Loading issues....please help!

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Charlie007

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My friend has a lovely horse and is doing well in dressage......when she can get there!! She had entered a comp today but after 2 and half hours plus trying to load him she gave up. He was loading really well each night last week,in and out again several times. He gets a little upset when the ramp is put up but travels really well etc. She took him to a pirelli (sp?) demo and their methods seemed to work for a short while but now back to square one. He is calm but as soon as you put pressure on his rears. I have suggested perhaps a chifney (for rearing) or perhaps even a blind fold? Any other suggestions would be more than welcome!!
 
i guess it depends on what the issue is to start with. my youngster doesnt like going in in open spaces so i gradually moved the trailer further and further out. she's also claustrophobic so i dont travel her with a partition in. i spent weeks doing a tiny bit more each day and always feeding her in it. then we went on little runs, and also went to friends farm down the road to take her out and put her back in. it was really a question of patience.
she also responds to touching (literally only touching) her hocks with a stick to go forward. i load her in a rope halter with a long line. if she is actually going to travel i just put a normal headcollar over it to tie her up. having the road already tied just needing clipped on gives her less time to think about standing in the trailer.
i think patience and baby steps are the key
 
May sound silly but maybe he sensed that she was anxious as she wanted to take him somewhere. I would just keep taking him on and off / maybe feed him his dinner on it and take him for a drive somewhere nearby like a forestry. That way he'll think that the box doesn't mean he has to work as such.

I've got a pressure halter but I find that if I position the box so he can't get off either side, then he'll give in (not ideal for a show, I know)!
 
Yeah I agree with patience etc but he is so frustrating!! He travel with no partition and is feed haylage and his feed in there, and as I said he has been loading great. Just today he was really bad. I just don't know what to suggest to her to help. If it were me I would load him in our crew yard bit as you can back in and pull doors each side of trailer so the only way really is forwards. She did this today but later on in the episode and by then he was so wound up all he would do was rear.
 
Has she already been using a pressure halter as they can make horses rear.

If so don't use it. Go back to loading with no pressure and get a genuine result. Then go on short trips and re-load again back on the yard with the lorry facing a different way. Until everyone is happy loading.:)
 
LaurenM said:
May sound silly but maybe he sensed that she was anxious as she wanted to take him somewhere. I would just keep taking him on and off / maybe feed him his dinner on it and take him for a drive somewhere nearby like a forestry. That way he'll think that the box doesn't mean he has to work as such.

I've got a pressure halter but I find that if I position the box so he can't get off either side, then he'll give in (not ideal for a show, I know)!
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This was my issue too, although I didnt realise it at the time :(
With the added stress of going to a comp, I think my whole body language, voice etc changed. I'd keep practicing both friend and owner and on the day of the comp, send owner away whilst friend loads the horse. It took us over an hour to get my horse in a wagon after he frightenned himself in a trailer. I was there but stood back and let my friend load him for the next few weeks as he could sense my anxiety too. Once he was ok, I took over and he was fine.
 
After many years of frustrating and potentially dangerous loading have finally got my horse loading really really really well - this is my advice from our experience.

1. Horse was bad at loading as it hated the travelling bit. Once that was sorted the loading was easier. However well you think the horse travels give it as much room as you possibly can so it can really balance itself.

2. Leave heaps and heaps of time for loading (I mean an extra hour at first) - it takes all the stress out of the loading and travelling.

3. Before you even think of loading walk the horse around and then back it up several times. Walk it up towards the the ramp, back it up slowly getting nearer the ramp - I always say I bore the horse into loading. Much better than getting cross!

4. Make sure the horse stays with you - they normally try and evade by backing up or rusing in front, be really aware. It if trys to get behind you (which it must do if it is rearing) then have someone with a lunge whip behind. Normally just being there is enough but you may need to give it a tapl

5. If at all possible get a trailer camera. If you horse can't balance itself in travel then you will never get it to load well. The balance issue really can be solved by taking out the partition and giving it loads of room - to spread its hind legs particularly.

Eeks, this is from many many years of problems and works for us. Good luck!!
 
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