Loading help needed - but coming home??!

C

chestnut cob

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Please tell me that I'm not the only person with a horse who loads 100% of the time when leaving home, but can be tricky to load to *go* home?!
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Very bizarre situation. Nothing has happened to him, he is perfectly happy on the trailer once he gets on it, and isn't nervous at all. when we're leaving home to go somewhere, he practically loads himself and needs no encouragement at all. On the way home, it's a different matter. He is stubborn and definitely not nervous or scared at all (I know my horse and I know when he's scared!). It is purely an "I don't really want to thank you" situation.

I can practise loading at home all day long...I feed him in the trailer, I've got a dually and do regular IH type groundwork with him anyway (he's a model student... backs up, moves laterally, does turn on forehand, turn on quarters, weaves between cones etc etc). I've tried crossing lunge lines over with helpers, absolutely everything. Once he gets it in his head he doesn't want to go, that's it.

Last week, forum user Patches' friend eventually got him on however the same techniques didn't work today. He won't tolerate anything behind him so brooms, lunge lines etc are out of the question. Today, the hunt Master got him on by cracking him with lunge line (from a distance). Totally unexpected so he shot up the ramp! I feed him on there once he's on, feed him before he's unloaded, he has haylage on there, I am a safe driver so he doesn't get a bad journey. He rarely sweats up and isn't even a bad traveller. He is just genuinely being piggy.

Any suggestions? I don't really want to go down the route of a Kelly Marks type RA again as have had them out, it works for a while and then he works out how to evade the techniques, so I have to think up something else. He's like a kid who doesn't want to leave a party!
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I have a pony who is the opposite - almost always loads ok coming home (touch wood) but can be a toad to load going out. He is just stubborn too - not bothered about travelling at all.

My pony is also a clever little thing - we find something that works for a while - then he finds a way to evade it and we have to find a new trick!!

One thing that usd to work for us is getting him walking towards the ramp - then I clap my hands loudly and shout 'up up up' and he runs straight on!!

Someone I know always unloads and then reloads her horse straight away when she arrives - then unloads again. She finds it seems to work for some reason when she wants to load again at the end of the show!
 
Yep, tried things like clapping hands, shouting "good boy" and all the rest. He frustrates me because he just isn't scared, he is totally stubborn. I could deal with it if he was scared. He's just a bugger!

I actually shouldn't be so down on him I suppose though as last week it took me 45 mins to get him loaded on the way home; today it wasn't quite 5 mins so I guess it's a big improvement when you look at it that way!
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Not practical - he travels in a trailer with partitions removed which he prefers, so can't travel in company. He would much prefer to travel on a lorry in company but I don't have a lorry, or anyone I particularly want to go anywhere with, so we've got to make do (that makes me sound like such a miserable cow! I'm not, I promise!!
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Thanks though. Maybe I need to get him a little sh*tland or a goat to travel with
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He is totally stubborn. Everyone else was boxing up at the meet today so it's not like he was even the only one being boxed. We had breakfast after hound exercise, so every horse was put on their respective lorries.

However...you have just given me an idea! He can't bear to think he's missing something - has a paddy when left alone, needs to be able to see other horses etc. Today, I unclipped the cross ties to tack up and he shot around so he could see out of the back of the trailer (out of the front he could only see my car and a wall, out of the back he could see other lorries, horses, people going past). I wonder if I should get someone to hold him while I turn around the car and trailer, then try to load him? He clearly wants to see what is behind, so if he's loading facing the action instead of going away...it might help....

Thanks
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I know exactly how you feel though - my pony is just the same. Today it took us 45 mins to load him to go out to a show - he was just being an absolute toad! Eventually he just looked at me, decided he couldn't be bothered to argue and more and walked on!! I could have killed him!

I think with stubborn ponies you just need to have lots of new tricks up your sleeve! He's obviously having far too much fun to want to come home!!
 
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I know exactly how you feel though - my pony is just the same. Today it took us 45 mins to load him to go out to a show - he was just being an absolute toad! Eventually he just looked at me, decided he couldn't be bothered to argue and more and walked on!! I could have killed him!

I think with stubborn ponies you just need to have lots of new tricks up your sleeve! He's obviously having far too much fun to want to come home!!

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Oh dear! Must admit I'm glad he only does it on the way home...I had to get up at 4.45am as it was so couldn't have faced having to give myself an extra half an hour to load him!
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MY OH's mare is the same.

She does not like trailers much, but we can usually load her from home without too much trouble. However, loading to come home can be a pain. It is quite often because there are things to look at and people and dogs and kids and any other excuse she can choose not to load.

At the last Badminton charity ride, we ended up messing about for and hour and a half, before four big Welsh lads come over and 'assisted'. I had her head / lead rope and the look on her face was a picture as the lads literally lifted her back legs off the ground and ran her forwards
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Once she is in she travels fine and does not mind being on her own or travelling in company, it is just the loading.

We have found that walking her round and round the car / trailer works. We try to load, she say no, she is backed off the ramp and walked round and round a few times and then back on the ramp. We also use a Dually head collar. She can be pretty stubborn, but it is a lot quicker that standing around offering polos, treats and dinner.
 
Thanks for that Neil. He has realised that if he doesn't do what he's asked, he gets sent backwards so his newest trick is to refuse then go backwards before I get chance to ask, so he makes the choice...make sense?

The last time, what worked was just mithering him. If he chose to stand still, he got mithere from side to side. I think going round and round the trailer might just work as he should hopefully realise it's easier just to go in!
 
We have found that boredom is a great motivator
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I feel sorry for my lad. He loads brilliantly, wherever we are and whatever is going on, and the poor chap has to stand around with me, while my OH goes round and round the car/ trailer until Fol gives in and loads.

