Horse WILL not load....major help needed.

Perfect_Pirouette

Perfect_Pirouette

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Hi,

So, horse (15hh cob) last 3 months or so has REALLY started to play up when loading. He was bad about 3 years ago, then for past 18 months has been fine, now playing up again. This is worst it's ever been.

It has only gotten worse and the last show we went to a couple of weeks ago, it got so bad that after 11 people, 2 lunge lines, 2 and a half hours of trying, my instructor was like 'you'll have to hack him home' so I did hack him the 5 miles home in the blistering heat, I was not impressed. :mad:

We can't go to anymore shows now until it's sorted as it's just getting ridiculous. We have tried feeding him every morning and evening on the trailer and it that's what is currently happening. But he will go on, eat his breakfast/tea and get straight back off again! If he knows someone is going behind him to put the back bar up he just backs straight off almost crushing you.

We have tried;

Feeding him day and night on there to try and get his confidence up.
Traveling him with/without partition
Traveling him with/without other horses.
Had a 'natural horsewoman' come out to see him. She took 2 and a half hours but he did load by himself after that. May have to get her back out.

To get him on we have;

Stood around trying to persuade him for hours, doing the nicely nicely approach.
Used lunge lines, lunge whips.
Food (doesn't work)
hooding him (worked first time then he got wise to it)

Does anyone have ANY other suggestions, no matter how silly they may sound?

We haven't tired him in lorry yet, but my instructor said we could borrow hers to try him in, so will try that too.

He IS genuinely scared as when you get him in there he shakes from head to foot and every tiny noise scares him. Have no idea what's caused this as he has always been driven with upmost care.

Me and his owner are at wits end. Any advice would be appreciated.
 
I'm wondering how he used to stand when he was in the trailer... We have a Sec D who wedges his butt into the corner and puts his feet against the bottom of the partition so as a result he doesn't go round corners well and hence he's become a bugger to load.

He used to be really bad until we went to the royal show a couple of years ago and the natural horsemanship bunch put him through his paces and got him in.

Sounds like you need to find out why he's scared. I suspect he'll load into a box - worth a try. Did he used to travel in the trailer on his own all the time?
 
I'd try the lorry option I think.
Generally more space, more headroom.

It amazes me that any horse will go in a trailer at all, they get bumped and banged about and the noise is awful, I've never been in one yet that didn't rattle and bang and generally sound as if it is coming apart at the seams. No matter how well driven or rattle proofed. Trusting souls, horses.
 
friend had same problem, she went out and spent 40.00 on a dually headcollar-she has no problems now at all (personally never tried one).
her boy now loads after about 2 seconds instead of the old 2 and a half hours in the rain crying with frustration (now i have been there when thats happenend many a time) lol see if you can borrow one? good luck x
 
I could write forever on this topic. I had exactly the same thing with my boy, he would go on eat and then get off, then he decided that no matter what he wasn't going in. He very nearly reared up and over, he has a very high pain threshold as I found out. I took him to a competition which took 3/4 hr to load him up for and once there he would not go back in. I had to hack the 20miles back all on roads so I completely feel your pain. I was at the end of my tether. I arranged for a natural horsemanship woman (she wasn't actually certified as one) but used the dually headcollar and just perserved with his rearing and thrashing on the ramp until he just went in and out like a lamb. I don't know what it is about the dually headcollar but as soon as my boy has it on he is a lot easier to control.

He travels with no partition and now I have cctv in the trailer I can see how he travels. He isn't a particularly bad traveller he just gets frustrated and his first reaction is to use his strength and power.

I really don't know what it was that clicked in his head but something has. I can fully recommend the build quality of ifor 505 as well, my god has it put up with a lot and hardly a stratch on it.

I know I will probably get stot down for this but my boy doesn't travel wearing anything because as soon as I put anything on him his nerves escalated and cow pat poos were coming thick and fast and he would just work himself up and not go in the trailer.

I did semi-organise Kelly Marks and her students to come to mine to sort him but I got the other lady instead. I did think it was funny when arranging the kelly marks training they told me when and where to get him to for the students, I replied with 'I can't get him in the trailer so how am I going to get him there' they didn't think that one through!

