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HorseAdvice.com » Training, Behavior, & Conditioning Horses » Behavior and Training » Trailer Loading a Horse » Unloading Questions » |
Discussion on Unloading from trailer | |
Author | Message |
New Member: Sachel |
Posted on Sunday, Dec 22, 2002 - 10:15 pm: My problem is I cannot get my horse to back out of the trailer. I have a 1-1/2 year old quarter horse. I have a sooner, 3 horse slant tailer. I can get my horse into the trailer, with the interior dividers open. She will turn around to come out of the trailer, but refuses to back out. She leads great forward and backs really well on the ground. I have had some help trying to get her to back out but she simply will not. Once she reared in the trailer, then got excited and slipped and fell, but had to trun around to get out. I bought this horse when she was about 1 year old and do not know if she had been put in a bad situation before or not. When I brought her home I used a 4- star stock trailer, and that is fine to turn around in and walk out.Can anyone tell me how to fix this? |
Member: Sachel |
Posted on Sunday, Dec 22, 2002 - 10:40 pm: I forgot to say that i have had her two front feet in and then backed her out. She does fine with that, |
Member: Hwood |
Posted on Sunday, Dec 22, 2002 - 10:49 pm: Michael,I think the only cure for this is time, patience and practice. The two feet in and backing out is great. How 'bout three feet in? You probably know not to ever rush it . . . . . Even if she leans back, release the pressure on her and praise her, lots. She will figure it out if you can give it the time and consistency and wait it out with her. You might try practicing in a narrow stall situation . . . . or rig up something that is like a trailer just for practice. Holly |
Moderator: DrO |
Posted on Monday, Dec 23, 2002 - 10:24 am: Holly is right, by starting at the position you now can back him from and using patience he can relearn to backup. Remember not to reward or even punish undesired behavior, but any indication of going back gets a reward. A teaspoon of grain from a bucket may be better than praise. Whether you are succesful or not has nothing to with the procedure but your ability to reward correctly. For a more thorough explanation see » Training Horses » Training the Mind of Your Horse » Modifying a Horses Behavior: Conditioned Responses.DrO |
Member: Sachel |
Posted on Friday, Jan 3, 2003 - 2:49 pm: Thank you all for your help. I have not got the problem fixed yet, but i've got the time and patience.Mike |
Member: Mrenee |
Posted on Monday, Feb 3, 2003 - 9:37 am: I have had horses with this problem and we fixed it in one session.I simply ask the horse to walk one step into trailer (not all the way in), praise, and back off the trailer. Do this again. One step in, back off. Do this as many times as you feel you need to. Then ask the horse to move forward one more step than before, (2 steps into trailer) praise, and back off. Repeat this until you feel the horse is comfortable and add another step in. Now three steps into trailer. Back off. Keep doing this until the horse will walk all the way in the trailer and back out. It works. The trick is in the timing, and knowing when to move forward and add a step. Caution: I would do this in one session, not several, so make sure when you start you have several hours to follow thru with the training. Hope this helps! |