Ohhh, they are all cheeky characters aren't they?
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Total shot in the dark here, but I have been wondering lately whether the "IH/NH" methods perhaps do more harm than good. The reason being, I bought my lorry June 08, prior to this for a good few years a few pals and I had always shared transport. None of the horses ever had a real problem loading - the occasional mild protest.

A few months before I got my transport, one of said friends had got a 4x4 and trailer, and her mare had stopped loading. She had it "fixed" by an IHy person (not an RA but same methods). Whatever she does, it works for a few outings...then the mare won't load again. A year and a half later, the mare is still not loading reliably, and the IH person is still trying to fix her and admits to being slightly baffled, I believe.

I, on the other hand, found the same problem when I got my own wheels! My ace transporter says it happens a lot. I got my instructor in, who showed me a very basic way of loading - rope round nose, long whip, highly attentive horse and a "you WILL go on" attitude in my head. She fixed it in one session for £20! He would take about 10 mins max to load for a few times after this, then he was, and still is, 200% and goes straight on to go, to come home, and has even loaded himself to get out of the rain at a show!

Sorry not sure it's relevant to your post at all, but something I've been pondering lately and I wondered what you, or anyone else thought?
 
I must admit I've been thinking the same thing, to some extent, Skewby. The IH stuff is great and really helps - it's been brilliant for his all round manners on the ground (he used to be a total sh*t, would barge over anyone, spin round, tank off, bite, kick out, trample you...etc!) and a child could handle him on the ground. It just doesn't seem to last for long with the trailer.

I am contemplating trying the chifney out again for loading, which has been collecting dust since the IH lady came out to me. The problem is that he loads when I pay an RA to come out, then he loads for a few weeks, and then stops. Someone said to me the other day that they can't load their own horse, her friend has to do it. I keep him on a very no nonsense racing yard so I might ask the grooms for 30 mins of their time in the week to see if they have more luck, or at least any suggestions.

What sort of instructor did you get out? I don't want to go down the road of beating him on to it, and he responds badly to a rope around his nose (same with a chain)...
 
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We have found that boredom is a great motivator
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I feel sorry for my lad. He loads brilliantly, wherever we are and whatever is going on, and the poor chap has to stand around with me, while my OH goes round and round the car/ trailer until Fol gives in and loads.

Ohhh, they are all cheeky characters aren't they?
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*snigger*

The problem with mine is that he will happily stand at the bottom of the ramp "being bored" until it goes dark. Last week I was all ready to tie him to the back and drive home with him trotting behind!

And I'n not sure cheeky is the word I'd use for mine...
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I did wonder, particulary as your situation sounds so similar to my friend's - right down to the fact it's coming home which is a real problem (though I know she has a problem going too, but will get her on after 10-15 mins or so I think).

I just got my instructor, I don't know what "school" you'd call her, she's just her
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she's a behaviourist too and has about 200 years' experience with any sort of problem anyone can have. She's priceless, lol! Loading is a speciality of hers though - if you did want her to come out she's not pricey and I'm sure she'd fix it. She absolutely would not beat him on either - I wouldn't have any such characters anywhere near my horse, and she's taught me for over 5 years now.

I'd definitely have a word to the grooms too - you never find a racehorse that won't load do you, and I'm pretty sure they'd have some great advice. I'm sure they don't beat them on either!

Very best of luck, having experienced it myself briefly I do understand what an utter b@llache it is, and how it affects your enjoyment of pretty much everything you do. I do hope you get it fixed, I am sure you will
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You couldn't PM me her number could you, or ask her if she would travel to Shropshire (north)?

He is just a pain cos he's worked out how to get out of all the IH techniques now and is just being contrary and piggy, simple as that
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At the last Badminton charity ride, we ended up messing about for and hour and a half, before four big Welsh lads come over and 'assisted'. I had her head / lead rope and the look on her face was a picture as the lads literally lifted her back legs off the ground and ran her forwards
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LOL Neil exactly the same thing happened to me!! The first time I went out in my lorry my lad wouldn't load to come home. Two chaps from the hunt (one not even very big!) came up and linked arms behind his bum. Now, my horse is BIG - Suffolk part bred - and I was just opening my mouth to say "oh yeah right, like you're gonna lift..." and he was on! Lol! His face and mine were exactly the same - a total picture of "how the **** did that happen??!" Lol!
 
Haha brilliant!
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Mine didn't know what to do with himself today when the Master came along with her hunting whip and just cracked him hard on the ar£e with it; shot up the ramp like he was on fire! I think mine has just worked out that people are nice to him if he's stubborn or threatens to kick. Can't load with schooling whip as he pretends he might kick. Hunting whip or lunge whip = more success as can be done with force from afar!
 
Have pmed you
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to be honest your boy sounds similar to how mine was - taking the pee a bit, as when someone does up the ante they're like "ok yeah I was going calm down!!" and clearly not in the least bit genuinely scared of the lorry or trailer!! I'm sure you'll fix it easily and the young man will find the big joke is over, lol!!
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Got it, thanks
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Thing is that he is a huge horse so no trailer, or most lorries, are ideal for him anyway. Even in big lorries he has no room at all - he stands wedged in, can't move to even look around, rubs his bum and practically has his eyes on the window. So, although the trailer roof is fairly low, he still has much more room in there than he actually ever does in a lorry so he *should* be happier in there..or so you would think
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Not loading to come home is a very common problem. I do think in your case turning the car so he can see the action as he loads will make some/perhaps all the difference. I am a registered BHS instructor and specialise in loading problems, have a look at my website www.thehorseloader.co.uk
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Oh you've made me feel so much better! It really helps to know it's not just my horse! I've bookmarked your website so will have a look at it later
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Thanks
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