“Horses don’t ‘talk’ with their mouths – so clicking is just a silly noise unless it’s assigned to a specific command.
A horse can obey ‘ya!’ or ‘whoa!’ They’re only ever shouted to mean one thing.
But clicking is often overused, confusing the horse. It doesn’t have any clear association for him.
The click is only effective if used sparingly, and for only one command.”
Gill
Hi,
I take it this does not include ‘clicker’ training which is superb.. and is used only to indicate that a required behaviour has been performed (and that a treat will follow!).
Dr Jane Perry – I use clicker training as well, it is amazing what the horses will happily do. They love to work, and communication is so much better.
awsome!!! 🙂
I click to my animals, and clicking is used a lot in my barn. I work with a horse whose click is assigned to trot. If he hears a click, he trots. a kiss, he’ll canter. Personally,I think that “walk on”, click, kiss, and “whoa” are an effective way to train (just ONE effective way)
however I work with other horses, where clicking means speed up. Then you’ve got the horses where clicking is the norm for them and they don’t even know what you’re asking anymore. Clicking can be used daily without confusing a horse, as long as its clearly associated to what you’d like him to do, and the horse knows completely what you’re asking for.
Megan is correct. My horse is assaigned to certain sounds,such as: click means to walk , kiss means to trot and a whistle means canter and of course whoa means to halt. I also use hand signals along with sound with ground work. My horse knows that when i am lunging him that if i put my hand in the air ( like a crossing gaurd would stop traffic) he will stop and walk to me . When i am playing with him , i take his lead rope off and walk infront of him and then turn around and when i move my finger to “come here” he will follow me . If i want him to stay in one spot i hold up my finger and say stay . Clicking and other signals and sounds can me used as long as they are asssained under one command .
Megan I totally agree with you and find it quite effective.
I don’t know if i buy this whole thing…. i usually “click” to my horses and that means “walk on” but i honestly don’t think it confuses them… i use the click to mean go and “whoa” to stop… horses are smarter than they look… they will understand if you take the time to try… my opinion… not that big of a deal…
Our horses do talk in their own vocal language.After one of our mares has foaled the other horses come up the newly foaled mare and nicker quietly to her welcoming her back to the herd,this happened two days ago between our matronly mare and her daughter.Two years ago we lost our first farm stallion to a misdiagnosed case of colitis.The day before our herd of horses all came up to Count Mein Too and said goodbye by quietly nickering to him.Our other stallion Slewquero also did this!We miss him every day!We are probably one of few thoroughbred farms to raise race horses in natural way with the father and mothers and foals and other young horses all together in the same herd.The mares do know which horse is the harem stallion!This we believe makes for easier to handle and better adjusted race horses at the track. The newly foaled mares are kept in adjoining large paddock until well after their foal heat as we don’t believe in breeding a mare on their foal heat.The paddock is with in both sight and sound and touch of the main herd.We fence with only non-climb fencing that is 6.5 feet high.Fred and Joan
I use to click at my horse to get her into a gait. I have learned however that if you are riding with other people who also click at their horse to go that my horse will hear the clicking noise and speed up. So while its effective to use it can also be annoying if other people click who are riding with you.
I think that the click means different things in different situations, and of course there are different signals as you can use more than one click for a que. My three horses are trained by voice/sound command, but i use different click ques as well. Three clicks in the pasture means “come to me”, while i use 2 clicks for trotting: 2 slow clicks for a slow collected trot, and 2 fast clicks for a working trot and then 1 click from the ground with pressure on a certain spot means “move over”.This applies for in and out of saddle work, and they all pick it up quickly. I think click ques are very handy as it is a distinct sound not easily confused with others, but i do agree that they may be overused, especially in cases where there is no meaning assigned to it. Much easier to just speak to your horse about whats on your mind, rather than using a que that doesn’t mean anything 🙂
💡 i barely have a year with my yeerling he a gift from my father at first he was very calm obedient as time past the real him comes out. Now i love him even more im at the point. Where hes got to protect himself from other humans trying to harm him or his rider. He was very impatient now hes calmer b4 i wanted him to run now to walk hes getting what i ask of him by also showing him new trails. I got to remember he owned 5 acres in mexico here in a 12×24 he mudt feel like put in jail. Thats y hes a little hard headed so when i take him toa big ring i go in to play with him. Now he starting to play with meabout time . Last time he bit me hestarted crying thought i would hit himhad to play so hed stopcrying. And hugged him he was tortured b4 my father got him. Now he knows he wont b hit unless he missbhaves. Hes got trust as long as im aroundmy big baby. CHOCOLATE..
