# Go! / Stop! (to a horse)



## diegodbs

Every single horse, mule or donkey born and bred in Spain, knows at least two words that Spaniards need them to understand.

These words are "arre" and "so" and they are only told to non human beings unless you want to address someone in a not-so-much-affectionate way.

¡Arre! = go!
¡So! = stop!

Mind you that "arre" shouldn't be prounounced with an English or French "r", but with a full rolling Spanish "rr", and Spanish "so" has nothing to do with the English "o" in such words as so/no/roe/doe. It's extremely important, otherwise horses might get you wrong and they could be held responsible for embarrassing situations. Only equines with higher education would understand foreign accents but since this is something you can never be sure of, I strongly recommend the use of a native Spanish accent.

Which are the commands horses can understand in your language? Words equivalent to ARRE (go) and SO (stop)?

Thanks to all of you who will or won't contribute to this human-equine multi lingual glossary.


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## betulina

Hola diego,

In Catalan it's _arri_ and _xo_. This _xo_ is pronounced as "sh", not "ch". But I don't know if Catalan horses are bilingual and can understand either "arri/arre" and "xo/so"... there is no big difference, but I think the last i and e are strongly pronounced, aren't they? It would be interesting to find out... 

Saludos!


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## diegodbs

Hola Betulina,
Centuries of gallopping across the Castilian-Aragonese border must have been useful for all our equines and I'm pretty sure they can understand both "arre/arri" and "so/xo". Bilingualism is an important asset both for bipeds and quadrupeds alike.
Que tingueu i que tinguis sort!


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## Whodunit

In German:
Hüh! = Go!
Brrr! = Stop!

Here's a German article about these sounds.


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## Saoul

In Italian we use:

Giddap: go!
Arri: go! (which is used more with donkeys)

Ooh!: Stop!

Maybe some better Italian horse lover can add something!


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## badgrammar

English: 

Go: Giddy up!
Stop: Whoa!

Atleast that's how we do it in Texas .


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## diegodbs

Thanks Whodunit.

Saoul, Italian "giddap" and English "giddy up"? Is it a coincidence?

I can understand why Caesar's horses had no problem with Iberian horses (arre-arri), but there is an ocean between Texas and Rome.


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## Ilmo

Finnish:
Horse stop sound: Ptruuuuuh.
A very long "true"-sound.
Horse start sound: a smack (with the tongue against the palate), maybe followed by a word "soooooh" or "nooooh", again very long vowel sounds.


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## Outsider

"Arre!" and "Eia!", in Portuguese.


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## cirrus

To make the horse go (in English) just can also click your tongue a couple of times.


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## parakseno

Romanian:
Dii (go!)
Hooo / Brrr (stop!)

though I heard some quite "unwritable" ways of comunicating with them


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## Chaska Ñawi

We say "Whoa" to ask a horse to stop.

We _don't _use verbal commands if we're riding, but _do _if we're driving or the horse in on the longe line.  In that case, the instruction is specific to the gait we want:

Walk!
Trot!
Canter!  (accent on the last syllable when addressing a horse)


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## tigger_uhuhu

In Spanish from Mexico:
Go: Arre or "mch, cuaco"   
Stop: Oooohhh/ oooohhh cuaco
That is a little funny   
Cheers


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## amikama

According to an Israeli song, horses don't speak Hebrew. But they do speak the Israeli dialect of Horsish (or Equinish or whatever), which has at least two words:
!דיו (_dio_) = go!
!הויסה (_hoysa_) = stop!


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## Soy Yo

You've already got the ones I know for "start" and "stop":

Start: giddyap - giddup - giddiup or with a couple of clicks of the tongue to one side of the mouth.

Stop: Whoa!  or sometimes Hoooo!

for mules/horses and plowing you need "Gee!" and "Hah!" to tell them to turn right or left.  Gee = right!  Hah or Haw - left!

Saddled up my old grey mule, took her down to town.
Before I had time to strike a trade, a buzzard tied her down.

Whoa mule, whoa; whoa mule I say!
I aint got time to kiss you now. My mule just ran away


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## Seana

Hi 

I must say that in Poland the same as in other countries  is never used verbal commands if is riding, but for encourage horse during a jumping is using "dalej" it means something like forward but it isn't too proffesional behaviour rather for workout-trening.

But for horse driving 

go   - *wio* ( vioh)

stop - *prr    *(p - vibrant and an "r" in Polish language is very, very vibrant consonant)


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## melon collie

In Russian we say  *НО* (pronounced close to English nor)to make a horse go and we say *ТПРРРУУУ* (like true but with p between t & r) to make a horse stop.


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## Honour

in turkish we say _deh _to make them go and _çüş_ (cüsh) or _bürst_ to make them stop.


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## Soy Yo

diegodbs said:
			
		

> Saoul, Italian "giddap" and English "giddy up"? Is it a coincidence?


 
Diego, I believe that "giddy up" comes "from 'get up' [meaning "get going"]...and from there some how to "getty up..." "giddy up" and "giddy ap" [something like that].


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## diegodbs

Mucho mejor, pensaba que giddy = mareado. ¡Pobre caballo!


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## Soy Yo

Very funny!  No sabía que te teniamos tan confundido.


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## Encolpius

Very interesting thread. Strange enough it occurred to me only now. 
In *Hungarian *they say (I haven't ever touched a horse):

*Gyí! *= Go! (of BSC origin)

*Hó! *= Stop! (origin uncertain; I can imagine a Russian horse and Hungarian rider and the consequences )


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## mataripis

Tagalog: Yah!(go), hooo(stop)


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