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HorseAdvice.com » Training, Behavior, & Conditioning Horses » Behavior and Training » Trailer Loading a Horse » Unloading Questions » |
Discussion on Bolting out of trailer | |
Author | Message |
Member: justy |
Posted on Friday, Dec 17, 2010 - 1:04 am: Hi All,I have read most of the unloading from a trailer discussions which have very good suggestions, but they all are from the owners of the horse. I have been trailering a friends horse every 5 weeks for the last three months to a veterinary clinic which is 2 hours one way. I have a straight load, two horse trailer with a ramp.. I am considered a cautious and considerate driver and trailer other people's horses as well as my own very regularly. The first two trips were uneventful. Horse loaded and unloaded just fine. On this last trip, the horse needed to be mildly sedated for the therapeutic shoeing that needed to be done and it was recommended that we not feed him on the trailer ride home. When we arrived at the barn, the horse was very agitated and began pushing against the butt bar and jumping up and down in the trailer. He would push against the chest bar and then sit on the butt bar. I did not feel it was safe to lower the ramp with all the jumping around, and the owner was at the horses head standing in the escape door trying to calm him down. He finally settled down to where I felt comfortable lowering the ramp, but he got more frantic to get out and I felt very unsafe approaching him from the rear to undo the butt bar.. (He KICKS) The second the butt bar was unhooked, he hurled himself backward out of the trailer. I was OK, he was OK, but the owner sustained an injured finger. Could the wearing off of the mild sedation while being trailered trigger a behavior like this? He didn't have any hay to distract him on the ride home, so we wondered if that had anything to do with this. He is not my horse, so I cannot do any trailer training and the owner doesn't have the time to work with him. I am concerned that we are looking at the beginning of a bad habit. Any suggestions on how to handle a horse that is freaking out in the trailer in an effort to get out? I am supposed to trailer him a couple more times and I am feeling a bit uneasy... Thanks for your thoughts.. Debra } |
Member: canter |
Posted on Friday, Dec 17, 2010 - 7:11 am: Debra,My guess is the horse is starting to associate the trailer and the ride with the unpleasantness of whatever he has to go through at the clinic (you don't mention what he's being treated for, but even if he isn't being poked & prodded by the vets, he's still away from home). If you think this may be the case, perhaps a couple of very brief trailer rides, with hay and treats, will help him disassociate the ride with just a long journey to the clinic and whatever awaits him at that end. Good luck and stay safe. |
Member: canter |
Posted on Friday, Dec 17, 2010 - 7:14 am: oops - I just re-read your post more carefully and it appears that he goes for therapeutic shoeing, not the worst of fates for a horse at a clinic. So perhaps I am way off base in my suggestion. Sorry about that. |
Member: scooter |
Posted on Friday, Dec 17, 2010 - 7:44 am: If this was the first time he did it I would give him the benefit of the doubt. If he does it again then I would consider it a problem. It was special circumstances, some horses can get agitated during/after sedation, he didn't have his hay ect.If he has to be sedated again I would wait until he was not "under the influence" and trailer as normal, with hay ect. Why does he have to be sedated for therapeutic shoeing? |
Member: gramsey1 |
Posted on Friday, Dec 17, 2010 - 8:34 am: I think I would have tried to calm the horse and reload him. Unload and reload until he was relaxed about the trailer again.You will have the same opportunity on the next trip. See if you can start an hour early. If you start a training session like you have 20 minutes it will take two hours. If you start like you have all day, it will take 10 minutes. |
Member: cheryl |
Posted on Friday, Dec 17, 2010 - 10:38 am: If the horse had to be sedated to be re-shod - he was hurting - add the hurting to being all drugged up - the trailer ride could have been absolute torture to him - The next time you take him - I would allocate some time to work with him just going into and out of the trailer - and if he has been re-shod three or four times - the pain issues shouldn't be there by now - If they are - I would be questioning what they are doing that they shouldn't be doing. I know this isn't your horse - but if my horse had been getting treatment for this long and was still in pain - I would be questioning the methods and treatment plan. Hope you can get it resolved without any more bad experiences for the horse. |
Moderator: DrO |
Posted on Saturday, Dec 18, 2010 - 10:00 am: Hello Debra,Next time I would not let the horse out of the trailer until he has completely calmed down. While he was acting up I would completely ignore the behavior, then at each step of the unloading procedure he gets himself re-upset, you ignore it until he calms back down. I would avoid trying to calm him down with food as it just rewards the bad behavior. Cheryl I disagree that the post is indicative of a horse in torturous pain. There are some horses that behave this way out of fear or excitement, and these are most often related to training problems. DrO |
Member: lilo |
Posted on Saturday, Dec 18, 2010 - 10:36 am: I think the gist of most messages is training until unloading is just routine. I see from your post, Debra, that the owner "does not have time" to do the training. That seems irresponsible to me, since you are the one that might be in harms way.Unfortunately, I have lots of experience with this behavior with my mare, Moonlight. Not to long ago, I did trailer loading practice with her as a refresher, at home. I loaded and unloaded her several times, and she unloaded calmly every time. Yet I know that in a different situation I may have problems again, especially if I trailer with her stable mate. He is the smaller horse, therefore rides in back and has to unload first. I have a slant load. When he is unloaded, the mare gets agitated and can't wait to get out. I usually take him to the window side and tie him so she can see him - but still, the minute I open the divider, she comes barreling out. All I can think of is to take both horses to the arena for a day, and practice loading and unloading there. At home things usually go much easier, so somehow you have to take them out of their comfort zone and see what you can accomplish. Lilo |
Member: justy |
Posted on Saturday, Dec 18, 2010 - 3:35 pm: Thank you all for your thoughts and comments..There is definitely an associative aspect to all of this... the horse has a history of getting very antsy when the shipping boots come out and he gets those put on.. I can usually distract him by feeding baby carrots which is what the owner wants me to do to keep him "still" while she is down around his legs. (I don't feed either of my two boys when wrapping) The only time he gets on a trailer nowadays is when he goes to the vet clinic. He has a resected hoof from white line disease and needs special shoeing to support the hoof. On the second visit to the clinic, he was left for five days to have an MRI of his front feet and an IRAP procedure to his coffin bone area on one of his feet. I am sure that was a stressful time and he is associating the trailer with all of this travel to a place that is not fun. I am concerned about the safety of all three of us..The owner is not very good at handling this big boy and I am not interested in stepping in and taking over. I definitely agree that he needs to be loaded and unloaded at the barn several times before we take off for the next appointment. I am happy to leave my rig hooked up and let the owner have access to work with him. I will speak to her about my concern for the next trip and urge her to make the time to work with this boy. I am going to bet that getting off the trailer at home is our most dicey part of the trip...At the clinic he seems content to stay on the trailer and eat hay. Home means hay, stall and happy place and he is letting us know he is done with the day!!! I just feel so vulnerable when this big guy starts flinging himself around in the trailer.. I understand what you are suggesting Dr O, about letting him calm down before unloading.. I am concerned that he will get so nuts that he will fall down or get stuck under a divider or something... Should we not keep him attached to the trailer tie at his head when we load him? It is easy enough to open the escape door and attach the lead rope. I am concerned that with the way he flings his head, whoever is trying to attach the lead rope may get whacked. PS- the day he was shod, the clinic was installing solar panels and the sound of five guys dragging miles of electrical line on top of a metal roof where the horses were getting evaluated was unnerving to many of them.. there were also sheep running in a field across the road which was a source of anxiety to this guy . Hence the sedation during shoeing. Rough day for all of us!! Debra |
Member: canter |
Posted on Saturday, Dec 18, 2010 - 4:27 pm: Debra, if the owner is not interested in working with him, then if you haven't already, suggest she hire a professional. This is not a safe situation for anyone involved. You are being a generous friend, helping out, but the owner needs to take responsibility for her horse's actions. If she's not willing to work with him or hire someone to do so, you may want to step out of the equation before your trailer gets damaged, or worse, before you get hurt. Your friend, as a horse owner, should understand the risk to you and of course to herself and her horse. Perhaps it's time to hire a professional hauler, if she doesn't want to work on the horse's training. You shouldn't have to be witness to a potential train wreck - hopefully your friend will understand that. |
Member: rtrotter |
Posted on Saturday, Dec 18, 2010 - 6:51 pm: Hi Debra,First off, I am not at all sure this is a training issue although I would make sure before your next long trip that he is a willing participant and load and unload him and take him for a ride. My reasons for saying this come from your post where 1. He had been sedated. and 2. He had no hay to eat. I have had two experiences one with each of these situations. The first was with the sedation. I gelded my 2 year old in February this year and he was semi- recovered from the sedation and I decided that it would be a good time to clip his bridle path since he was still pretty sleepy, needless to say he went bonkers, I never saw a horse wake up that fast so quickly. The clip job had to wait for another day. I really thought I would have a hard time clipping him the next time I tried but he stood there like a trooper and did not move a muscle. The second experience was with my race mare. When she ships to the races, you would never know you were trailering a horse, she is such a good shipper. However on the way home she is a crazy lunatic and I have had to stop numerous times to make sure she's ok. She had a choke episode on the trailer when she was three, so I stopped giving her hay on the way home from the races. I did not put two and two together until a few weeks ago, when I suggested we ship her home with a hay bag and water down the hay. Worked like a charm, she rode home the best she has in years. So, I think you may have had a combination problem due to the sedation and the no hay and as long as that situation does not happen, you should be ok. I would however, get some sort of agreement written up for your protection as well as hers as far as liability goes because if you were to be in an accident and her horse or your friend gets hurt, she can quickly become a not so good friend and visa versa if her horse were to injure you you really have no recourse to deal with it. That's why commercial shippers pay high insurance rates. Its for those just in case situations that you think will never happen. Rachelle |
Member: dsibley |
Posted on Saturday, Dec 18, 2010 - 6:55 pm: I couldn't agree more, Fran! I am at my limit with 'favors' which end up damaging my property and/or putting me in harms' way. I have eleven horses, plus boarders, that depend on me being healthy, and don't need or want someone elses' train wreck to cause potential irreparable damage or injury. Nothing against friendship, but someone who hasn't the time to work on a training issue does not have the time to have a horse. Just saying...Perhaps a diplomatic way to resolve the issue is to suggest a 'test run'. Agree to load the horse, drive around, give him plenty of hay, etc. If no issues, then do the planned trip. If there is a problem, then your friend might want to consider hiring the aforementioned professional. I always remind my 'friends' that I got a great deal on my trailer, and although it is insured, I simply can't replace it for what I paid for it. Also, with a boarding stable, and eleven horses of my own, I can't afford to be without a trailer. Good luck! |