# The kissing cue for canter



## Whisper (Mar 28, 2010)

I cant seem to get the hang of making the sound, and when i try, its not very loud so i doubt very much my horse would hear me in the round pen. Is there a knack to it? I have been practising but not improving!


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## nrhareiner (Jan 11, 2009)

Just have to keep working at it. When I started years ago I too was not very good at making the sound but over time and working at it I have improved quite a bit. Which is good as that is how must of the horses are trained to pick up speed in most of the maneuvers.


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## Spyder (Jul 27, 2008)

Hey I took my stud out the other day where the western riders were and with all the kissing and smooching going on, you never saw the thing drop so quick.:shock:

He sure got in the mood.


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## justsambam08 (Sep 26, 2009)

I personally just use the tongue cluck/click as a general "speed up" cue. It was too confusing for ME to remember to kiss for canter, cluck for trot. When I'm in a walk, I cluck and say "trot" and use a little leg. When I'm in a trot I use a little leg, cluck and say "get up". Works well for me. We've never tried walk to canter, but I'm sure with a little bit more leg and the right cue he'd do just fine.


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## dreamrideredc (Apr 16, 2009)

So funny, all these noises us horsey people need to make  I'm not sure how to explain it, I just thing of giving someone a HUGE kiss, like on a cartoon...I used to be terrible at all of these noises and used to think they were confusing, but once you get the hang of it it's more like second nature. I don't even notice myself doing it anymore. Kinda funny, one day in the crowded halls at school, I started clucking to the people not even realizing it...I got some weird looks :lol:


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## MN Tigerstripes (Feb 20, 2009)

Where the heck did this start anyways? I didn't find out about the whole "kiss" to canter thing until 2-3 years ago when I started riding with the western riders.....


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## thunderhooves (Aug 9, 2009)

justsambam08 said:


> I personally just use the tongue cluck/click as a general "speed up" cue. It was too confusing for ME to remember to kiss for canter, cluck for trot. When I'm in a walk, I cluck and say "trot" and use a little leg. When I'm in a trot I use a little leg, cluck and say "get up". Works well for me. We've never tried walk to canter, but I'm sure with a little bit more leg and the right cue he'd do just fine.


YEP!
eh, I just do the whole cluck thing, maybe kiss if I feel like it...........lol
The horses get what I mean no matter, because I make it clear to them


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## trailhorserider (Oct 13, 2009)

dreamrideredc said:


> So funny, all these noises us horsey people need to make  I'm not sure how to explain it, I just thing of giving someone a HUGE kiss, like on a cartoon...I used to be terrible at all of these noises and used to think they were confusing, but once you get the hang of it it's more like second nature. I don't even notice myself doing it anymore. Kinda funny, one day in the crowded halls at school, I started clucking to the people not even realizing it...I got some weird looks :lol:


Too funny! When I ask a horse to move over, I usually poke them with a finger (like when I'm grooming and I need to get them to step over) and one time I did that with my Mom when she was in my way in the kitchen. She said "Don't treat me like a horse!" Lol! :lol:


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## Gidji (Dec 19, 2008)

The way to make the kissing noise really loud is the suck your cheeks in, then make the kissing noise. I tend to not use it as most of the horses I ride respond to 'hup' as their speed up cue.


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## SorrelHorse (Apr 9, 2009)

I have tried so hard to get the hang of it. I can kind of make a squaky kiss sound, but they don't know what it means. So instead I taught my horses that a "Purr" or me rolling my tongue (Half mexican, easy for me to do) is to lope. No one in my family (Except Mom) can make the kissy noise.


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## lilkitty90 (Nov 11, 2009)

i actually picked up the kissy noise the first try. kissed and squeeze a little and she knew what it meant on the first try so ever since then that just means to move up in speed. if were walking and i kiss it means trot if were trotting it means canter and if were cantering and i kiss it means she gets to go. and if i wanted to go from a walk to a much faster speed and skip trot just squeeze and kiss several times.


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## HooverH (May 17, 2008)

It's actually a noise I've used with my dogs for a long time, as a come here command. 

