Do horses know their names?

[hackedoff]

Just wondering guys, do you think that horses respond to their names or just to your voice and presence? I know that equine names do get changed -sometimes several times in a horse's life- I was wondering if that would be a problem for the horse or is doesn't it care as long as it is looked after? Are our ponies thinking "you can call me what you like two-legs just gimme the hay!!":D
I know that my dogs definitely know their names, or recognise a sound in their names, no matter who is calling them, but I dont know about my equine pals, what do you all think?

[Horseyheaven]

I'd defintally say that horses know there names...well my fella does anyway

Montana will usually bring his attention back to me when I say his name if he gets sidetracked when being lunged!!

[james]

They recognise the sound, the tone of your voice and non-verbal clues and associate it with what happens next. They don't actually recognise their name as we would.

[Showjumper]

Dolly knows her name. She'll come to me no matter what I call her but if my friend Becky is checking on her, she'll only come if she hears "Dolly".

[Stella2]

I think James is right and I think dogs have better recognition of the sound of their names than horses do. That said, I have only been in horses two years and my 6 year old horse has only had his name since I bought him last July - Ask me again a year or two from now!

[maverick927]

Maverick has been known as Maverick for 7 years and he definitely recognises his name and did after we had owned him for a year, so definitely wasn't picked up like a dog.

We know he knows it becuase he was turned out at my aunt's farm and from her house I could see to down the valley and Maverick and her horse Crosby were in the field. I called Crosby and got no reaction, then i called Maverick and he looked uo whinneyed and galloped over.

[shaka]

Some do some don't, I think its the sound not the actual word though. I mean, like is a pony is called Larry, and comes to it, he will still come to Harry, as they sound alike. Shaka was originally called Blue Charm, or Charmer, and Charmer and Shaka sound similiar (in my accent anyway) and although he didn't come to Charmer originally, he eventually learnt his name and to come when he heard it. CHarlie was called Charlie, but it wasn't his NAME, if you get what I mean, it was just what he was called. I kept it though, and he has now learnt to come to it, which he used to do at a gallop!

[Wally]

If you drive more than one horse at a time you KNOW they know thier names, they need to.

It's no good having 4 horses in front of you all responding to the same command!

[Dash]

Sure thing. all the horses at my stable know there names.

[Miriam]

I have to say that horses know ther names. If I go for someone elses horse and call there names they respond by looking up. They may not come to me like they would to their owner but they do look up and to me that is a response. Lily on the other hand not only looks but comes and she is Gems horse.

[LynneAC]

Originally posted by james
They recognise the sound, the tone of your voice and non-verbal clues and associate it with what happens next. They don't actually recognise their name as we would.

But how do we REALLY know? ;) They may be asking the same about us? "Do you think that they know when we're asking them for our dinner, watch this, if I call now she'll come running" ......

[luv2jump2!!!]

All i can say is Fern knows Fern! You can call her from up the road around 30 meters away and she'll canter up to the gate!! further away you can get till your like 70m away!!
Clever pony!
A horse at my old yard called piglet would only come if you shouted ' PIG PIG PIG PIG PIGGIE!!!!' across the field!!

Lucy and Fern!

[james]

Originally posted by LynneAC
But how do we REALLY know? ;) They may be asking the same about us? "Do you think that they know when we're asking them for our dinner, watch this, if I call now she'll come running" ......
Its a "Pavlov's dog" response. If they were that intelligent, we wouldn't be riding them!

[LynneAC]

Originally posted by james
Its a "Pavlov's dog" response. If they were that intelligent, we wouldn't be riding them!

But then they might just let us ride them so that they can have 'fun' bucking us of ....... I'm only joking btw ;)

[Miriam]

James the response could also be 'they let us ride them as they want to' and therefore we are privilaged, just as if they dont they soon let us know by bucking us off etc

Hope you know what I'm trying to say. Cause I can't think with two screaming kids beside me :o

[Wally]

When you are driving behind 4 horses, 2 horses or even one he cannot see you to take any cues from touch or sight, he listens to requests and his name and whether a certain request was aimed at him or his mate.

