Loading? Advise please

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stacey_lou

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My girlie dosent load shes willing with her front to go on but isnt confident with her hind as she will talk up as high as she can with her front with her backs still on the ground but as soon as you try and help her she freeks out and then you cannot get her on.

I have emailed an 'Intellegnet Horsemanship' friend of mine and waiting a repsonce but I was curious as to what you guys though on my theroy or am i being soft?

On her pass port she has had 6 different owners since in her 8 years and I wondered if maybe she thinks she leaving and thats why shes hesiant to load? But then I think of some competition horses they seem to go from yard to yard.

Maybe I am being soft and shes just to green to understand and beacuse no ones taught her properly and always forced her on she dosent know what shes doing properly?

Am open to suggestions?
 
Have you tried a lunge line behind her hind quarters, that works when my daughters pony refuses to move.

I tried all the softer methods until a friend said she's messing you about pushed her on without any arguments. I've been firmer since then as he did in 2 mins what was taking me 30 mins plus!
 
I have found over the years that a method that tends to work quite well with slightly nervous loaders is to take two lunge lines... clip them to the trailer/horsebox at the top of the ramp and then cross them behind the horse.
They form a sort of tunnel for the horse to go into before the ramp and adds gentle pressure round the back of the horse from a safe distance.. You will need a couple of helpers tho.

It might just help to encourage your horse forwards a little more without the need to pull from the front.

Hope you solve the issue and heklp teach your horse its not a scary place to be!

when you find something that works... do it from the off every time you load... it removes the stress of trying lots of things that dont work even you feel that your end goal is to walk up without any other aid..

witha friends horse the lunge lines really helped and after about 10 times with the lunge lines he needed nothing more than a friendly verbal encouragement from the person leading him on and he loads great now!

Good luck xx
 
Toto used to be a star to load in a trailer but then we got a 7.5t lorry and he wouldn't go near it and did what your girl does with her legs.We think he might have a had a bad experience when coming over from Ireland. At home we would tempt him in step by step with treats and then once he was in give him his tea in there and some hay.At the start it would take ages and he would spin around and go mad but we did this nearly everyday and after a while it took less and less time to load him and eventually he just walked in normally! It did take a long time at the start but as long as we kept calm and make it a positive thing he soon learnt to trust us and found the lorry wasn't so scary after all! Good luck with her
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Thank you. I have tried all lunge lines but the feel of anything on her hind sends her up in the air and I am worried that she will cause her self (not so much me) damage.

I have tried food and hay, carrots lick its you name it. I have a lesson with Mary King In feb, shows in Jan and BE in March I have to ger her loaded lol. So I have set 2 months for practice. My YO Groom said to try lifting her feed on one by one for her and that may help so i might try that but If not Ill see if my freind can come down and help me.

Some one suggested one of those Happy horse halters (name may be wrong) with the ball bearings in the poll but Im worried it may stress her.
 
if she is normally greedy, and ignores the food, it could well mean she is taking the piddle.

Mine used to be a pig to load, and hes very greedy, but wouldnt go in the trailer for the food (even on the way home).

Things that worked:

Trotting him into the trailer!
Hunting whip crack behind him
Brush up the bum
Lunge lines clipped to the trailer

Now if he refuses to load, a quick flick with the end of the lead rope and hes straight in
 
Interesting, I tried softy soft approcach, food, hay, lick its, lunge lines but didnt get a whip out.

You can see from her loading that she is willing just unsure I need to convince her that shes not going to be eaten or sent away and I think shell be ok. its just getting her on in the first place. My freind said we can load her take her for a drive for 5 - 10 mins and bring her back. We can do this a few times a week and I would hope this would help her.
Its frustrating beacuse you cannot make them understand.
 
Start on the ground, you don't need the trailer or lorry there at all. Get her walking smartly beside you, walking onwards and halting with the lightest of instruction - the moving off smartly as soon as you ask her to walk on is the critical one.

