Is my horse ruined ?

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niagaraduval

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Finally back, so upset my golden gorgeous who must be nominated for the best loader in the world fell over when coming out of the horsebox this afternoon and fell over backwards, ripped off a massive lump of hoof ans has a cut on his front leg and stifle area. Whilst ripping my hands open which are bleeding like hell and pussing (sorry..).
When it came to going home we have just had 10 people helping us, tried everything possible but couldn't get him to load, ended up with two strong men either side with a lunge line and one with a whip and me pulling him in with a bridle and he finally went in got back, pitch black. 3 hours it took us to get him in.. had the usual know it all come to hand saying me pulling him isn't going to get him in etc.. and comes and 'shows us how its done' he gave up after 20 mins and went home.
Am in tears...
Never known a horse like him to be boxed he is just a saint and I have just spent 3 hours getting him in. Is he ruined? will he ever go back in a horsebox? I am so upset that he may never be the same again in a horse box :(
 
He has had a very bad experience, and will be fine in time, just needs to get enough positive experiences under his belt once more. So yes, in the short term he'll be a **** to load, but so long as you never give in and he always goes on, has a lovely journey, sweeties for being on box, good experience getting off it again, he'll slowly start to realize it was just a freak accident and will maybe just be a little more careful, but still load.
 
I'm sorry to hear you have had a bad time:(

It will probably take some time and patience, but I am sure you will be able to build his confidence back up again. I would give him some time off to let his hoof and leg (and your hands!) heal up, then treat him as a youngster who has never loaded before and take it very slowly and gently with him.
 
He is probably seriously freaked out and now scared of the horse box, yes, as he probably now connects the horse box with pain. He may get over it if you spend time gradually building his confidence, if you can put the lorry in his field, feed him in the lorry everyday for a while etc., basically making him forget that the lorry causes pain, and instead, is something pleasant. I'll be honest, it will probably take time, but if he trusts you and you work on regaining his trust of the horse box, he may be happier about going in it again.
 
I would go right back to basics and spend a day coaxing him in to the box step by step and fussing like a baby. If he's loaded fine every other time before it'll be relatively easy to fix again =] xxxx
 
So sorry to hear this :(

Liken this to us - say we have a bad fall out riding. We don't go along that track again for a while until we get our confidence back and are very nervous once we do. Eventually the more time goes by and the more we go there, the better we become until we're back to normal.

Give him time patience and plenty of practise until the physical and emotional scars have healed and I'm sure he'll be fine :)
He will be a little sod at first but it'll get easier :)
good luck
K x
 
Poor Lad and poor you those hands sound painful!

I had a similar worry last winter as my mare who was a super loader panicked and slipped backwards on her bottom down the ramp of my trailer. It took us 2 hours to get her back on so what I did was start loading her everyday.

I basically led her up to the ramp with her feed bucket in my hand then I gave her lots of rope walked to the back of the trailer with the bowl and just stood there with the bucket until she came in took ages the first time. By about the 4th time she walked on with me. Once she was in I gave her the freedom to decide when she wanted to back out. 1st time she took one mouthful of food and then shot back but everytime she stayed in longer and longer until eventually she would finish her food and then just have a sniff about for more. When it came to loading her for a reason she walked straight on we gave her a couple of minutes to settle before the ramp went up and she travelled really well.

No where near as bad as your boy but does show they can overcome a scare eventually.

Good luck x
 
Before I bought my horse he had been in a trailer that had been hit. Hence he would not load and it took us 1 1/2 hours to get him loaded when buying him. I went back to basics and now he loads first time every time, so yes there is light at the end of the tunnel....... good luck with lots of patience and treats you will get there.
 
Mine took over four hours to load in winter when I bought him...it would've been faster for me to ride back.

Just go back to basics like letting him sniff the box/floor etc. If you youtube 'downunder horsemanship' they did a good loading technique where you ask the horse to approach the box and then turn the horse away to relieve the pressure and repeat - increasing the time by the box.
 
We had a horse who had a very similar experience to yours, when she fell of a ramp. We fed her in the box everyday for weeks. We let her take her own time going on, but once in she wouldn't come out! Luckily our yard was secure so we left her on with the ramp down until she was ready to come down. It took a month or so and even after this she would load/unload without ever touching a ramp jumping from bottom to top and back down. It was fine, but you had to remember to warn new people who loaded her.
Give him some time to get over the shock and then take it slowly.
Oh and hope you both feel better soon
 
I'm sure he will get over it in time, don't worry too much.

I had a young mare and on only her 2nd trip in a wagon (2 year old filly) she completely freaked soon after loading and decided she was coming out. The trailor tie thing didn't break as it was supposed to and she ended up upside down, slashed her leg open etc etc. Even she ended up perfect to load every time so I'm sure your horse will too.
 
Go back to square one, start from scratch...take things really really slowly, get them used to the box, feed them there...gradually, gradually further inside, then ramp up, then engine on, you will need a huge amount of patience....but you will get there. They may never be the calm collected traveller they were before...but you will get there, you will be the best judge of the pace and timeline.

Get yourself sorted out first, clean your own injuries properly...and get your own nerve back, you will need to be completely confident and calm when you're ready to start the retraining, otherwise you will hinder the process, if you can't...then get someone else to start it for you.

Think positive, these things happen!! Move on, slowly but surely
 
I wold start from scratch again. If you only get one foot on the ramp then thats progress- dont try and get the horse all the way in in one session.

Ditch the whips, 10 people and lunge lines. They dont help a horse that is scared its going to hurt itself. Patience, a bit of food and lots of practice and im sure your horse will be fine again.
 
No he isn't! As everyone above has said you are going to have to give him time and yourself as you will be expecting him to say no. Take him back to when he was first ever introduced to a trailer or box and make it enjoyable and don't push to fast,that would make him unloadable.
 
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