The power of the voice - of slouches and chatterboxes

With Sandy constantly encouraging me "talk to him" in order to get Saumur more relaxed I contemplated the whole talking issue, specifically why I need reminders to talk while riding.

Blame the riding lessons of my childhood: No speaking to the instructor, unless asked. And most certainly, no speaking to the horse. Do as told, and don't ask questions - or, more blunt "Shut up and ride!". Very old school instruction, based on the military roots.

Here and now: I am dealing with a horse that suffers from extreme insecurities, and I am supposed to relief his anxieties by talking to him. While I do not have any problems expressing myself in my day-to-day life, deep down I am a quiet person; constant and incessant chatter makes me nervous and actually irritates the heck out of me.

Fittingly, I just read a very interesting article in a German magazine on using voice aids (German riding instruction has come a long way, baby!).

Basically, there are five types of personalities:

Nervous Riders overwhelm their horses to deflect from their own insecurities. They tend to take short, shallow breaths, and have a high pitched voice. The body language could intensify this impression: These riders often have a hollow back and are very tense.
Slack Riders talk with a weak, dull and monotone voice, breathe shallow, and often get ignored by their horses. They have very little positive tension in their body, and have a problem sitting up straight in the saddle.
Motivated Riders are often so intense that they constantly hold their breaths while riding. Their tension transfers to the horse. Their voice tends to rise, and the horses are often spooky
Lonely Riders carry a lot of frustrations, and they try to get rid of them through loudly scolding their horses in long tirades. They often talk too much to their horse, which often also has to serve as a 'substitued child'.
Self-confident Riders have the correct positive body tension. They talk calmly and in a clear a voice. These riders get heard best by their horses.

It has been proven that horses have extremely keen and sensitive hearing, much better than humans. The human voice is an important instrument for dealing with horses, but it needs to be used well dosed and in combination with body language. Especially in training young horses the voice is indispensable, but again, it needs to be used cautiously. There have been studies showing that horses can learn between five and 90 different commands. Repetition is the key.

Often the use of the voice is more to calm the rider than the horse. The caveat is that calm as well as nervousness get transmitted through the voice immediately to the horse. It is very important that all the signals for the horse are crystal clear.

Body language is crucial. Without positive tension in the body the voice evaporates. For example, if you stand with your shoulders dropping in front of the horse, you give a weak command. Communication with the horse is 70% tone, gestures, body language, and only 30% content.

Training the voice while riding
1. Breathe right: Good tones are developed by breathing in deep into the belly, and breathing out through the throat and vocal chords.
2. Rhythm and tact: Count two to six trot steps. Then skip two trot steps and resume counting. You can repeat this with words like "Kit, Kat" or "Tik, Tak"
3. Find the right tone: Horses love calm and clear voices. A good exercise is to hum "wwww" in tune with the canter rhythm

It's interesting how this directly applies to leadership of people. Nobody respects a slouch or a nervous nelly. So pick yourself up, sit up straight, breathe right, talk in a clear and calm voice, hum along if needed. Or you could use some of my favorite body language tools to make a point: eye-rolling and  door slamming: Neither slouch nor chatterbox!