If you can practise with a trailer then take everything out of it and walk her through it repeatedly, then stop her on the trailer and walk her off, then do it with partitions in. Always make a massive fuss when she does as told but do not resort to ropes, lines, strong halters or bribing with food. On a lorry open up all the partitions so you can walk right in and turn around.

You have to do this repeatedly - expect to give up a day for it. Do some practice, then put the horse away for an hour, then do it again. Do not react strongly to resistance or naughtiness, just keep praising compliance.
 
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Start on the ground, you don't need the trailer or lorry there at all. Get her walking smartly beside you, walking onwards and halting with the lightest of instruction - the moving off smartly as soon as you ask her to walk on is the critical one.

If you can practise with a trailer then take everything out of it and walk her through it repeatedly, then stop her on the trailer and walk her off, then do it with partitions in. Always make a massive fuss when she does as told but do not resort to ropes, lines, strong halters or bribing with food. On a lorry open up all the partitions so you can walk right in and turn around.

You have to do this repeatedly - expect to give up a day for it. Do some practice, then put the horse away for an hour, then do it again. Do not react strongly to resistance or naughtiness, just keep praising compliance.

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Its funny you say that about ground work beacuse when I got her she was very green and walking beside me both on and off lead rope haulting when asked ect I do every time I take her to the field and have done since the day I got her 6months ago so we are now throwing the horse box into the equasion. I am teaching my self at the moment to lower my tone and pitch of voice , i know that sounds very simple but Its one of my flaws and dosent help in situations
 
Persistance is the secret and you are just going to have to spend a lot of time with your horse quietly getting her to load in to your lorry using food as the bait.
Park the lorry down hill so that the ramp is as flat as possible. Store feed in your lorry so that it smells of food.
Allow plenty of time to load her and get her to go in and feed her in the lorry. Then repeat the excercise each day continuously for about 4 weeks so that it becomes part of her normal daily routine.
 
Thank you, that was my plan for this week but I dont want to risk it with so much snow pn the ground incase she messes about and slips so Ill wait for it to clear before trying again.
 
loading... it does have some issues and is really a basic skill for the modern horse!!

i think most horsey problems are lack of grounwork.. which i know someone else said..
can you get her to back up from the ground? move her quarters over? or her forehand?
do lots in your school/gfield with just a halter on. ask a lot of her, walk on, stand, move over.. really play with her so she becomes responsive and sensitive..

something that seems to work quite well is to walk her upto it, stand for a few secs, then back her off and walk away. repeat it a few times.
another thing i've done is to get them to walk over the ramp sideways, it just lets them build trust with you and the trailer.

if you can, i've heard of people leave there trailer in the field as means of shelter, with a haynet in it so there horse walks in and out of there own accord.

the most important thing is to not get angry or give up. when shes in tell her how amazing she is and finish- dont do it again!!! but do repeat the next day etc.

hope it helps a bit ankd sorry its long!!
 
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do not resort to ropes, lines, strong halters or bribing with food.

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I disagree with this. When I had the Kelly Marks RA out to me last year, she actually said food was a great tool for getting horses on. I don't ever feed when horse says no but he always gets something once he's stood on and tied, and before leaving the trailer. The RA told me to always give him something before unloading so that his last memory of the trailer is a pleasant one.

Personally I would try her in a Dually halter, it really helped me. I have a horse who doesn't always want to load (he isn't scared, he's just being stubborn and piggy), though he's about 95% perfect now. Occasionally still says no but rarely (I daren't say never, in case
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) more than once. I tried absolutely everything - lunge lines, chains, broom up his bum, loading in bridle, chifney, rope through his mouth... etc etc. I've also tried what Monty Roberts suggests, which is sending him backwards every time he says no. Horse worked out v quickly that if he ran backwards first, he had won because he'd made the choice about what he was doing with his feet. I'd suggest that you do some groundwork with your horse, OP. Basic manners stuff; the horse needs to walk when you walk, halt, back up, walk figures of 8s around cones without getting into your space. When you can do this then go back to loading. If you're going to use a Dually, make sure that your horse understands pressure/release... if she pulls backwards, the pressure on her nose doesn't go away until she moves forwards again.

