Help!pony self loads at home but refuses to go in anywhere else.

[Spottyappy]

Any help,ideas or suggestions please. My daughter was given an unbacked 9 yr old nf pony late last yr. The mare is now baced,going nicely and experiencing life outside a field. She is hacked,pony clubbed and competes. She will literally self load into our 7.5t lorry at home. However,away from home,even just hacking, she will not load. She gets " a fixed look" about her and will not even look at the ramp!
She usually steps on the ramp then goes off to one side. We have moved the lorry so she can't go off the ramp and with a lunge rope under her quarters, we can then usually "pull" her in. Have tried an easy loader,food,companion etc but nothing makes any diiference. Being nice and patiently sitting at bottom of ramp also achieves nothing except time wasting!
Pony is slightly nervous travelling but doesn't sweat up and I am careful to drive steadily etc. Which also gives us query over why she will take herself in the box at home,but not even go in easily when out.
At the end of the day,we want to be able to enjoy whatever activity we do and not face a battle to load.
Any help appreciated.

 

[jendie]

She doesn't want to leave home!! Some horses only ever go into a trailor when they change homes and I'm sure this has an effect. My mare will load easily enough but sweats up terribly within a couple of miles, it always makes me feel sad. She is with us for life so has nothing to worry about.

Some of the 'natural horse' training people are good with this problem. I'd google to find a local trainer.

 

[Spottyappy]

Thx. We had considered this, but she has only had 3 owners inc her breeder. She was at her last home over 5 yrs and never left the feld.

althou I do think she ' thinks' alot more,being an older mare suddenly in work! As she loads at home,we also wondered if she loves being used so much,she just doesn't want to come home for fear we'll leave her doing nothing again!

 

[suestowford]

I would suggest that your pony may lack confidence. She is probably happy to load at home because it is a familiar place and feels comfortable, but away from home she may be feeling insecure.
We did have a horse like that here once, and found that the more we loaded him up and took him to places, the better he got at loading up to come home. So maybe just persistence is the key here.
Good luck.

 

[idx]

HI

If it is the case she loads at home, you drive her somewhere then she refuses to go in for the homeward bound journey then I think you may need to look at how she is travelling and whether you can make her more comfortable by adjusting the partitions.

As others have said try to get some help as not loading is an irritating issue!

idx

 

[Pedantic]

After loading pretty much ok for years, my pony decided he wasn't going in anymore, it wasn't fear or confined space etc etc, he just learnt that if he didn't want to I couldn't make him, I put it down to him not wanting to leave the mares in his field, after nearly falling over and hurting his shoulder, pulling a shoe off on the ramp, dragging me across the yard numerous times, getting away and running around the fields, I tried all the softly softly stuff and spent hours etc, I reluctantly used a chifney after being shown how to use it, once he knew he wasn't going to win, he now loads again ok without a fight, I really didn't want to go down the chifney route, but as we were both getting injuries from loading fights, it had to be, but it works, I hadn't used one before, so I got our experienced YO to show me how to use it.

 

[Spottyappy]

Thx for all the ideas.
We have tried a parelli style headcollar, and again will load at home but not out. Haven,t tried a chifney though, so thats certainly worth trying. We have tried moving partitions as much as you can, but narrower or wider has made no difference.
Thx,keep them coming!

 

[Pedantic]

Make sure you get someone experienced to show you how to fit and use the chifney

 

[dafthoss]

Another who has had sucess with a chiffney, he knows you have got him in it so dosent fight now. I started off with a rope halter but he learned he could ignore that and then all the other methods you could think of just made him angry so he through him self round but a session with the chiffney and a schooling whip and he is a reformed pony, I still load in the chiffney but without the whip these days. A lot of people I know have had inexpiereanced ponies not want to go home but they have all got better with expiereance.

 

[Pale Rider]

If I were you I would forget about worrying what the pony is thinking, because it is not thinking about being sold or whatever. This is a confidence issue between you and your pony. Basically she lacks confidence in you and is making the decision not to load.

You can force her in, using pain with a chiffeny and whip, or use a Monty Roberts head collar to maximise pressure on the head. Using any or all of these methods will work, but will not cure the problem, only make it manageable. and at some stage you will get into another stand off down the line.

Just putting a Parelli headcollar on will do no good unless you know the techniques to use.

Basically, all horses will load, some are just harder to get confident than others. Its not about the trailer, its not about where it is.

http://youtu.be/IQF2wfZmyeE

This video makes it look easy, but everyone has to start somewhere. These young girls have learned the techniques and apply them appropreatly. There is nothing special about them or their horses, they have just learned how to get their horses to want to load. Anyone can do this, no magic, no mystery. Its about the relationship between you and your pony.

Good luck.