# Gee and Haw



## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

That is where rein finesse and his awareness of space come in.

When you are driving you still have contact and the amount of contact and length of time you hold contact tells them how sharp or smooth. A horse that you have driven for a while that knows the area they are in will also have a general idea of what is needed to make a turn.


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## ACinATX (Sep 12, 2018)

That makes sense but ... if I would have to use reins anyway, what's the point of the voice commands?


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

You can add other words to help with better verbal commands and they can put combinations together. Mine knew an easy gee was a slow sweeping turn but the easy wasn't necessarily the type of turn I was looking for command wise. It was a slow down and pay attention and turn at the same time. Just plain gee was more road driving and sharper turn as we were likely on a street and had to follow traffic laws as all vehicles.


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## CaliforniaDreaming (May 8, 2011)

When I got Mitch, the carriage company who had owned him and sold him at auction (and somehow he ended up with the therapeutic riding center I bought him from) ibncluded with a little folder of his pedigree, and his pictures in harness, etc along with a little sheet of all the verbal commands he knows (my favorite is "Car a'comin", which I even use when riding and it's come in handy when we cross roads or walk along them for a bit while trail riding) and he has "Gee a little" and "Haw a little" to determine how much of a turn to make.

Someday we'll drive again. I just need this pandemic to be over so I can get some folks in to help.


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

More for teams where rein cues can be muddled and you don't want to be cranking on the reins to get them to do something. With a single horse it is very much like riding. You don't need a verbal. They are nice because if you have a horse that knows them and obeys then the reins can be slack. You don't want to throw them away so to speak though. You want them just slack enough that there is little time delay from slack to contact so that you can communicate quickly if a verbal is ignored.


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## ACinATX (Sep 12, 2018)

CaliforniaDreaming said:


> "Car a'comin", which I even use when riding and it's come in handy when we cross roads or walk along them for a bit while trail riding) and he has "Gee a little" and "Haw a little" to determine how much of a turn to make.


 Wow. Horses are smarter than we sometimes give them credit for. My Pony does better with physical commands (e.g. a hand waved in a certain direction) than vocal, but maybe I'll try him with this.

It's also really neat that you got all that stuff with him. With my horses, all I got from the seller was (1) "I had him gelded myself" (Pony), (2) "you could probably register her" (Moonshine), and (3) "I'm sure I have his papers around here somewhere" (Teddy).


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## ACinATX (Sep 12, 2018)

QtrBel said:


> More for teams where rein cues can be muddled and you don't want to be cranking on the reins to get them to do something.


Ah, that makes sense. Thanks!

ETA: I'm really enjoying learning this with Pony, and I'm a person who generally likes learning new things, but I'm almost 100% sure I will never ever drive a team. Ever.


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

Never say never. 

A good friend's wife was simply not a horse person and had to be coerced to drive her first time. When we later handed her the reins to a team and she had them going you could hear her shrieking all the way to the barn "POWER>>>>". We were sitting alongside laughing hysterically. It was at that point she understood what her husband loved about driving.


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## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

Gee is right turn.
Haw is left turn.

Remember the horse, in your case Pony is *not* going to see you from behind.
Most driving harness headstall has blinders...
So a voice is indeed a great tool they can/do listen to.

Team I drove was originally a logging team of 6 and they knew more commands than I used.
The logging team was sold in dedicated pairs of 2...
Each horse pulled from a certain position and don't place them in the wrong position or the looks you get and chaos as they are unprepared to work from the wrong location.
We also used "easy", "*WHOA*"...
"Step-over", "Back"..."Walk-on" and "Hup...hup" with whichever horse it was that was not pulling their fair share of the load..
Its fun to drive...great fun.
I loved the sound of the harness making sounds as the animals trot briskly forward...
🐴...


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

For my first driving lesson I drove a retired champion. After a bit of getting used to the whole thing my teacher said 'now just shift your weight to your left seat bone.' My word, you could turn that horse in a circle just by shifting your weight! She was quite a lady, that horse.


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## ACinATX (Sep 12, 2018)

Wow, that's amazing. I always thought that with driving you wouldn't have that aspect of communication. Do you think that horse was unique in that respect?


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## trailscout (Nov 23, 2020)

ACinATX said:


> hat makes sense but ... if I would have to use reins anyway, what's the point of the voice commands?


One example from my youth, that doesn't really answer the driving verbal cue question, was when the team was pulling a walk behind turning plow. Both hands were needed on the handles to keep the point and mowboard of the plow at proper angles. The reins ran over a cross bar between the handles of the plow and were tied together behind the plowman's back. When a little more gee or a little more haw was needed one hand would quickly leave the handle and give a physical signal and go quickly back to the handle.

FWIW


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## ACinATX (Sep 12, 2018)

Thanks! That's very informative!


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## ACinATX (Sep 12, 2018)

I have a followup question, since I'm lucky enough to be asking people with experience. You know how when you say whoa or hoooo you sort of make it long and slow and with a dropping intonation? Is there a "proper" way to say gee and haw? If I'm going to teach him, I might as well try to do it "right".


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## trailscout (Nov 23, 2020)

With the horses I was familiar with, the best response came from a heavy Arkansas Ozarks accent. They would not move at all for a Northeastern accent.

Joking of course. I suspect the only important thing is to pronounce it clearly and the same each time. 

Be interesting to know what words are used in other languages.


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

ACinATX said:


> Wow, that's amazing. I always thought that with driving you wouldn't have that aspect of communication. Do you think that horse was unique in that respect?


I have no idea.


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## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

The horses are accustomed to a handler, driver behind them and tune-in and tune-out others.
The team I drove were driven by several different drivers, mostly females.
We were all taught by a true horse*man* who drive 6 or 8 horse hitches so very experienced.
Only thing really remember is told when calling to them use a deeper voice, not angry but deeper timbre like a mans voice would have because of the wavelength and ease they would hear it better.
I don't know if that is true or not but it makes sense that if you have a high-pitch "squeaky" voice when excited or shrill my horses I know not respond quite the same as a lower tone and quiet timbre of "follow this direction" ....
My voice is _not_ shrill nor what I consider high-pitched but also not that of a matured male....more middle of the spectrum of vocal sounds.
When my horses are getting in trouble with me, I drop my voice octave a bit and growl and the instant alert and response is noticeable...
Try that just when handling your animals on the ground and they are a bit pushy in your space...drop your voice sound and growl "Quit" and see if the response is different...
I used no menace in my voice working the team, but did use that lower sound heard...it worked with these guys and some of that I am positive is because they were trained and daily worked by men logging them much of it by just voice command.
Now with my own, sometimes menace* is* used and they instantly know I mean business and they had better back-off and behave or pay the price...
🐴...


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## ACinATX (Sep 12, 2018)

Well I tried "geee" one time today when turning right. He just flat-out stopped LOL. So I think we'll keep working on it.

@horselovinguy I have a similar voice for Pony when he's getting into trouble: I say "Po-NEEE" with the first syllable low and the second syllable high. I love it. He can be about to do something naughty, even if I'm quite far away, and I just say "Po-NEEEEE" in that voice and he looks and me and stops whatever he's doing.


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## trailscout (Nov 23, 2020)

ACinATX said:


> I just say "Po-NEEEEE" in that voice


Humor me. Try saying Humptee Dumptee in that voice and see what happens. Help if your inner emotion is the same also. Not good if you're laughing.


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