If he ignors your request to get up into his collar and do his fair share up a hill ( some shall remain nameless!) you can back up your request with a flick with the whip and a command. Voice and your whip and reins are the only way the harness horse can carry out your wishes.

[Miriam]

Originally posted by Wally
When you are driving behind 4 horses, 2 horses or even one he cannot see you to take any cues from touch or sight, he listens to requests and his name and whether a certain request was aimed at him or his mate.

If he ignors your request to get up into his collar and do his fair share up a hill ( some shall remain nameless!) you can back up your request with a flick with the whip and a command. Voice and your whip and reins are the only way the harness horse can carry out your wishes.

I agree they have to understand what you say to some point don't they especially when driven.

[Stella2]

James, I'm a behavioural scientist so I know where you are coming from. You may be right, but it ain't necassarily so. Science is coming to accept that the great philosphers may have been onto something when they tried to tell us to open our minds to possibilities beyond the limits of our own understanding.

I don't know what it is exactly, but my experience tells me that there is something, a spiritual element maybe, about horses that we can't easily explain. They seem to have a more highly developed emotional intelligence (a concept that is now accepted in science) than some other creatures whose problem solving ability may be more obvious!

Anyway, I like to keep an open mind :)

[Wally]

I don't like to get overly anthropomorphic, when comparing animal feelings and emotions to man. I look on it more as man having animal emotions and behaviour.

Dogs, horses, sheep, cows....we could go on have a symbiotic relationship with man in the modern world now. They are not that stoopid, they know to play ball with us we play ball with them. Works for me!:D :D Not sure I'd like to treat a wild musk ox the same way I'd treat a Jersy house cow........maybe a few thousand years of evolution might help!

Maybe I am being anthropomorphic when we fell about laughing at Iacs at the weekend. He was tied up waiting to do a lesson. Bored, bored, bored, bored I wonder what'll happen if I take the bits off their hooks on this cupboard one by one?......oohh they come up and speak to me.......can't reach the bits now........so there's someone's mineral water bottle, I'll pick that up and that'll bring them running....YUP! I was right. They are not looking at me again, I know, I'll try and get my bridle off on the corner of the boards....Eureka, that one works too, then I'll eat the letters around the school and when they tie me out of reach of every thing I'll chew the wood! YEAY! I get someone to stand with me and make a fuss of me....cute, puppy face now! Cause and effect, he has life sussed! gets what he wants by being fuzzy and cute.

[laura jeanne]

If the horses know words like "trot" and "canter", they must be able to recognize their names. Just my opinion of course.

How many times do you actually say the horse's name tho when talking to it without adding other confusing words into the sentence? So maybe it is hard for them to recognize their name in the middle of all the other words.

I often wonder if my cats know their names. It's hard to tell because they do not respond to you the same way a dog does.

I do get the feeling tho that James is right in that they don't identify the name as meaning themselves, but just recognize the sound and it gets their attention.

[hackedoff]

Gosh so many different opinions I agree with wally and I always try to avoid ascribing human qualities to animals. :D I'm going to see a pony called Colin on Wednesday OMG am I stuck with that name if I buy him?????!!!!!!!:eek:

[Stella2]

I really like the name Colin for a horse! I'd definately keep it, its clear and cheerful :)

[Yann]

I'd swear they do, they might not interpret language in the same way as us but they definitely understand different words, be they in a certain context or otherwise, their names included. For example I was confusing Rio by saying 'backup' and 'footup', you'd ask for one and get the other, so now just say 'back'.

I'm with Wally on the scientific theory thing, what makes us humans so flippin special compared to other animals?

[tiarri]

Both my boys know their names. My 5yo standardbred, Nugget, has had that name all his life. I bought him off his breeder and that is all he has ever been called. If he is out in the paddock and I call "Nugget!" He comes running, but if I go to the gate and yell something different like Ferral or Mongrel :p He keeps on eating and completely ignores me. I have no idea how long our 13yo, welsh mountain pony gelding has had the name Buddy, we have had him for 6 years and he came with that name. He is the same as Nugget though. If I call Buddy he comes running, if I call him something else he ignorse me. It's the same with all the other horses at my stable. So I have no doubt that they know their names. :)

[Echo64]

I believe horses know their names. Adamas has the nickname of "Fats" and if you call that out in the field, he's the only one who'll put his head up, as he will do for "Adamas". Our other pony, Cassie, is called "Cass" and from a distance and with wind blowing, I could see how "Cass" and "Fats" could sound similar, but they don't respond to the "wrong" name.

