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Discussion on Difficulty loading | |
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Posted on Sunday, May 20, 2001 - 6:49 pm: Hello all, I have an 8-yo warmblood gelding who will not load into a trailer. I have had him for 1.5 years and he was very green when I bought him. He is fine riding, driving, tacking up, leading, etc. but will not load. My trainer, other horse people at the barn and some old "cowboy" hands have all given suggestions but we have found nothing that works. Hank was trailered home when I bought him, trailered to 2 trail rides in the last month and we have had numerous training sessions getting him in and out of the trailer. Each event was difficult but it seemed to be getting better. Yet today we attempted to go to our first show and missed it because we spent 3.5 hours getting him on the trailer!We have tried everything we know to no avail. We have used a whip to gently tap his behind to urge him forward; we have used food/treats as a reward; we have used two people, one on each side to walk him into the trailer; we have used a butt line to coax him forward into the trailer; we have put blinders on him. At first we thought it was simply fear of the noise the trailer makes and we did work with him over a sheet of plywood in the field and he now will walk/trot/canter over the wood without looking at it. Luckily We have several trailers available to us and have tried a slant-load stock trailer, a straight load, step up and ramp. Nothing seems to make a difference. The only thing we haven't tried is tranquilizing him before loading - not my preference but at this point, anything is worth a shot. We are very frustrated and would appreciate any ideas anyone has that might help. I will be glad to supply additional information if that is necessary. Thanks in advance, Leah |
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Posted on Monday, May 21, 2001 - 5:46 am: What happens when you tap him on the butt to ask him to go forward?DrO |
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Posted on Monday, May 21, 2001 - 8:11 am: Dr. O, When tapped on the butt he will dance sideways or if he really feels he has no out, he will rear. His typical response to any fearful, unknown or uncomfortable situation is to back away; if that is not an option (tapping with whip, butt line) he will go up. This is the only situation where he has ever reared.thanks, Leah |
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Posted on Tuesday, May 22, 2001 - 6:34 am: Hello Leah,I presume you have read the article on training them to load. If the horse uses rearing as his resistance to move forward into the trailer you must correct this. The Horseman's Advisor: Training Horses: Training the Mind of Your Horse: Halter Training and Tieing Horses explains how to do this. However Leah, if you find that the horse seems to be becoming less relaxed and more confused this might best be done by a more experienced hand. DrO |
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Posted on Tuesday, May 22, 2001 - 11:00 am: leah, boy do i understand your frustration.. i too have a warmblood mare that would not load... when i bought her it took 3 folks to load her and putting the trailer in the barn door, i believed at that time experience would be the key to her willingness HA!~ i tried the tapping on the butt, the zig/zag in front of the ramp, making it uncomfortable outside the trailer, and my mare like yours would get light on the front, *which she never does on other occasions.... this mare you can't fight/bully.. so me asking a local cowboy to do HIS thing i know would not work and would most likely make her worse... so what i did was i hooked up my trailer EVERYDAY... *yuck*.. and each day had a baby lesson, the first week, it was just putting one hoof on the ramp, then going to her stall for treats, the next week two hoofs.. stall treats.. the 3rd week all four but i did not close the door, stall treats... 4th week she got her treats in the trailer.. she would go in without lead line eat and come out when SHE was ready... 5th week.. send her in, close the door, feed her treats in there, and out...i have trailered out for two lessons now and have gotten her in no problem both times... i still hook up the trailer mid week one a day *yuck*.. to reinforce what she has learned and to mix it up some .. sometimes i go in, i go somewhere, sometimes i go in i eat i come out... this took tons of patience but there was not one fight... good luck as there is nothing worse then having a nice horse that you can't take anywhere.. |
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Posted on Tuesday, May 22, 2001 - 12:18 pm: Hi,My Arab had never been trailer before I bought him. We tranquilzed him for his trip home. I now am working to get him to load on his own. I started by parking the trailer in the paddock and having my pony load. I was satisfied with Dante just sniffing inside. He did take a step in on his own. I then used "clicker" reinforcement. We only need two sessions now he almost loads himself. I have to step in one step on the other stall and away he goes. I also used a target for him to hold on once inside and that puts him at ease. The target is part of our clicker training. I believe Dr. O has an article that discusses positive reinforcement."You can train your horse to do anything" by Shawna and Vinton Karrasch Is a great book on clicker and target training. They have a web site https://on-target-training.com Once your horse understands the click means that's the behavior you want it is amazing what they will do willingly! I use it riding on trails for going through water or by something scarey. It has made the trailer transition faster and fight free. Kim |
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Posted on Monday, May 28, 2001 - 1:55 pm: After discussing this with several horsepeople and other trainers, looking at John Lyons video on loading, and reading the article on leading on this site, we've decided to step back, do some round pen work on leading and then tackle trailering again. Although that means we won't be doing any showing soon we believe we are doing more harm than good in the current situation. The pulling away and running free that occurred in the attempt to load has shown up three times in the last week in different settings. This guy is smart and he remembers. I sometimes wish he weren't quite as smart. On the good side, we are getting absolutely gorgeous rides with him. So until we've done some more basic work, thanks for all the input and suggestions. I'll keep you posted.Thanks, Leah |
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Posted on Tuesday, May 29, 2001 - 6:58 am: Excellent Leah,Sounds like a great idea. DrO |
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Posted on Monday, Jun 25, 2001 - 9:34 am: Success at last. On Saturday, a friend of my trainer, who also trains, was in town and had a go at getting Hank on the trailer. He was walking on and off calmly, standing calmly and waiting to be tied or backed off within an hour. What a difference! The method the trainer used was very similar to what we had seen in the Lyons video. I repeated the lesson on Sunday and Hank went on the trailer perfectly first time (and second, third, fouth - I believe in reinforcing a good thing). I believe the biggest difference with this trainer as compared to my trainer and myself is his calm, quiet manner. He never became upset or angry and never forced Hank, just insisted on forward movement when asked, however small. Funny how all those things we read and hear really do work, if we just listen closely enough and follow through.Happy riding to all. Leah |
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Posted on Tuesday, Jun 26, 2001 - 6:26 am: Congrats BL,This is a common story, no matter how often you explain a training ploy the "trick" is in the details and one of the biggest details often over looked is attitude. DrO |
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