KentOsteo
Active Member
Hello! Im new!! 
Need some advice/opinions please. I have an angelic 15.3, 14 yr old gelding, very polite, butter wouldn't melt, the yards favourite....until you take him near a trailer! At this point he rolls his eyes in terror, grows a neck like a periscope, snorts and looks increasingly edgy until you put him safely in his stable/field. he even panics when other horses are being loaded up - in case its his turn next.
Now he wasnt always this way, have had the little tyke for a decade (!) and although he has never been a regular traveller, we have been here and there to shows. He has never really liked travelling; sweating up ALOT, neighing, banging about which made us think he may have had a bad experience in the past (came from a dealer who imported from germany).
It has just been in the last year the real trouble has started. At first he was planting at the foot of the ramp (not steep) and refusing to budge, snorting, trembling and being generally terrified. Once we coaxed him past this, he took to once in the trailer, bolting out of the front, even managing to annhialate a 6'6'' 18 stone farmer who had hold of him! If the front bar was up he refused point blank to enter.
At this point, we enlisted the help of a ''loading specialist'' a bizarre Parelli fanatic who flapped and flailed a rope in his face, so much so the clip broke, whacked him in the face and he buggered off. Poor sod. This made the situation much worse in terms of terror.
The next several weeks were spent with daily sessions with the trailer in the sandschool, practising; we could load him with the front ramp up (to prevent the bolting) but now the wily git took to flinging himself at speed in reverse, to the point of nearly turning my sister into a pancake under the ramp. We got him to the point where he would walk on happily, stand there for a while tembling and neighing but as soon as anyone tried to put the back bar/ramp up that was it, off in reverse, practically sitting on the ramp. Very dangerous - he stops at nothing!!
So.... we are now thinking of as a last resort sending him up to Jason Webb who has a good reputation. Has anyone heard of him having success with a similar problem as this??? Or any suggestions? (Please dont say try a lorry (he's no better) - we have a trailer and thats what he would travel in, so he needs to load in that) If sending him to Jason fails at least we know we have tried everything.
Sorry for the essay!!!
Need some advice/opinions please. I have an angelic 15.3, 14 yr old gelding, very polite, butter wouldn't melt, the yards favourite....until you take him near a trailer! At this point he rolls his eyes in terror, grows a neck like a periscope, snorts and looks increasingly edgy until you put him safely in his stable/field. he even panics when other horses are being loaded up - in case its his turn next.
Now he wasnt always this way, have had the little tyke for a decade (!) and although he has never been a regular traveller, we have been here and there to shows. He has never really liked travelling; sweating up ALOT, neighing, banging about which made us think he may have had a bad experience in the past (came from a dealer who imported from germany).
It has just been in the last year the real trouble has started. At first he was planting at the foot of the ramp (not steep) and refusing to budge, snorting, trembling and being generally terrified. Once we coaxed him past this, he took to once in the trailer, bolting out of the front, even managing to annhialate a 6'6'' 18 stone farmer who had hold of him! If the front bar was up he refused point blank to enter.
At this point, we enlisted the help of a ''loading specialist'' a bizarre Parelli fanatic who flapped and flailed a rope in his face, so much so the clip broke, whacked him in the face and he buggered off. Poor sod. This made the situation much worse in terms of terror.
The next several weeks were spent with daily sessions with the trailer in the sandschool, practising; we could load him with the front ramp up (to prevent the bolting) but now the wily git took to flinging himself at speed in reverse, to the point of nearly turning my sister into a pancake under the ramp. We got him to the point where he would walk on happily, stand there for a while tembling and neighing but as soon as anyone tried to put the back bar/ramp up that was it, off in reverse, practically sitting on the ramp. Very dangerous - he stops at nothing!!
So.... we are now thinking of as a last resort sending him up to Jason Webb who has a good reputation. Has anyone heard of him having success with a similar problem as this??? Or any suggestions? (Please dont say try a lorry (he's no better) - we have a trailer and thats what he would travel in, so he needs to load in that) If sending him to Jason fails at least we know we have tried everything.
Sorry for the essay!!!
