Tanya Larrigan- Voice Traning!

[Penelope]

I read an article in PONY magazine about Tanya Larrigans voice training system, I found it quite interesting and have tried a bit with my pony. She is beginning to understand the words over and back used in the stable. Whenever she does what I ask i praise her and rub her ear where she likes it! Am I going about this right, and how can I take this training further?

[Silvia]

Is this really a training system???? Sounds like common sense to me. My horse knows quite a few voice commands (stand, back, over,... and most important: WHOAAA!!) If you use the same word every time and praise the horse when he gets it right they usually pick it up with no problems.
What exactly does this training system teach the horse?

[Wally]

I was at BETA this year with a friend. They were doing a demonstration of voice training. My friend and I both watched a well mannered horse back up on cammand, from a distance of a few feet away, then come forward and do one or two other tricks.

Yes, it was a good display, but as my friend commented, "It's no more than I would expect from any of mine" I had to aggree.

My old horse can back up from several yards away, Hákon is trained to go left ans right from a distance by voice as Frances has to let him go to be free to help a client, if he starts to wander to the park she shouts LEFT and he turns and goes into the school.

Driving horses have to act quickly on the voice, Frances uses Left and Right, I used "come" and "get". both quick, easily distinguished words for a horse to learn.

This training system is invaluable if you drive or you need to have control from a distance. Having a trekking horse that listens to me and not the rider on board can save a lot of time!!!:D

[claireh]

I too read an article about voice training a while ago, and thought maybe the author had some 'majic' theory that I didn't know about- so I rushed out and bought the advertised video expecting to learn some wonderous method of 'voice training' other than the method that I was aware of- repetition, patience and praise.

Did I learn any majic? NO! Of course I didn't!

Having said that the video was interesting and did remind me of the fundamentals and why voice training is so important!

A method I did find invaluable when teaching Pageant basic voice commands such as 'stand', 'back' and 'over' was to use clicker training.

I was especially glad that I had taken the time to do this with Pageant only yesterday- some a******e had thrown some strong nylon string into the field which had caught first round a tree, and then round Pageant's back leg- luckily this happened whilst I was there and as I realised he was caught in something, (It was dark of course- these things never happen in daylight!) I yelled 'Pageant STAND!!' and...... he did!
Despite obviously being distressed about whatever it was that was 'biting' his leg, he just stood there, like a statue, until I got across the mud to 'rescue' him.
He also lifted his leg on command, and when I realised I wasn't going to be able to free him without gaining some slack in the string, he also backed up when told to.

I don't recount this to boast about my ability as a 'voice trainer'- It ain't exactly rocket science, but to demonstrate how important this basic form of training is- I hate to think what damage Pageant may have done if he hadn't responded and had panicked- that string wasn't the sort of stuff that was going to break in a hurry, even with half a ton of determined cob behind it!!!

So, my advice would be, don't rush out and spend lots of money on books or videos- but do rush out and spend lots of TIME with your horse teaching voice commands! Sounds to me like you are already doing just that Penelope- keep it up!

[qwerty]

Don't start to do too much wit voice commands because you other aids could start to meen less and they are more important! :p

[ponyvet]

I disagree qwerty, I think that the more you do with your horse the better you will find he does at the easier things. A bit like the more you learn any new skill the better you become at the basics (cooking, foreign languages etc etc). It's the same with a lot of things. If you try and teach your horse to concentrate on what you are doing and asking of it then it will be better aware of your other commands. (the same goes for dogs)

I agree though that you shoulldn't rely on voice alone, but as long as you work on all of it it's a good idea.

Have just demonstrated to a friend that my foal comes when called, and knows her name, "no", "stand" and "back" already. She's working on "wait" (which I say when she tries to career off down the lane when I bring her in from the field) but that one seems to be taking a while.

I think it's important for them to realise that you use your voice for a reason and not just to amuse them! hopefully my baby will one day be a childs pony (as she's Welsh section A) and it's important that she can respond to different ways of being instructed.

[qwerty]

I meen if you just try and use voice commands. If you then went to ride another horse, they wouldn't know what you were on about! :p

Its good to back up your commands but we are discouraged from using voices at my yard!

[Yann]

Quite the opposite to where I ride, you're encouraged to tell the horse what you want as they generally understand and it's a good backup if the aids aren't clear. I know you're not supposed to talk to your horse in dressage tests, perhaps that's where your instructor is coming from?

[joan robinson]

I also saw Tanya Larrigan doing Voice Training at BETA and it was interesting because she said she was not doing anything new but it was amost a forgotten aid an dshe is getting people to use it again in a constructive way. She does not seem to promise any magical things - just reminds people to use the most natural aid they have, the voice which as she said is totally free of charge. Also using patience, time and reward that seems to be the best way for any horse to learn its work. I have seen the video and read her book New Sensations for Horse and Rider, I have got alot out of them, particularly as I had not done any lunging or long reining before . I do not have anyone nearby to help me but what she said seemed to make sense and she made it fun. I think she made a good point when she wrote 'there are many roads to rome use the one that suits you and your horse'.
I think it is a system of working from the ground to lunging , long reining and then onto riding or driving

:)

[Sue Carnell]

I too saw Tanya doing a demo of her voice training and a lot of it was actually body language, not the voice. If you watch any of the 'natural' type trainers, they use the same body language, for example in the round pen. It wouldn't matter whether Tanya used her voice or not on the whole, imho. I think a person would learn more from watching what she does and how she does it, rather than what she says and how she says it. Just my opinion.

Sue
sue@eclipse.co.uk

[ros]

What I find fascinating is that so many animals - dogs, cats, horses, even birds - learn to respond to, and actually seem to like, the human voice.

Horses in particular don't primarily use their voices to communicate (although of course they do have a repertoire of basic sound signals), yet they very quickly pick up on individual words, and on the tone of voice we use. Some of us were watching an instructor lungeing a young horse years ago, and she was alternately talking to us and to the horse, often without pausing between. The horse very obviously could distinguish when she was talking to it and when she was talking to us.

Maybe it's partly because animals have to learn to survive, or maybe it's because they try a lot harder to understand us than we try to understand them, or maybe it's a bit of both.

I do think it's very useful to have all the tools we can muster when dealing with animals. My old dog is a bit deaf, and the hand signals I taught her for fun when she was a puppy come in extremely useful nowadays!

[Tammy]

Lots of people around here discourage voice commands but I think the voice is one of the most consistent aids. Horses are very intelligent and pick up words fairly quickly. My mare knows "walk, trot, canter, whoa, quiet (slower),reverse, head down, head up, stand, over, back and come". I am not a trainer but she just seems to pick things up and I thought for safety's sake it would be good to teach her "back, stand and come" when feeding or when other people are in the corral. She also knows hand signals for these three, which I thought were important. She will obey even my three year old grandson's voice commands. Of course she knows the leg aids, etc., also.

[lamprellsarah]

i am a really beliver in talking, and using voice commands, my horse goes by commands rather than aids!! i ask her to stand walk, trot, canter, steady, back, over, up, down, not jump though!! and she will do it from quiete a way a way!!!
it doesn't mean that when i get on another horse, i have any problems communicating, i still talk to them i just have to put more effort in, but they pick up the way i work quickly!! :)