Can I hear your loading success stories please

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gable

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My horse loads fine if there is another horse already on the waggon. He travels fine if not alone. But when I take his mate off the waggon, he gets stressed to the point I worry he will injure himself.

Ideally, I need him to stand alone in the waggon as my friend I travel with is in a different dressage class to me so he will have to be alone for some time while I read for her.

I'm doing the common sense thing - loading him, leaving him, praising him when he stands still - but I'm not getting anywhere.
 
Oh gosh, Ned doesn't load at ALL! We got quite far with him, he would stand while I closed the front door. However, my "friend" once came with me, insisted I was doing it wrong, snatched his rope from me and told me to go and close the door. He panicked and so did she. That one incident put him back to the beginning. Since then he's been awful every time, he even smashed the reversing light!
I haven't had the chance to start again, but hopefully I'll succeed this time!!

Good luck to you! Sorry I can't suggest anything.
 
My horse is clostrephobic he never loaded in the trailer I bought a Ifor williams 510 and tried everything under the sun for 2 years . Bought a lorry and he went right in first day and never looked back. I do like the idea of a mirror in there would be great for my youngster.
 
I'm starting to think my horse is just cross as his friend has got off the waggon - don't know if I should be firm with him or reasure him - don't want to praise him for his behaviour
 
Leave with haynet to occupy perhaps? Mirror? Take a spare friend to watch your horse for you and tie up outside the lorry instead of leaving on it? Load up at home for dinner each night and shut partition while eating?

When you train dogs to be left alone, the key is to come back BEFORE the animals starts to stress. So literally half a second at first, then longer, then longer.

I always have a spare person with us, so they all unload or stand on with hay, and there is company in the form of a spare human.
 
When i first got my horse I was told he wouldnt load into a trailer but would quite happily load and travel in a lorry which we were lucky that we had a lorry so never had to bother. He would literally trot up the ramp, tie himself up and tell you to hurry up and shut the door so we could go somewhere new and exciting!
After contacting old owners to find out about his past one of the owners mentioned he had an acccident in a trailer when he was going away to a show with another horse they took the other horse out to go do her showing class and left him left tied in the trailer as they usally did. In the car park however there was some sort of accident and he panicked, became stuck between the partion and side of the trailer (luckily no major injuries occured) and thus his fear of trailers or being left alone in one came about.
Before I sold him to a family we were friends with there only transport was a trailer so i worked with him. We started by feeding him on the ramp and slowy getting him to walk through the trailer then stop and slowly introduced the partion over beside him, the front bar and eventually the back bar. This was all done with patience (my stubborness outwearing his) and reassurance with no pressure or stress added to him. We managed to get him into the trailer and secured up by himself and then did this for a few days before taking him a small journey literally down the road and lead him back, all just to show him that everything was ok and you could travel alone in a trailer and not be eaten by monsters! We slowly increased the length of the journey and now he is in his new home and bar the odd objection to going in he now travels alone or in company in a trailer.

Good luck and my tip is just have time and patience (and a few bags of carrots!)
 
IMO trailers/lorries is the most dangerous thing we do with horses!
And taking advice from 'expert' bystanders is the second!
I was doing fine with my warmblood,'til an 'expert' came along. She claimed to be a pro trianer.She insisted on showing me how to load my horse. I said it was not safe,because the trailer was not hitched to a vehicle. She told me not to worry...........So my lovely young horse,who had been in a hitched trailer and out,no problem,was lead through and as he was being lead out of the open front the trailer tipped up and spooked him badly.
On another occasion when I was patiently waiting for him to load,the local vet rolled up to the yard and advised me to 'stick a hosepipe up his ar$e and turn on the tap'..........works every time apparently.

If your horse enjoys his grub,could you feed him in the trailer every day?.....I am offering advice.....Ho Hum..........:rolleyes:
 
My horse flipped in the trailer on the day we picked him up. It has taken 6 months to get him loading again but he now hops up onto the lorry happily. The standing/tying up/closing in procedure is a bit hairy but if you have good padded/lined walls and strong solid floor and partitions, what is the worst that can happen if you just let him get on with it?? My horse bounces off his front feet and smacks his head on the roof, but he doesnt ever do it more than once! He will paw out at the wall but once he realises that he cant climb his way out, he will stand. IMO he needs to learn that that behaviour doesnt create an escape route, he is booted up but I refuse to put a poll guard on because I hope it does hurt!! I might sound harsh but I want the problem to go away, I dont want to have to deal with it for years to come. Granted he has always travelled alone in the last few weeks and will be better with another I am sure, but I dont want to have to take another horse everytime.
 
what about positive association, so hitch up trailer (not going anywhere - a good friend and horse will be needed to help all day or for a few days as needed) then everytime your friend takes their horse off, your horse gets something nice to occupy himself for a bit? Whatever motivates him most, haynet/bucket/swede - whatever - then round your friend comes and reloads again and do it all day making the time she takes to come back on longer?

Just a musing from me, I'm no pro (anything but) but first trick I'd say is to remove ulterior motive (not go anywhere!) and then slowly build up his resistance to how long the other horse is away from the trailer?
 
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