Having difficulty talking to an animal, say (6)
I believe the answer is:
hoarse
'having difficulty talking' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.
'an animal say' is the wordplay.
'an animal' becomes 'horse' (type of animal).
'say' indicates a 'sounds like' (homophone) clue.
'horse' is a homophone of 'HOARSE'.
'to' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for hoarse that I've seen before include "Of voice, rasping or gruff" , "Of voice, sounding rough" , "With strained voice" , "A horse with croaking voice" , "Gravelly" .)