I really do feel your pain and I have been there being in tears for hours and just feeling you are the only one out there in this situation. I did think about selling my boy but obviously I couldn't as he couldn't leave my yard. Being at a competition makes it 10x harder as everyone around is trying to offer their help but also thinking that thank god their horse loads.

You can PM if you want as I haven't said half as much as I would like, lol.
 
One of my previous horses hated loading to such an extent that he would go vertical at the bottom of the lorry ramp. This resulted in the ramp being broken ... twice! He was a big, powerful 16.3HH WB and I just didn't know what to do with him. In the end, I took him to a Kelly Marks demo and after a fine display of evading and rearing, something clicked and he just understood and co-operated. After 10 minutes of going on and coming off when asked, he would trot up the ramp without even a leadrope on. That was all with a lorry and he was absolutely fine to travel.

My young horse has been learning about travelling on a trailer and I have used a dually to train him. I have to be honest and say that I haven't cracked getting him to stand while I go round the back and put the breech bar up, so at the moment I make sure there is someone on hand to help me while I stand at his head - but it's early days.

One of the girls at the yard had a horse that absolutely refused to go on a forward facing trailer and would not entertain a lorry either. As a last resort (having sold her lorry) she bought an Equitrek and there's no stopping them now!

The Kelly Marks/Monty Roberts route worked for me, the Equitrek route worked for someone else. It sounds like a case of finding out what works for you and it might be a case of borrowing various forms of transport, if you can, and seeing what your horse will be happy with.

You'll get there.
 
SummerxStarsx said:
It has only gotten worse and the last show we went to a couple of weeks ago, it got so bad that after 11 people, 2 lunge lines, 2 and a half hours of trying
....

He IS genuinely scared as when you get him in there he shakes from head to foot and every tiny noise scares him. Have no idea what's caused this as he has always been driven with upmost care.
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11 people and lunge lines will never help a scared horse. nor will lunge whips.

The horse needs to be trained that the box wont hurt him. By this i mean regular sessions (at least 3x week). If all you get is 1 foot on the ramp then that is progress. You then continue from there and if it takes you months to get him in completely then so be it.

going in a box is completely alien and against evry natural instinct, some horses are more bothered than others. but the only 'cure' is patient practice- not more people, whips, lines, etc to bully the horse in. He has to learn that its ok and that takes time.

You have to be prepared to train the horse if you want to go to shows
 
what is he like to lead?
if he gets spooked or panicked when leading whats he like?

i would do some ground work and leading work around scarey things like bags and brollys to get his trust in you stronger and respect for the headcollar.

then simply lead him to the box- he can stop and paw and sniff the ramp as much as he likes. if he gets distracted and looks around bring his head back to the box again.
and just wait until he decides to go in. do it all on your own so he can focus on you

have a feed waiting for him at the top- allow him to eat some and then take him off the front ramp- this way he wont be backing out at top speed. stop part way down the front ramp and give him another bit of feed to he gets used to waiting for you.

carry on with this until he eats his tea nice and relaxed and walking nicely down the ramp.

then do the same but get someone to put the breach bar across- he shouldnt panic as he goes out via the front anyway. then just do the same- wlak him off the front and give him a little bit of feed part way down the ramp.

keep doing that until he is relaxed with it.

then do exactly the same and put the breast bar across whilst he is eating, take it down before he finishes and then walk him off.

then prehaps pick him a grass net and get him used to standing on the trailer eating that without the breast bar across at first, then with it.

then maybe doing a bit of grooming whilst he is in eating the grass net, or clean some tack or something.

then do it all with the back ramp up, then with both ramps up.....

if he is genuinely afraid then you need to take it really slow to get him confident.
then start doing mini journeys- the best thing is to take him somewhere quiet for inhand grazing and then home- this way going out in the trailer isnt always work, so they look forward to it.
 
I can only echo the Kelly Marks/Dually halter comments on here.

My friend's 17hh ISH started to refuse to load and when he did get loaded he would panic and sweat up so badly when they were travelling that someone once stopped her to say her trailer was on fire! It was the steam coming off the horse!

Friend did two things - First, she changed the trailer (Ifor Williams, horse was quite cramped and travelling forwards) to a bigger one (Van Fautras, horse has more room and travels herringbone fashion)

But obviously horse didn't know it was a bigger trailer so still panicked when loading - he would start to sweat up the minute a tail bandage was put on. Then at the trailer he would rear, sometimes going over backwards. To see such a huge horse doing that, his veins popping out, was terrifying!

