Argh loading help needed

wellsat

wellsat

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Tried loading G into a trailer for the first time last Sunday, took alot of tries but eventually he was going in calmly and happily, we took him for a drive round the block and he came on and off beautifully.

Couldn't try him again during the week as I only see him in the dark and don't think loading inthe dark would help a trailer phobic horse.

Decided to have another practice this morning and we were back to being stressy and awkward. He loads fine but he doesn't like staying in there, he wants to shoot out forwards or backwards.

Any tips for getting him to relax in the trailer? We're thinking of trying him with his friend but don't want to upset him if G starts thrashing around.
 
im not sure if its the right thing to do but it works for us. if we have a tricky loader, we take everything out of the trailer (partitions ect) and undo all the ramps and feed them on there. our horses pull to get on there now and travel fine.
 
Just repeat repeat repeat until it becomes boring and normal. He'll get used to it. Agree with feeding in there and also do lots of ground work so he is respectful of you and you can move him around easily and he's not going to get bargy in the trailer.
 
Thanks, have popped the trailer into the isolation paddock and am going back down in a bit to spend some time working on his ground work and being around the trailer without getting stressy. I'm going to try putting some bubble wrap around the breaching bars as well so that they dont bang when I undo them.
 
Thanks everyone for the encouragement. Took him in tonight and he was much better. He's now loading beautifully and standing quite calmly, the only problem we had was when the front door was opened he got really excited and is still trying to bash his way out. If the worst comes to the worst I think we may have to unload backwards at shows for a while.
 
When I teach babies to load, I also teach them to unload quietly and calmly. Just takes a pocket full of nuts! I give them one handful before I drop the breast bar, then use voice commands to 'whoa' - and reward with some more nuts - at least twice before we get back to ground. After a couple of goes, they will stop half way down the ramp and wait for their handful of nuts - then the command to 'walk on'!

Obviously once they're confident and happy, a pat is a suitable substitute for the handful of nuts!
 
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