The other horses have rather long names, none of which sounds alike...Palladium, Navarone, Pavel, Buster, Legacy, Axl...the stallions anyway.

[ros]

I must say I find it rather odd - and don't dare take this the wrong way :) - that anyone could think a horse doesn't recognise its own name. It can CERTAINLY recognise individual words (we've had this discussion on a VERY long previous thread) and why its own name should be any different I have no idea. I suppose you could argue that it doesn't understand the actual concept of a name, but it responds to its own just like any cat, dog or child.

I think we get too hung up sometimes on looking for scientific explanations, although they do have their place.

By the way, I suspect the fact that horses allow us to ride them indicates that a) they know which side their bread is buttered and b) they're extremely generous-natured, not because they're too thick to complain :) (And of course there may be odd ones that actually enjoy it?)

[Lucy J]

well my mare responds to "Oi Stupid" when i go to catch her better than she responds to her name!

[Wally]

Go out into our park when the horses are on the horizon, yell"KINA" and one one head will go up, Kina's.

She will start the stampede and we get the whole herd. Yell "HÁKON" he looks up and says "yeah, Right, What?" and puts his head down and grazes again.

They do know their names especially if you use them in training every time you issue a request then the horse knows it's for him.

[Esther.D]

If you drive more than one horse at a time you KNOW they know thier names, they need to.

Yep, all mine know their own names. Otherwise we would be in chaos. How else could I tell Mac to speed up and Polo to slow down when I am driving the pair? I preface every request meant for a specific pony with its name. eg 'Mac, trot on!' and 'Polo, steady..'. They have to know their names otherwise we would be tied in knots! They also have a small vocabulary of commands eg.:

'Walk on' = start walking or walk faster
'Walk' = stay in walk and stop jogging!
'Trot on' = start trotting or trot faster
'Trot' = stay in trot and stop trying to canter!
'Canter' = self evident....
'Steady' = usually used in canter, but can be used in trot, to slow things down a bit!
'Whoa' = halt
'Whoa and stand' = halt and stay halted! A signal to them that they are not about to be asked to do something else immediately
'Come back' = rein back

and what I can best describe as 'Prrrrrrp!', Wally will know what I mean, it is a sound used in driving to send the horses into gallop.

As you can tell from my ponies basic vocabulary I usually have more problems with too much speed than too little:D

They do know the words and I have been caught out ocasionally talking to my groom, and they hear the word trot and we nearly disappear out of the back door;) The intonation tells them whether I want more speed or less.

I know that is rather off topic but it shows that they can learn specific words, not just tone of voice.

Like Wally's you can walk into the field with mine, call the appropriate name and their head will pop up. Mac will usually call out to me if I call his name in the field, but he won't respond to me calling any other names.

[Lovecat]

I think Murphy thinks his name is 'hello gorgeousness' because that tends to be the first thing I say when I see him... when he's turned out he always spots me coming a mile away and trundles up to the gate to greet me (my arrival = stable = food) so I've never really had to call his name out... we'll see if this changes come summer and some grass in the paddocks!

Plus in the course of a day he can get called Murphy, Murph, Smurp, Smurph, Smurpleton, Smurpington, Chucklebutty, Fatboy, Hungry hungry hippo, Pieface, Heid!!! (if you ever saw 'So I married an axe murderer' this will make sense, otherwise it's far too complex to explain...) and Smurpy. So it would not surprise me in the slightest if he doesn' t know his name...:o

He does know the difference between 'stand' and 'back', though I suspect that's down to body language...

