuse him, and he may take longer to learn. For instance, a popular command to teach a horse
is the word "step". When driving a horse, using this command means for the horse
to move forward...take a step. When teaching it, be careful not to yell the
command because it may be perceived by the horse as a punishment. But if you calmly say "step" you will get better
results than if you yell it. Often times, when a horse isn't "getting what you
want", there's a tendency to get frustrated and thus, mad - and your voice
volume can escalate. Then you're back to sounding threatening and perhaps your
horse will take even longer to understand what you want.
I've seen where horses were being taught to drive
where the owner taught the word "step". When teaching it, he would loudly say
"STEP!". It wasn't long before the horse was actually balking. Then the owner
was getting frustrated and kept repeating his command even louder...as if the
horse couldn't hear him.
It reminds me of a show I once saw on television.
One English speaking man was talking with a Spanish speaking man. The Spanish
speaking man knew no English. The English speaking man was trying to communicate
with the Spanish speaking man. After a minute of obvious miscommunication, the
English speaking man spoke slower and louder. Unfortunately, the Spanish
speaking man didn't understand English whether or not it was spoke loud, soft,
fast, or slow.
In summary, use short words. Use the word when
you want a certain action - only say the word when you want that particular
action. If you want your horse to slow down then say something like "easy".
(Don't say "slow" because he may take it for "whoa".)
Next, associate actions with commands and calmly
talk to your horse. Horses can hear very well and yelling command will not make
the command any more clear - if anything, it will frighten and confuse him.
Andy Curry is a nationally known horse trainer
and author of several best selling horse training and horse care books. For
information visit his website at www.horsetrainingandtips.com. He is also the
leading expert on Jesse Beery's horse training methods which can be seen at
www.horsetrainingandtips.com/Jesse_Beerya.htm
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