Like sam, I use it as a general move, and use kiss and cluck interchangeably. I use the pitch and excitement in my voice to move Hoover through his speeds, and Gunner responds to leg. I'm working on getting him to voice.


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## Whisper (Mar 28, 2010)

Hey!!! I got it!!!
Thanks for those that mentioned squeezing in the cheeks and making the kissing sound, its MUCH louder now!


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## MacabreMikolaj (May 9, 2009)

As a warning, I really really hate horses trained to the kissing sound. I'm really loud with it, but for me it's a "PAY ATTENTION NOW" sound. I can't stand being on a trail and having someone kiss and having fifteen horses bolt into a trot or canter without being asked.

It's fine to use as encouragement, I like to for young horses, but I knock it off as soon as they've learned my leg cues.


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## Ink (Sep 25, 2009)

Muahaha, I've been mostly broken of the kissing cue. It only took a couple of times of my coach yelling at me to knock off the squirrel calling 
I'll use it on a horse that isn't wanting to go, but usually don't do it, especially in the show pen.


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## Brighteyes (Mar 8, 2009)

I have a problem with making kissing and clucking noises... I'm trying to break myself of it, but I just can't. My trainer will tell me to quite calling in ducks, but it's almost an involuntary thing.

I use it with my dog to as an "Ok, good!" Like to release her from a stay, I'll kiss or cluck.


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## SilverSpur (Mar 25, 2010)

MacabreMikolaj said:


> It's fine to use as encouragement, I like to for young horses, but I knock it off as soon as they've learned my leg cues.


kissing is a canter cue, just like clucking for trot. some horses will always need more than just leg cues. it's not everyones fault youve used a canter cue for something else.:???:


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## SorrelHorse (Apr 9, 2009)

Agreed, SilverSpurs. And I personally think that a horse that can respond to vocal cues with things like this might be a bit better than those who respond to only leg. Imean, we use our legs for so many other things. It's just that much easier for us and the horses if we can use our voice too. Just like we say "Whoa" when we want the horse to stop. Granted, like I said earlier, I'm fail at the kissy noise but I've come up with a differant noise for the same purpose.


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## MN Tigerstripes (Feb 20, 2009)

I don't think the kissing cue is universal for canter though. I'd been riding for 20+ years before I'd heard of it. My dad, aunt, and grandpa (all have been involved w/ horses, both training and riding for most of their lives) have never heard of doing this. 

The first I heard of this was riding with a friend 3 years ago.... I use it sometimes, but usually I try to rely on my legs and seat. The kissing noise is usually saved for lunging or when he is being really sluggish.


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## nrhareiner (Jan 11, 2009)

The kiss as a cue if used properly has a very good reason behind it. For the lope off you set your horse up to take the correct lead and the kiss is for them to engage. It is also used for speed just like the hummer is used to slow the horse down. I set a horse in the direction or maneuver and once the horse is doing what asked and I want more speed I will kiss to the horse and they speed up. The more I kiss the faster they should go. When I stop kissing they should hold that speed until I ask for something different.


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## Tasia (Aug 17, 2009)

I used to use it now its all in the legs and the seat.


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## IslandWave (Nov 25, 2009)

The kissing noise came naturally for me. Howover, I can't do the "purr" or rolling of the tongue. xD

How often I use it depends on the horse. One western horse I ride has been trained to use the kiss as a canter cue while for my horse it means gallop/faster. I will agree that is is useful as a training tool. For example, when my trainer was working on lengthening the canter stride with my horse, she used the kissing noise to reinforce that she was asking for more. And I use it now to train the canter cue on a western horse I'm riding. He doesn't understand my usual cues, scooping with the inside hip and outside leg slightly back, so I use the kiss, which he understand better to help reinforce what I'm teaching him.


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## Kashmere (Nov 30, 2009)

Whisper said:


> I cant seem to get the hang of making the sound, and when i try, its not very loud so i doubt very much my horse would hear me in the round pen. Is there a knack to it? I have been practising but not improving!


