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HorseAdvice.com » Training, Behavior, & Conditioning Horses » Behavior and Training » Trailer Loading a Horse » Loading Questions » |
Discussion on Loading by yourself. | |
Author | Message |
New Member: Jlbr |
Posted on Thursday, Feb 24, 2005 - 4:56 pm: Hi everyone, i'm new to the whole advisor thing and my mom usually reads all of this and then passes all the information to me, but i am having trailering issues so i decided to read some of your guy's problems but i haven't found one quite like mine yet so i decided to post it!I have a 16 hand 4 year old paint that i purchased last year. He had never been trailered before and the first few times we trailered him he did awsome, except when it came to coming out of the trailer, he didn't want to come out. but he got over that really fast. Mind you both times he was in a slant load. In the middle of last summer he changed his mind though and became very hard to load, bolting and doing whatever he could not to step foot in the trailer. We did all the homework and he started loading just fine. My problem is that i had to move him back home (i had him boarded and was hauling with my trainer) and we only have a two horse straight load. I worked with him alot though by lounging him right outside the trailer and then if he loaded he gets to rest and this works great for him. He has loaded just fine, BUT i walk in next to him and my mom shuts the door behind. Every now and then he pitches a fit and decides not to go in but give me 15 mins. of doing this and he is loaded. Now that show season is coming again I am not going to have my mom there to help me load. I have been trying to work with him and actually got him to load once by myself. The problem is that he wants to walk out with me or gets nervous when i walk away to shut the door and bolts out. With my other two horses I had no problems teaching them to send right in, but he is more bold headed then them. I trailer very carfully so they don't have bad experiences and i am very slow with the trailer. He walks right in but if i don't go in with him he won't have anything to do with it and bolts. Any body have any ideas on how to send your horse in the trailer when your by yourself? |
Member: Christos |
Posted on Thursday, Feb 24, 2005 - 5:41 pm: Hi, Jody,There's an excellent article at: Horse training >> Training your horse's mind >> Trailer loading a horse. |
Member: Jojo15 |
Posted on Thursday, Feb 24, 2005 - 9:25 pm: I have a 16 hand Tb, that i used to be terrified to load. I also have a TB size trailer. Step up. Straight load. have you made sure your trailer fits his size? I know many horses who just won't load in something so small. and who can blame them. My trailer also wasn't the best color. Bright red. And that causes problems with some horses. It looks black to them.Where is the emergency door? And when you load are stepping into the stall next to his? or in his? If you have a newer trailer with the butt bar in the front and then one in the back. Somehow try to move your self into the other stall and just pet him slowly down his butt. Letting him think you aren't leaving. and work on that. then you can slowly move to his rear and get that butt bar up. and then you walk out the back and shut his side of the door. Go back in and make sure he is behaving then tie him.... I gotta hand it to you for doing this on your own. I still don't like trailering my TB. When she went to pasture i hired a hauler... I'm a wimp. jojo |
Member: Alden |
Posted on Sunday, Feb 27, 2005 - 10:21 am: Jody,I've had good results with letting them rest in the trailer and work outside it. When you load and let him rest are you outside or inside the trailer? If you're not outside then do that and always let him back out if he needs to, the worst thing you can do is make him feel trapped. And when I let them rest, I don't do anything with them. No touching, talking, nothing. Some horses can handle a touch when in the trailer, others it is a major step and this needs to be broken down to one little step at a time. I'd venture a good bet that when the previous owners trailered him it went like this; stuff him in, slam, latch and hit the gas. At first I read it as he is a 16 year old, I see now he is only four. This is good, it shouldn't take as long to correct. I've taught some tough loaders and I've seen the looks on peoples faces when I back them right out after an hour to get them inside; most people think I've completely lost my marbles. But I found if I can load 5-6 times in a row that most the problems are gone. I will say that I react differently to 'throwing a fit' and 'panic', once I have a horse loading quietly and I can close the doors without panic, I let them work through fits in the trailer. In other words I don't let them out just because of a little dancing or pawing, that gets them more time inside, not less. It is a fine line that you have to read just right. Good day, Alden |
Member: Jlbr |
Posted on Sunday, Feb 27, 2005 - 8:15 pm: Thanks so much for your advice. JoJo, right now i am doing exactly what you are saying, i go in with him in the other stall. My excape door is on his side but sometimes its more of a pain trying to jump out of that. As for my trailer, i understand what your saying by trailers being to small, but it is plenty big enough. It has the extra high ceiling and the stall has tons of room for his sides. We got this one because my previous horse was also big so we needed a bigger trailer. Thank you also Alden. Actually Cj was never trailered before i got him. But i had someone haul him for me the first couple of times (my ex-trainer) and he picked up some really weird habits after the first couple times. Other then that hes perfectly fine and then just one day decides he doesn't want to do it anymore. He is getting much better though. I let him rest inside the trailer and i just stand in there with him and let him leave whenever he wants to. But if he stands in there for along time then i make him back out. I try to make him back when i want him to back out as much as i can so its like i'm telling him too. For anyone who is wondering why i have to do this by myself its because i'm almost 20 and my parents dont' really want to keep helping me haul to horse shows. I've been hauling by myself since i was 17, but this is the first time i had a horse that didn't load by himself and i just wanted to see if anybody had any other ideas then what i was already doing. Thank you so much for your thoughts though, i will definatly keep them in mind. |
Member: Imogen |
Posted on Monday, Feb 28, 2005 - 8:04 am: I have a method of doing this which I did post on this forum. It's probably in the discussions at the bottom of the article that Christos mentions but it is for European ramp load trailers though I don't see why it wouldn't work for step up trailers.All the best Imogen |