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HorseAdvice.com » Training, Behavior, & Conditioning Horses » Behavior and Training » Trailer Loading a Horse » |
Discussion on Claustrophobia?? | |
Author | Message |
Member: vera |
Posted on Friday, Apr 3, 2009 - 3:06 pm: I bought a 7' tall straight load trailer with mangers. I cannot get my horse onto the trailer at all. He'll put his front feet on, but backs up everytime I ask him to move forward. I've tried the whip and that makes him CRAZY. My friend brought over her stock trailer to see if we could load him on that one. Of course, he walk right on and repeated that about a dozen times. So bitter sweet it wasHer trailer is about 16'long and it is about 2" taller. Mine seems smaller b/c of the manger and it only measures 7'. He's 16.1 so not too terribly big. Do you think that he is claustrophobic? Is it the height or the length. My trailer is 6'8" wide so I don't think width could be the problem. |
Member: mrose |
Posted on Friday, Apr 3, 2009 - 3:46 pm: How much light does your trailer have? Is is possible to open the windows or an escape door in the front when you load him? It's hard for a lot of horses to go from the light of day into a dark trailer - and it seems darker to them - like getting into a small dark box. |
Member: cgby1 |
Posted on Friday, Apr 3, 2009 - 9:44 pm: Hi Angela,Your trailer has a partition in the middle, can you remove it? Take it out and see if he will load. My arab gelding did not like straight loads either so I bought a slant load. It is only a two horse slant, with a tack compartment so small that I can barely get my dressage saddle through the door but he is much happier in it. Cynthia |
Moderator: DrO |
Posted on Saturday, Apr 4, 2009 - 9:09 am: Angela, it sounds like you are using the whip as a punishment instead of a learning tool. Stop thinking of this as "teaching a horse to load" as it is to "teaching a horse to move forward" when asked. Once the horse is 100% at that you can introduce the trailer even if it is 100 feet away.A noted equine behaviorist once said to me, owners use of anthropomorphism is one the greatest impediments they run into in training horses. It often leads to rewarding bad behavior and not asking for good behavior. We really don't know if horses feel claustrophobia, we know they will often fight excessive confinement but that is not the same thing. Horses don't really go crazy when faced with some object, but if they do not understand what is being asked, over-faced is a good term for this, they will resist and even fight. Rethink how you think about this problem and I think you will have more success. Remember the horse has to understand what you ask and this has to be shaped in small steps. If you are convinced the horse is afraid of the trailer, deal with that first. Moving the trailer into the pasture and feeding off the back end will quickly allay any fears the horse has. And as others have suggested above I too believe horses load better in a light well lit trailer with the partition removed. DrO |
Member: jjrichar |
Posted on Saturday, Apr 4, 2009 - 10:22 am: I agree completely with what Dr. O said. Have you ever watched Clinton Anderson on RFD TV? He has great methods for teaching horses to load into trailers. It involves teaching a horse to move forward, away from pressure (not punishment) like Dr. O mentioned above. The trailer just becomes a peripheral object that the horse accepts as part of his training. Anyhow, if you can catch an episode of that or order one of his DVDs there may be something in there that will help you.I think your trailer is probably plenty tall and wide enough. It's just different than what he's probably used to. I second (or third LOL) the idea of taking the partition out and opening up all the doors and windows to light it up as much as possible. With the partition out, you can walk up in there w him and lead him in. Once he's comfy with that then you can add the partition back. Also if you have another horse (or a friend's horse) that can load first, that may instill some confidence in him and encourage him to load. Good luck! |
Member: alden |
Posted on Saturday, Apr 4, 2009 - 6:34 pm: I agree with DrO and Jennifer that you need to rethink your approach to trailer training. I use a method very similar to Clinton Anderson. This method is very effective and all the horses I've train this way are great loaders for life.One point I disagree on is removing trailer parts. I would train with the trailer configured just like you'd normally be using it. If you change the trailer and train that way you may find your horse resistive when you return the trailer to it's original state. Good day, Alden |
Member: mitch316 |
Posted on Sunday, Apr 5, 2009 - 2:04 am: Angela, we recently got a new trailer, and my gelding hated it! It was the kind that you load on a ramp on the side, and then back the horse into its own little compartment. It is a really large trailer though; about 32 feet long. We solved the problem by placing a blindfold on him, taking him through it very slowly several times, and then took it off and had him do it several more, and now he loads like a champ. He is 11 years old, and has never given any problems loading. I have seen a whip used (but not hitting the horse, just popping it) and I found it to be counterproductive. If you teach a horse instead of forcing him, it really builds that trust up, and will be repaid the first time he has to do something really, really horrible, like after an injury, etc.When I said slow, I mean take 2-3 steps, stop, pet him along his neck and face and talk low, smooth, and calm. And tell him what you are doing each step...whether he understand or not is not the point, but it helps me not to move too fast. Anyway, not guaranteed to help, but it might. Dr. O's suggestion about feeding from a trailer worked for my Dad's quarter horse farm with a horse who had been involved in a car accident, and was completely terrified of a truck, or trailer. Good luck and let us know how you finally got him on. |
New Member: kdunn57 |
Posted on Monday, Jun 29, 2009 - 4:50 pm: I just had to reply to this. Our horses had not been trailered in years, they came to us in a trailer and then when we finally bought a trailer, it had been 3 years. We tried everything and my husband was getting frustrated. I spent some money and bought Clinton Anderson's DVD on trailering. It was well worth it. He shows you step by step, getting the horse used to the trailer. If then horse then refuses to go forward in the trailer, the horse has to do some work beside or behind the trailer, with the trailer being a quiet place. The horse eventually figures out that the trailer is the BEST place to be to stop working. It was amazing how well it worked for them! |