Don't worry, a horse can hear a lot better than we can!
Perhaps try to find a way to enforce it if your horse doesn't react the first time


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## Ridehorses99 (Dec 23, 2009)

nrhareiner said:


> The kiss as a cue if used properly has a very good reason behind it. For the lope off you set your horse up to take the correct lead and the kiss is for them to engage. It is also used for speed just like the hummer is used to slow the horse down. I set a horse in the direction or maneuver and once the horse is doing what asked and I want more speed I will kiss to the horse and they speed up. The more I kiss the faster they should go. When I stop kissing they should hold that speed until I ask for something different.


I absolutely agree. I use a double cluck for the lope but use my seat and legs to position the horse for the correct lead, then double cluck means lope NOW. This allows me to move my horses hip or shoulders in at any gait without confusing the cue with a lope cue.


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## lilkitty90 (Nov 11, 2009)

i use it as a reinforcer. if i just kiss. they wont go. i have to squeeze and kiss. sometimes she doesn't want to go if i just squeeze. so i use the kiss to encourage it. i use a technique called Squeeze, cluck, spank. squeeze and if that does go add the cluck/kiss and while doing both of those use another reinforcer and spank. usually she is gong before we get to the spank part. i do want to eventually get her off just leg cues. but it's a working progress


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## horselover1428 (Apr 12, 2010)

you should try getting into a canter from a walk more often...from a trot is not usual in western pleasure. if you don't think your horse will respond with the noise use more leg. and if that doesn't work spurs might be a good thing.


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## myponygizmo (Apr 18, 2010)

Horses can hear it don't worry. Like when you see absolutely nothing in the bushes(or hear) and your horse thinks it(he or she ) does. There is something in the bushes but we can't hear it....


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## Poco1220 (Apr 6, 2010)

I cluck to move up from a walk to a trot or to extend a trot. To canter from a halt/walk I kiss, to canter from a trot I cluck twice and then kiss. LOL. It's just kind of what I fell into, but I do it all very very softly so even the people beside me don't hear me which honestly makes me wonder if my horse does or if I'm just doing it because I'm used to it!


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## Strange (Jan 11, 2009)

I don't really use verbal cues with trained horses anymore. I use them when working with a younger, green horse that doesn't fully understand my other aids, but on a horse that knows that leg means go, I expect to get the response I need from it. Also, I'll get docked in the dressage ring if the judge even thinks they hear a verbal aid, since the rider is supposed to make everything look effortless. Not effortless if they can hear your aids! Let alone see them! Granted, you're not talking about the dressage arena, but my opinion is still to not use them.


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

> I can't stand being on a trail and having someone kiss and having fifteen horses bolt into a trot or canter without being asked.
> 
> It's fine to use as encouragement, I like to for young horses, but I knock it off as soon as they've learned my leg cues.


 
I have to completely agree with this. I will use a smooch or cluck occasionally on a broke horse just to kinda get their attention but I expect them to work solely off leg and seat cues for forward movement. I do a lot of work around cattle and some of them are wild enough that a smooch at the wrong moment can send the entire bunch running. IMHO, it is something to work toward where you can give the slightest cue with your leg and seat and the horse will pick up whatever gait you want.


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## dedebird (May 21, 2010)

well lets see lol my horse responds from me just squeezing for the walk from walk to trot i go trot sadie and she goes with out leg strenghth and to canter i kiss and squeeze really i can say walk saide trot sadie or canter sadie and she'll go thats just wat i said b4 is just wat i'm use to doing


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## ocalagirl (Mar 31, 2010)

I used to ride with a paraplegic rider, and her horses needed voice commands instead of leg aids. Even though I rode her horses dressage, I learned to use voice commands for canter and I fell in love! They are easy to teach too. Think about the noise little kids make when they blow kisses.


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## Person524789 (Feb 12, 2021)

I just learned to use my bottom teeth on my lop lip and it makes the sound perfectly


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

*Mod Note:
Please take note of the dates on threads you are replying to. This thread is 11 years old and these users no longer participate. The recommended reading is just that - recommended reading and is not meant for replies or advice.


Thread is now closed. *


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