Man, reading your post makes me feel so sad for your horse! He doesn’t have pasture and lives in a stall all the time? He was “tortured” before and “cries” with fear of being hit….which you won’t do UNLESS HE IS BAD? What kind of idiot, cruel person are you to hit your horse after a history of abuse? If I knew where you were, I would call the humane society and have your abused horse removed to safety. You are a danger to your animal!
how does your horse indicate crying?
Hmm, I ask my horses (I don’t have access to a round yard)on a lunge (longe to Americans) I ask my horse to walk then trot, and hup to canter – no problems.
One time had 3 to work – caught the first – worked her on the lunge, the smaller pony on the inside (meant I had to lift the longe rope whenever he went under!!) and the big horse went outside!!!
Saved working individually!
That horse is plump, squishy, and cute, and I want to squeeze it.
I have always.. speak walk..speak whoa…cluck means trot …blow a kiss for canter … whiste to call…say my goodbyes with hug kiss then apple 😀
A click is also similar to the sound made by a young horse showing its submissiveness in the herd.
for me 1 tongue click to walk off, while waling 1 tongue click to speed up walk. two tongue clicks to trot, two tongue clicks while trotting to speed up trot, two cheek clucks to canter.
Many stables I visit use click to let the horse know to move for example when they have their rump to the door of the stall. It is fairly universal and the horses are comfortable with it and just move for you. I work with a lot of horses that.owners or trainers think are troublesome. I want to share with you that many of the issues I find are that the horse wants such to do the right thing, but it us more often than not our inconsistencies in instruction that confused them. Unfortunately many of them get punished for not understanding, and they actually spend a lot of energy.trying to figure out what they have done wrong. This sets them on a pathway towards stress and anxious behaviour. They communicate to me ( and usually using the exact phrasing of the’person’ that’ I am not the dumb mongrel, YOU are because you ate inconsistent and your instruction is nonsensical to me. ‘ these horses.lose respect.for that person, and eventually this leads to deep resentment. So learn to observe not only your horses reactions, but also and more importantly your use of signals. In.e. you click at me to move away from the stall door, so why the heck are you clicking the same way here on the track?
Word of caution, If you are in a show ring and use voice commands of any type the person near you can pick up that your horse reacts to voice commands and start using voice commands and your horse will react.
Since their horse doesn’t work from voice commands it
will only affect your horse. I know this is cheap, BUT it happens.
I use to click at my horse but then was taught to communicate with my horse using body language and to move her into any gait or direction with just my body movements including stop. I discovered that horses hear people constantly jabbering but really only hear the first part of words anyways. And clicking was just a distraction instead that separated human jabbering to get their attention. So my trainer retrained me to communicate like another horse with my horse. I’ve noticed that none of my comments are posted so probably this communication will never be read. However I’ve enjoyed all of your comments and appreciate your deep love for horses. I think you are all great, Have a great life and never give up your horses. 😛
Massively overused, as is the phrase “good Boy” or girl
These utterances are so habitual with some ppl that neither the human or the horse hears them anymore.
Nothing wrong with clicking if you have made it relate to a specific action or attitude, but please don’t randomly click at other ppl’s horses or click to compensate for bad balance or lack of aids and then expect a perfect result.
Sorry, this is bad information. Horses vocalize all the time.
They certainly understand clucks. I have clicker trained
several horses, they know the difference between
a click, a cluck and a kiss. They know whistles and
shushing noises.
I recommend taking this advice with a grain of salt.
Dogs aren’t that vocal and some understand
dozens or even hundreds of sounds.
Horses are just as aware.
I click to my horse for him to go, and it works, but it’s only different horses that it does different for them
Why would I click at a horse? I’ve never understood why some people do that. I suppose it’s no more silly than saying “excuse me!” To tell a horse to stop kicking or striking. Except excuse me has been a command since he was a yearling.