Lesson 2:   The Commands “Gee” and “Haw”

At the completion of the first lesson, Vraja and Gita learned the commands “Whoa,” to stop, and “Get Up,” to go forward, or come. Next they learned the command “Gee,” to turn right, and “Haw, to turn left. In order to be taught these commands, Vraja and Gita had to know how to work together. During the first lesson, they were taught individually in the ring, not together. 

Since I had not yet completed the yoke, I connected their halters together with a light chain. Using a lead rope and a lash, I proceeded to walk up and down the road with them reviewing the first lesson’s commands. I was surprised at their prowess. Vraja took the lead and seemed to enjoy the accomplishment of a successful performance. Gita, who was less cooperative than Vraja in the ring, followed Vraja’s example.

Twice daily, for 1 week, I gave them ½ hour training sessions before beginning the commands “Gee” and “Haw.” The command “Gee” is considered the most difficult because the team must move away from the teamster who is always on the left. We therefore started with the command “Haw,” to turn left. The “Haw” turn is generally taught more easily since the teamster stands on the left side of the team allowing the left turn to be towards the teamster. 

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Picture 1: Vraja and Gita beginning the "Haw" turn.

Picture 1 shows Vraja and Gita ¾ through the “Haw” command and picture 2 shows Vraja and Gita completing the command in beautiful symmetry. Picture 3 shows Vraja and Gita several weeks later in Los Angles, USA, wearing their yoke. In this picture they are half way through the successful completion of the “Haw” command. Notice their beautiful symmetry and the amazed audience. 

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Picture 2: Vraja and Gita completing the "Haw" turn

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Picture 3: Vraja and Gita successfully completing a "Haw" command with graceful symmetry.

The “Haw” command was taught by tapping Gita, who was always the “off” ox (the ox furthest from the teamster) on the outside right shoulder and tapping Vraja, who was always the “neigh” ox (the ox closest to the teamster) on the knees while firmly giving the command. I continued to do this for about a week with half-hour lessons twice a day. Lots of hugs, complements, and peanut butter cookies were given as rewards. At the beginning of the second week, I held back from giving taps as much as possible. The goal was to accomplish this turn down quite well without much tapping. Occasionally I would give Gita a tap on the behind. 

I then began to teach the “Gee” command. First, I walked in front and to the right of Vraja and Gita and then had them follow me through the turn as I gave the command. This should be done only early on in the training of this command. The goal is that the teamster should be able to give the command to turn right, from the left side of the oxen, by voice command. The reason for this is that often the teamster cannot walk ahead of his team through the turn and if not trained to turn by voice, they expect to follow the teamster through all the turns. 

I moved onto the next stage of teaching this command as soon as I thought Vraja and Gita got the general idea. The next stage in teaching this command was to remain on the left side of them, giving the command and taping Vraja, the “neigh ox” on his outside left shoulder. I concentrated on teaching this command and occasionally reviewing the “Haw” command for about I week, again for ½ hour lessons daily. In the middle of the second week, I dropped the tapping as much as I could while still allowing a successful turn to be completed. 

In the weeks that followed, I practiced all the commands by interchanging them. The more practice they had, the less they needed to be reminded by tapping. As much as I could I used affection, compliments, and peanut butter cookies as motivators instead of tapping them with the lash. The later teams I taught received only affection and compliments with equal success. 

It took about 2-3 weeks to teach them these commands. The speed with which the oxen will learn the commands will vary according to their capabilities, experience of the trainer, and the time spent daily. Vraja and Gita took about 3 weeks from the beginning of the first lesson in the ring to the completion of learning “Haw” and “Gee.” But don’t forget there is the preliminary necessity of getting to know your ox to establish a relationship, and then practice of the commands to assure capability before learning the third lesson of pulling. Also, I recommend teaching oxen at this young age because they are very easy to control and influence. However, as in young children, their attention span is limited. Therefore, I would not recommend lessons of more than 45 minutes each. The lessons should be timed to the attention capabilities of your oxen. 

I spent the next month practicing with them. During this month we traveled across the country which resulted in sporadic practicing. However, they seemed to grasp the commands very well. I completed the yoke in the middle of the month’s travels. I was happy it took only a few lessons for them to get use to it. But did you know they grew out of this yoke a few weeks after our return from traveling? Before this happened we started training them to pull, and this will be the subject of the next training article.