Make life a bit easier for yourself... park the trailer next to a wall on one side to limit the number of ways she can escape. If she just stands there once you're loading, you could try a couple of things. Firstly, move her head around with the lunge line (so it's upsetting her balance). I know this sounds horrible but she needs to realise that refusing to load is an unpleasant experience). The second she makes any attempt at forwards movement (even just lifting one back foot or leaning her weight forwards), release the pressure and praise. It does work because she will eventually realise that the pressure and the annoyance goes away when she moves forwards. The other method, which works better for mine, is simply to stand there (face fowards in the trailer, jockey door open and front ramp down) and keep the pressure on the line. Mine dislikes this more than the head waggling thing so he gives in pretty quickly. Again, you need to be really quick to feel when they even shift their weight forwards.

I usually find now that mine has to stop for a few seconds on the ramp, just to make his mind up that there are no tigers in the trailer, but always goes on. I'd load without the partitions first, just get her leading through then move onto standing quietly. Lots of praise when she goes on. If you can get someone to help you to start with, that will make things easier, as they can put the back ramp up for you. Most importantly, don't get annoyed or upset with her as that will make it all worse.

If it comes to it, you could always get a Kelly Marks Recommended Associate out. The one who came to me was great and they're not preachy, like I expected them to be.
 
My Welsh Cob is a swine to load as well. He's not frightened and he's not being naughty, he just loses attention very quickly. He does the same thing - quite happily wanders up with his front legs but takes a while to get the backs on and then a bit longer to actually get up the ramp. Once he's *in* the lorry he's fine.

He's normally greedy, and is interested in the food we offer but his goldfish brain gets distracted and he has to be kept constantly interested. You can't keep pressure on his head as he runs backwards - anything from behind (even someone just walking past) will make him go up in the air and any contact from behind (lunge line/whip/brushes etc) can make him kick out.

It's not an issue with groundwork as he is amazing to handle. I can back up, move bits of him over, etc etc with little to no pressure - he really is perfectly mannerly. He just doesn't seem to understand the concept - which is odd as he used to be A-OK and we can't pinpoint an experience at all.

The only thing we found to work was patience. We have to sit at the top of the ramp with no pressure on his head and no distractions about (hard at a show!) and just play with things up there (food bowls, toys etc) until he eventually becomes interested enough to join us!

Good luck!
 
Thank you so much for everyones suggestions and replies. On the ground and in the stable her manners are superb , I hate horses with Ill manners it drives me up the wall. When I enter the stable she imeditly back up to allow me in, when leading her I only have to ask by voice or by stoping in my pases my self and shell stop so her ground work is great and very responceive as I keen to get this right with her when I first got her.

I think Ill try sitting on the hox holding onto a lunge line as Bella 127 mentioned with her cob and chestnut cob I have printed your comment to read in more details when am back from the yard

Thank you so much everyone Ill let u know how I got on!

Happy New Year!
 
I make a bit of kit to help with loading called Solo Harness. I tested it early on with a friends horse who went ballistic if you tried the two lunge lines trick with him, and he loaded instantly with the harness. Have a look at my website www.soloequestrian.com - there is an article on there on general loading advice too.
 
Just one little tip: when you are walking towards the ramp if your horse hesitates NEVER turn to look at the horse. Always keep looking ahead - looking back at the horse will deter the forward momentum as they do not like direct eye contact. Good luck.
 
If you can get the front legs on then you are halfway there
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Get an assistant to pick up a back leg and then the other back leg and then to the first again - you will find that he will walk in - then plenty of food praise and repeat - don't wait for the next day - keep doing it until it is easy. First time might take 20 mins but the second time will take 5mins - job done - just make it routine.

Whatever you do - don't wait until you have to "be" somewhere as patience and time are key
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