[galadriel]

Originally posted by Lovecat
Plus in the course of a day he can get called Murphy, Murph, Smurp, Smurph, Smurpleton, Smurpington, Chucklebutty, Fatboy, Hungry hungry hippo, Pieface, Heid!!! (if you ever saw 'So I married an axe murderer' this will make sense, otherwise it's far too complex to explain...) and Smurpy. So it would not surprise me in the slightest if he doesn' t know his name...:o

He might. Katherine knows Katherine, Kat, Katie, Katydid, and Gorgeous, among others. [Our cocker spaniel recognizes something like 20 nicknames ;) (Galahad, Blondie, Short Stuff, Drowned Rat...)] It's a collection of sounds that they come to recognize, you know? It may not be "Hey that's me"; it may simply be "hey that's the sound they use when talking to me"--but I think they can get to know not just their name, but lots of nicknames, too.

[Miriam]

Originally posted by Esther.D
They also have a small vocabulary of commands eg.:

'Walk on' = start walking or walk faster
'Walk' = stay in walk and stop jogging!
'Trot on' = start trotting or trot faster
'Trot' = stay in trot and stop trying to canter!
'Canter' = self evident....
'Steady' = usually used in canter, but can be used in trot, to slow things down a bit!
'Whoa' = halt
'Whoa and stand' = halt and stay halted! A signal to them that they are not about to be asked to do something else immediately
'Come back' = rein back

and what I can best describe as 'Prrrrrrp!', Wally will know what I mean, it is a sound used in driving to send the horses into gallop.



They do know the words and I have been caught out ocasionally talking to my groom, and they hear the word trot and we nearly disappear out of the back door;)

Glad to see I use the right words on Rhi. I too when asking her to do something always use her name (she gets anything form Rhi to Rhianna. Rhiannna usually when we are lunging)

Oh no I have to learn her 'Prrrrrrp' :eek: to gallop we are still in cnatering stage.

:D Like you I too have been caught out a few times when simply talkin gto my groom.

[lisae]

Last week, our lead mare Monday was standing outside the run-in barn and no other horses were to be seen. I was upstairs in the bedroom so I fling open the window and yell "where's Gracie?" Grace being the newest and youngest of the group and the horse most likely to get into trouble. And I'm a worrier anyways. So Monday turns her head and stares in the barn. I repeated the yell, "where's Grace?" and Monday slowly walks into the barn and disappears, only to return moments later - with Grace coming behind her. So Monday (as a courtesy to me) picked Grace out of the group of three, left the other two fillies in the barn and brought Grace out to show me. So I yelled 'thanks, just checking'.

Aren't they amazing?

[Wally]

Prrrrrrrrrt, can be substituted by "Yaaaaa Muuule" if you are driving Haflingers, that seemed to work for them, gets you funny looks from the establishment and stuffed shirts.

[lisae]

Is anyone there familar with using a long drawn out BRRrr sound as 'steady' or 'bring it down' type command? My dad was US Air Force stationed in Germany many years ago and my first riding lessons were in a German barn, that sound was used to slow or rate the horses. I recently rented a driving video produced in Germany and the driver was using this, first time I had heard it in years.

[shandy84]

I have the same reaction with both of mine as Showjumper so I'd say they know their names. It took them a little while to learn them though - their first ever names

[Esther.D]

lisae - I have heard it, but generally from German/mainland European drivers rather than those in the UK

...and incidentally Wally has done a better phonetic version of the gallop command - I should have typed 'prrrrt' rather than 'prrrrrp':D Some people whistle instead as the gallop command. People used to tease me in the driving club by shouting 'Yaaaaa Mule' when we came out of an obstacle at flat out gallop....they were always mocking my shetlands (but in a friendly way)...just cos we beat them :D

[ojoisland]

As everyone mentioned they do recognized their names and the sound of it. When I call my school horse, Riley, at the pasture he'll look up first and then come over. His pasture buddy, Star, will do the same and once you call them, they immediately come to you, it's so cute!:D

[Alex]

Originally posted by Stella2
I really like the name Colin for a horse! I'd definately keep it, its clear and cheerful :)
Milly's brother is called Colin! It came from his show name which is Longmead Coal 'n' Fire :D

and in response to this thread, yes, I definitely think horses know their names. Milly sure does, and so do most of the school horses at our yard. :)

[Slewgal]

Well, my cats know their names. Each one of them will look at you if you say their names. Except Spoo(spot) he comes no matter what you say but he was bottle fed and is a little slow.:rolleyes: