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Discussion on Crowding while trailering | |
Author | Message |
Member: Heidim |
Posted on Friday, Aug 12, 2005 - 4:26 am: Hi again. Our "new" 13-year-old mule gets into the trailer okay, but then crowds the animal next to him. He really pushes hard! So far, I've just trailered two animals at once and so he gets the front and the other gets the back, but I'd like to be able to trailer four at once. We have a stock trailer, so it's difficult to create dividers between him and the other animal, although we could possibly do so with one long rope. Any thoughts? |
Member: Erika |
Posted on Friday, Aug 12, 2005 - 9:57 am: Hi Heidi,I had to laugh when I read your post because I was just explaining this to a friend the other day. When I was a kid, I rode with retired Army cavalry colonel. He had a three horse trailer where the horses loaded side by side like our traditional two horse trailers. He would put a horse on the side and tie a body rope snugly around the horse from the back, around the rump, to the front bar. (The back of the rope would be attached near the horse's butt on the side of the trailer so it didn't push him forward, but held him to the side wall of the trailer.)Then he would do the same with the horse on the other side. The last horse would self load, squeezing in between the other two. It seemed to work fine. The horses didn't mind being tied in at all, in fact they seemed to like the security. I don't know if something like that would work for you but it worked for him. |
Moderator: DrO |
Posted on Saturday, Aug 13, 2005 - 3:38 pm: We haul horses is an open stock trailer we are up to 6 at a time now so am familiar with the setup. I think you are going to have to experiment with the positioning to determine the best order but it strikes me if you put him in the middle he can't push both ways at once. If he crowds so that he prevents loading the rest, put him on last I don't see how pushing is going to hurt as long as he is tied good and short.DrO |
Member: Heidim |
Posted on Sunday, Aug 14, 2005 - 2:04 am: Colonel is stout built and pushes so hard that the other guy ends up scrambling to stay standing. He's downright aggressive about this behavior. What's more, I don't want my other mules to learn a bad habit and become "leaners" themselves. I'm tempted to saddle my most experienced mare, attach some kind of blunt object to Colonel's side of the saddle, and let him lean into it and learn through discomfort (much like carrying a short 2x4 sideways into a stall to keep a horse from crowding the handler). This might be a better way to go, as I'm not sure a rope would survive his leaning or really teach him anything. I'm open to other suggestions as well. |
Member: Kathleen |
Posted on Sunday, Aug 14, 2005 - 12:21 pm: Heidi,I don't know if this will help. My mare used to pick on an older horse and corner him and generally harass him. We rode together on the trail,and I started carrying a very thin pliable branch/switch and inevitably she would try the same things on the trail, just not so aggressive. Every time she got close to him I just tapped (not abusively) her on a part of her body that was close to him, without her seeing it. It actually worked. After a while, she would walk toward him and you could just see the thought process, and she left him alone. She didn't get upset, just decided it wasn't worth it. She also quit harassing him in the pasture. When I started doing it, I was not very optimistic, but she is a very sensitive Arab and didn't like the discomfort, and may have thought the discomfort came from the other horse (at least that was my thought when I started doing it). Kathleen |
Member: Heidim |
Posted on Sunday, Aug 14, 2005 - 1:58 pm: Dr. O, I've never thought of placing three animals abreast in our stock trailer, but after trailering to a ride yesterday, I see that there's room for just that. Colonel may still lean but he wouldn't have as much room to brace himself, so the impact would be less to the "victim." Kathleen, I may have to rework your idea for the trailer if this other approach doesn't work. I'd sure like to cure him of this habit and so would my other mules! |