Caramac71
Well-Known Member
This weekend we have realised we are a bit out of our depth with my daughters horse.
Brief history, she's a 5 year old ID/Connie, has led a pretty sheltered life up til we got her 4 months ago. She has her quirks but in the first few weeks she was easy to load and travel. Only travelled short distances and tried our best to make every new experience a positive one. One day whilst travelling, probably about the 4th or 5th journey we'd done, she attempted to get over the breastbar. Scary experience for me and from that point onwards, until we could make the horsebox safe, we only travelled her with a companion. She remained easy to load and travelled quite happily with any other horse - although we did have one occasion where she was difficult to load on the way home and we have since realised she is much easier to load on hard standing and is less willing to load when on grass.
Roll on a few weeks, we had the box modified so the groom area is now filled in, and also put a window from cab. As we had changed things we spent a few days loading practising, feeding and praising her when she was on, then progressed to a couple of short journeys (as much as anything for me to get my confidence back).
Took her out on Saturday; she was reluctant to load and we realise in hindsight that we had given her an extra feed (with calmer) and a haynet an hour prior to loading so we'd kind of removed the food incentive. But she loaded in about 5 mins or so and journey was uneventful. She was quite stressed once at the venue, it was noisy and there was lots going on. Also her first experience in an indoor school. But she settled down once ridden and was all went well.
Could not get her to load to come back, must've taken at least 30 mins. We always let her take her time but it got to the point where we thought she was just taking the mickey and my daughter got more firm with her. This seemed to work and we travelled back ok.
Yesterday we were planning to go to a local dressage test. We have never attempted to take her anywhere 2 days in a row and I did wonder if it might all be a bit much for her. As we suspected, when it came to loading she wasn't having any of it. We withdrew from the dressage but knew we had to get her to load. Just wanted to get her loaded, feed and praise, and off again. No point in taking her anywhere. Eventually managed, after more than an hour of her standing on ramp and daughter sitting patiently in box. In the end I snuck round and got a lungeline behind her, which wasn't what I wanted to do as was hoping she'd load of her own accord. She stood on the box trembling, took a while to settle before she'd eat, but once she relaxed we got her off.
I guess we need to go back to basics again, but I'm really not sure what the problem is for her. Does she hate the actual travelling or is it the anticipation of where she's going that she cant cope with? She is definitely better with another horse onboard but as she is 15hh-ish and takes up a reasonable amount of the payload of our 3.5t, I dont really want to get into the situation of only travelling her with another as I am limited with what I can take.
She also has many other issues that need addressing at some stage. One is possibly linked to the travelling, as she has a fear of larger vehicles. And obviously whenever we take her to a new place there are several other horseboxes coming and going.
She has made huge progress in the short while we've had her, but she is the first horse we've owned (we have previously loaned ponies) and she is the first young horse we have had. We knew she wasn't going to be easy, she can be defensive and resistant if she doesnt understand what is being asked of her; I guess she's a typical feisty, opinionated mare! We have excellent support by way of our YO (who is currently on holiday) and various friends/instructors, some who understand her more than others.
Everyone tells us we are doing all the right things with loading but I'm thinking that now might be the time to enlist some professional help. I am wary about this though as she will not respond well to anyone that attempts to bully her into anything. We are in Kent and I'd really like to find someone who can work with her sympathetically and give us some guidance, firstly with loading issues but then also with traffic and other problems she has.
Does anyone have any suggestions? Despite her quirks, she is a lovely horse and I desperately want to get things right for her.
Brief history, she's a 5 year old ID/Connie, has led a pretty sheltered life up til we got her 4 months ago. She has her quirks but in the first few weeks she was easy to load and travel. Only travelled short distances and tried our best to make every new experience a positive one. One day whilst travelling, probably about the 4th or 5th journey we'd done, she attempted to get over the breastbar. Scary experience for me and from that point onwards, until we could make the horsebox safe, we only travelled her with a companion. She remained easy to load and travelled quite happily with any other horse - although we did have one occasion where she was difficult to load on the way home and we have since realised she is much easier to load on hard standing and is less willing to load when on grass.
Roll on a few weeks, we had the box modified so the groom area is now filled in, and also put a window from cab. As we had changed things we spent a few days loading practising, feeding and praising her when she was on, then progressed to a couple of short journeys (as much as anything for me to get my confidence back).
Took her out on Saturday; she was reluctant to load and we realise in hindsight that we had given her an extra feed (with calmer) and a haynet an hour prior to loading so we'd kind of removed the food incentive. But she loaded in about 5 mins or so and journey was uneventful. She was quite stressed once at the venue, it was noisy and there was lots going on. Also her first experience in an indoor school. But she settled down once ridden and was all went well.
Could not get her to load to come back, must've taken at least 30 mins. We always let her take her time but it got to the point where we thought she was just taking the mickey and my daughter got more firm with her. This seemed to work and we travelled back ok.
Yesterday we were planning to go to a local dressage test. We have never attempted to take her anywhere 2 days in a row and I did wonder if it might all be a bit much for her. As we suspected, when it came to loading she wasn't having any of it. We withdrew from the dressage but knew we had to get her to load. Just wanted to get her loaded, feed and praise, and off again. No point in taking her anywhere. Eventually managed, after more than an hour of her standing on ramp and daughter sitting patiently in box. In the end I snuck round and got a lungeline behind her, which wasn't what I wanted to do as was hoping she'd load of her own accord. She stood on the box trembling, took a while to settle before she'd eat, but once she relaxed we got her off.
I guess we need to go back to basics again, but I'm really not sure what the problem is for her. Does she hate the actual travelling or is it the anticipation of where she's going that she cant cope with? She is definitely better with another horse onboard but as she is 15hh-ish and takes up a reasonable amount of the payload of our 3.5t, I dont really want to get into the situation of only travelling her with another as I am limited with what I can take.
She also has many other issues that need addressing at some stage. One is possibly linked to the travelling, as she has a fear of larger vehicles. And obviously whenever we take her to a new place there are several other horseboxes coming and going.
She has made huge progress in the short while we've had her, but she is the first horse we've owned (we have previously loaned ponies) and she is the first young horse we have had. We knew she wasn't going to be easy, she can be defensive and resistant if she doesnt understand what is being asked of her; I guess she's a typical feisty, opinionated mare! We have excellent support by way of our YO (who is currently on holiday) and various friends/instructors, some who understand her more than others.
Everyone tells us we are doing all the right things with loading but I'm thinking that now might be the time to enlist some professional help. I am wary about this though as she will not respond well to anyone that attempts to bully her into anything. We are in Kent and I'd really like to find someone who can work with her sympathetically and give us some guidance, firstly with loading issues but then also with traffic and other problems she has.
Does anyone have any suggestions? Despite her quirks, she is a lovely horse and I desperately want to get things right for her.
.