So friend got an NH person out. The guy used the Dually and did some ground work (horse was quite bargy as well), backing him up etc. Then tried to load him. Same thing as usual - rearing, panicking, fell over once. BUT the guy had unshakeable patience and calmness (which my friend often didn't after trying to load horse for two hours!) and just persevered. Never fighting the horse, just letting the Dually do its work.

After 20 mins, horse suddenly changed and relaxed and LOADED! And loaded again and stood quietly in the trailer and, a couple of months on, has loaded like a lamb ever since (still has the Dually on, in case) He also travels well and no longer panics. He has has one or two slight blips, but my friend now knows how to stay calm, do a little ground work wiht him, then he loads straight away.
 
One of my old ponies wouldn't travel well in a trailer. He used to be a pain getting in, and once in he would throw his legs about, it was really weird and after travelling with him I was scared witless. Not sure what he was doing.

Anyway, he travelled like a gem in a box, different pony. Is there a box you could use to see?
 
get a chifney take no p--s if he pulls back yank it hard then walk on worked wonders for me and my boy did exactely the same as you he's taking the tiddle !! good luck
 
hunteress said:
get a chifney take no p--s if he pulls back yank it hard then walk on worked wonders for me and my boy did exactely the same as you he's taking the tiddle !! good luck
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:eek: Im actually disgusted by this comment. OP- if you want your horse to have major jaw damage then follow this advice. Or if you want to inflict pain on a horse, let alone one thats scared then by all means yank away.

*unbelievable*
 
seems the horse has started to play up when you have been going to shows, so maybe the nerves are of the show as that is what happens when he has finished travelling in the trailer that is frightening him, not just the trailer. You should take him for short trips down the road and back home so he sees the trailer as an ejoyable ride to his destination of the security of his stable/field. If you think it is the trailer then daily loading and letting him just stand in the box for 5mins and unloading would be good, put straw across the door so he doesnt hear the sound that it makes when he steps on. Good luck. By the way never get angry with him it will just make it worse. Put it this way dogs that only go in cars to see the vet for their yearly jabs know exactly where they are going and tend to get upset in the car or very timid. Food for thought!
 
I sell a loading harness:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzlA5PFuhuw

It works very well with horses who don't have any big current issues with whatever they are being asked to load into - the horse in the video loads perfectly sometimes and refuses to go in others, so I was always sure that it was just his mood that changed, and if you watch him in the trailer he is cool as. If you are sure that your horse is not actually scared by the transport, the harness could help - for some horses it works like a magic charm. The behaviour you describe though, sweating and shaking, sound like genuine fear. Have you had the trailer fully checked to make sure nothing feels unsound? If so, trying a different trailer or lorry may be the key, and also checking things like whether there is something during or at the end of the journey that is creating fear (poor driving skills, something nasty happening at the event etc.)

Here is the harness on sale, just in case!
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190415636525
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Solo-Harness-...t=UK_Horse_Wear_Equipment&hash=item2c5580d95a

And I have a longer article on loading here:
http://solo-equestrian.blogspot.com/2008/07/teaching-horse-to-load-loading-problem.html
 
hunteress said:
get a chifney take no p--s if he pulls back yank it hard then walk on worked wonders for me and my boy did exactely the same as you he's taking the tiddle !! good luck
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thats the most horrible thing ive heard for a while and totally incorrect use of a very severe bit.
and not really going to make a frightened horse, less fearful is it?
if you do that, you end up with a frightened horse, in pain and not wanting to go near the box EVEN more.....
 
Many years ago, we had a horse that was very difficult to load, we tried everything know to man, in the end, we asked an old traditional 'nag's man' for help. He put two lunge lines on the head collar, and literally drove the horse around the field a few times, as if being driven in a vehicle. As soon as the horse got the idea, he literally walked it up the ramp, we never had a problem afterwards boxing!
 
Thanks everyone for your replies.

To the person that suggested the chiffney....we won't be doing that. A broken jaw is the last thing we need!!

With regards to how far he'll load, normally it goes like this. Trailer is hitched etc on morning of show. We always make sure he hasn't had his breakfast so he's hungry, we then get a massive bowl of his food and put it in trailer. We then lead him around, normally he walks up the ramp, gets almost all in and eats, I then go around to put the bar up and that's it, he's off!!

