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Discussion on Help! My horse will only put 3 feet in the trailer! | |
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Posted on Wednesday, Jun 5, 2002 - 12:37 pm: Let me start by saying that when I purchased my trailer I printed out and read every article and discussion associated with this forum. There were some posts by one member that had a similar problem - she "kept working and kept working and he (the horse) finally got it"Well, I have been working with her off and on over the past year because I really have nowhere to go - just want her to get in! She is a 5yr OTTB, with an OTTB mind. I have gotten her to the point where you just walk her up to the trailer and she basically walks in and leaves the last foot on the ground. She does not put any weight on the 3rd foot - just rests it in the trailer. She does this far happily, and will stand all day like that if you would like her to. Problem is, I cannot for the life of me get her to put the 4th foot in. Reasoning would have it that if I were to stand on the side that the foot on the ground is on and push her (like I was trying to pick up the hoof to pick it out) she would put the weight on the 3rd hoof and pick up the one one the ground. NOT SO. She will continue to stand there OR just back out. I have also tried the John Lyons method of tapping her on the hip to get her to move forward. Works to get her in the washrack, worked to start her getting in the trailer, but I could sit there all day tapping her hip, foot, fetlock, whatever, and she will not put that last foot in. If I increase the tappping severity, she just backs out and it seems to really rattle her, to the point of being upsetting. (remember, TB). My gut feeling is telling me that she is not trying to be difficult because she is so happy to put 3 feet in, but maybe she just doesn't know that I want her to put the fourth foot in. Also, I am not sure how far to push her - last night I worked for 1 hour, got all 4 feet in once (I think is was by accident) praised her profusely, then never got it again - even after working on it for another hour. I didn't know if it was ok to stop even after not getting it again. I was wondering if this tells that horse that she was being good by just getting 3 feet in and that was enough. But, by the end of 2 hours, she and I both were pretty frazzled. ANYONE HAVE ANY ADVICE FOR THIS WIERD HORSE??? |
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Member: Suzym |
Posted on Saturday, Sep 14, 2002 - 12:35 am: I just LOVE happy endings I agree with you, Holly - when we become better teachers, our horses sure DO become better students!Suzy and Indy - who loaded in his first two-horse step-up within 45 minutes |