# Calling to other horses -- acceptable or not?



## Wallaby (Jul 13, 2008)

Personally, I hate "oh my goodness, we're being separated! I must call to you to make sure you're still there!" vocalizations. When those happen, Lacey gets driven forward and made to start working in a way that forces her to focus on me more fully.

However, when we come upon an unknown horse while riding and she wants to stop, watch it and maybe nicker or whinny at it, I'm ok with that as long as she is responsive as soon as I want to move on. I give her a second to watch the other horse and talk, if she wants, but then we move on. I figure that it's like saying hello to someone you pass on the trail - it's only polite. :lol:


I guess I don't really have any tips for you, what you did is probably about what I would have done, I just wanted to give my opinion on vocalizations. haha Good luck!


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## PaintHorseMares (Apr 19, 2008)

Any chance your mare was in season or you passed a stallion? If that's a possibility, it's a whole different ballgame than the casual 'hello' nickering.


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## Rachel1786 (Nov 14, 2010)

PaintHorseMares said:


> Any chance your mare was in season or you passed a stallion? If that's a possibility, it's a whole different ballgame than the casual 'hello' nickering.


When my mare is in season she acts like every horse is a stallion lol. She's a big flirt and will even flirt with other mares. I don't like when my mare does that either. Since she has never done it before maybe she is lonely since she's the only horse now. Is there any way you can get her a donkey or goat companion? Maybe that would make he happy.


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## NorthernMama (Mar 12, 2008)

Ah, my mare is ALWAYS in season I think. Sheesh... My neighbour says she needs to be bred to get normal cycles. LOL. Thankfully, when she is in heat, she is not any more trouble. Only once in the years that I have owned her did I cut a ride short because she was too full of hormones.

She is not in heat right now amazingly enough.


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## kayleeloveslaneandlana (Apr 10, 2011)

NorthernMama said:


> Ah, my mare is ALWAYS in season I think. Sheesh... My neighbour says she needs to be bred to get normal cycles. LOL. Thankfully, when she is in heat, she is not any more trouble. Only once in the years that I have owned her did I cut a ride short because she was too full of hormones.
> 
> She is not in heat right now amazingly enough.


Hey there is a horse out there like Relana! . She is ALWAYS in heat. My friend always makes fun of her because she is just really getting broken and riding in groups and so when she finds a gelding she has to run right up their butt and if I stop what is Relana saying? "Breed me breed me!!!" haha. Gosh those mares!


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## Courtney (May 20, 2011)

My young gelding calls to his herd mates as we're leaving. He never hesitates or attempts to stop and I'm assuming it's more of a "hey guys! I'm going out for attention! Don't worry about me, I'll be back!" call than anything else.

When I take him back to the pasture, he calls once just before I turn him loose. He doesn't try to take off, he just announces his presence back to the herd.

Sometimes, he'll call to a horse while I'm hand grazing or grooming him. He doesn't try to go to them or even look at them... he just nickers or neighs loudly and waits for a response. Sometimes he'll call with a mouth full of grass and it'll go shooting out of his mouth.

The way I see it, he can talk as much as he wants, as long as he's still listening to me and doing what I ask. If I'm leading him and he wants to talk, great... but keep walking. The minute he stops is the minute he gets a pop on the shoulder and a sharp, "walk on!".


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## NorthernMama (Mar 12, 2008)

Just to be clear, my mare doesn't have anyone else at home to call back to and when she did have, she didn't call and wasn't barn sour in the least. She was calling to strange horses as I rode down the road and IMO, she moved her focus entirely to the horses, which is what my concern is.

Next time I go out on the road, if she starts again, I will cut a switch. Don't know why I didn't think of that. (duh...)


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## gypsygirl (Oct 15, 2009)

i HATE that, with a passion.

some horses can call and still work, but often not. my mare is also not one of them. she will squeal more than she calls though !

i just make her work. i mostly do counter bent small figure 8s if im walking. or just make her work harder at trot or canter.


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## natisha (Jan 11, 2011)

She's a herd animal living alone. She's seeking others of her own kind. That's what nature tells her to do.


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## KDeHaven42 (Sep 21, 2010)

While horses are herd animals, they can adapt to living alone. It sounds to me that while your mare has adapted well to being on her own, something clicks when she sees others of her kind. She would, naturally, want to call out to them, join them, etc. 

However, it is incredibly annoying and potentially dangerous. A horse who's mind is not on the rider/work they are doing can be a serious problem. Thankfully she's not rushing to the other horses, but it could escalate to that. Your best bet is to solve the issue now, before she has the chance to take it to an extreme. 

I do agree that getting her attention needs to be the first step. What I would recommend is getting her attention BEFORE she sees the other horses. Every time you come up on a pasture or somewhere you know she may be seeing other horses soon, engage her in something you would usually work on only in the ring. Maybe its a collection or a sidepass or even really nice bending, but something that isn't down pat in her knowledge and something that will challenge her enough to make her focus. If you command her focus before she can see the other horses, you're less likely to lose it when she can. If you're only running into this issue occasionally, then this may be all you need. But, IMHO, a second horse, goat, sheep, pony, donkey, etc would be a solid investment and would probably also ease/solve the problem.


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## Shasta1981 (Nov 12, 2010)

I think its something you need to work on if she is calling to her friends and trying to reach them while you are working but I'm with Natisha here. She has no friends. I think there is something to be said about letting horses be horses some of the time. Her natural instinct is to live in a herd. The fact that this became an issue after you took her out of a herd kind of supports that, doesn't it? What about considering a companion for her?


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## IslandWave (Nov 25, 2009)

I allow the horse I am riding to make whatever sort of noise they wish as long as their legs keep moving and they remain doing whatever work we are doing. This is especially true for riding stallions. I prevent them from losing their focus on me by doing harder work and if they do lock onto another horse and start screaming, I put them right back into work doing things that force them to concentrate. Leg yielding and lateral movements as well as many changes of bend and transitions work well.


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## NorthernMama (Mar 12, 2008)

KDH42 -- it's very difficult if not impossible for me to put my horse into full attention mode BEFORE because she will smell the horses before I even know they are there. 

KDH42 and Shasta -- nix on a companion. I just LOVE having only one horse. It's the first time I've done it for more than just a couple of months and it is soooo easy! I will give on the calling to others if that's the only negative I have to deal with, but I suspect I will get her calling in line. I don't truly mind it as long as she continues to pay at least PART attention to me, but sometimes on the weekend she didn't pay me any mind at all and that was going too far. 

Natisha -- nature is fine and dandy and all that, but nature also tells her not to allow me on her back. She's over that, she can get over this too. 

Thanks for all the input, guys! I will definitely keep on the "go to full work mode" when this arises again.


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