After that, he'll only literally put about 2 feet onto the trailer and then go no further. The more you fight with him and the longer it all goes on he then gets worse and it detiorates so that you can then hardly get him to go near the ramp. When you pull he just pulls back and plants his feet, or he has a BIG habit of pulling you down the drive/yard/carpark/wherever in opposite direction.

The problem is he's so STRONG and bargy anyway. He is genuinely scared, when he's on there he is so scared bless him.He is even worse coming home.

The only time lately that he hasn't been too bad is when we took him showjumping about a month ago. A guy from the yard went too and when he saw us having trouble tryingt to get him home. He came over and took charge, he was firm but I guess paitent, he didn't let him barge him about and kept MAKING him walk backwards away from him. It sounds really bad but everytime he went to barge into him this guy just kneeded him really hard in the chest and he INSTANTLY stopped and walked back. He then turned him towards the trailer and, as usual, he started to put his parts on but he just remained calm and told us to get the lunge lines around him, me and his owner did this and that was it, he went on straight away. It took about 15-20 mins? Normally it's an hour and a half- 2 hours!

I don't know if he just responds better to a man or not?

I will definitely tell his owner about those headcollars a few people have mentioned on here, one of the problems is he is SO SO strong and he knows it.

I think his owner has arranged for a NH man to come down from Lincolnshire soon so we'll see if he can get anywhere with him.

I think, like someone suggested, when/if he first starts to load again we are just going to take him down the road and back etc so he's not in there for too long and build it up gradually.

It's just so frustrating as we can't compete now this summer unless it's at home and his owner is now talking about buying another horse, so I really want to try and get this sorted!
 
Oh and the trailer isn't an Ifor, it's a Richardson. His owner thought it could be the trailer as it is getting quite old and rattly now. But when we travelled him last, when we went to the dressage and had to hack back, we borrowed a friend's Ifor and it didn't make any difference, if anything he was the worst he's ever been!
 
enfys said:
I've never been in one yet that didn't rattle and bang and generally sound as if it is coming apart at the seams. No matter how well driven or rattle proofed.
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I have been in one that doesn't rattle, sound bad and the drive was ever so smooth (don't tell anybody though that I travelled with a horse in a trailer, pretty please;)) - it was a 30 year old German Krammer... That doesn't help the OP though, does it:o
 
I've been in the exact same situation. Horse would not go back in box and I ended up hacking 3 hours home, including having to go across a dual carriageway and ride through a shoot. Never again. It was about 12 years ago and I got the Richard Maxwell video and pressure halter. I worked for 2 weeks on the ground with said horse without going near the box until both me and he were confident and he was working really well with the halter. The first time I went to load him, it took 25 mins. The next time 5 minutes and after that he walked straight in each and every time and still does. I have to be able to load my horses on their own, quietly and without any fuss and this technique worked for me.

He is obviously nervous of travelling. Who normally tows the trailer? If it isn't you, why don't you stand in the trailer while it's being towed (on private property otherwise the forum police will be on you) so you can see exactly what he has to put up with. Try cross-tieing him with a single breast bar - he might be able to get his balance better like that. Failing all that, the lorry option would be the next step.
 
SummerxStarsx said:
Thanks everyone for your replies.

The only time lately that he hasn't been too bad is when we took him showjumping about a month ago. A guy from the yard went too and when he saw us having trouble tryingt to get him home. He came over and took charge, he was firm but I guess paitent, he didn't let him barge him about and kept MAKING him walk backwards away from him. It sounds really bad but everytime he went to barge into him this guy just kneeded him really hard in the chest and he INSTANTLY stopped and walked back. He then turned him towards the trailer and, as usual, he started to put his parts on but he just remained calm and told us to get the lunge lines around him, me and his owner did this and that was it, he went on straight away. It took about 15-20 mins? Normally it's an hour and a half- 2 hours!

I don't know if he just responds better to a man or not?
Click to expand...

Why not ask the guy off the yard to help you load him, then once he is in and the ramp is up just give him his feed, make a big fuss of him and unload him.

Try this for a week, hopefully he will get easier to load as the week goes on.

Then the following week load him and take him for a 5 minute drive, then feed him, big fuss and unload.

Failing that hopefully you can get him in a lorry !
 
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