Loading Issues - PLEASE HELP

bubsqueaks

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Hello,
Just wondering if anybody has previous experiences they could share as to how they overcame lorry loading issues.
We are currently awaiting help from a natural horsewoman which has become equally as frustrating getting an appointment as to the original issue!
Anyway I would be extremely grateful to peoples experiences having spent hours both researching & loading him!!!
Its always coming home from events, loads first time at home. We have tried bribery with treats & feeding him on lorry all week, parking lorry in field open, but doesn't help with loading back from events, we have a dually halter which helps with control but doesn't solve, he absolutely hates any lunge line behind him indicating this was probably how he was forced on in Ireland, from my research I know we have to make the lorry the place he wants to be & it seems to take the expert approximately anything upto 2 hours but they must have some secrets they wont divulge!!!
Our latest attempts have got us down to 1 hour by keeping him moving round the lorry & across the end of the ramp, if you leave him to stand at the bottom of the ramp he just goes to sleep! There really is no logic to what he is thinking, all of a sudden he will just decide okay I will go on then!! Our current logic is that he will realise its a lot easier for him to load quickly as less boring groundwork to do - are we on the right tracks????
This has got to be one of the most frustrating issues to deal with & I know we musn't get frustrated, angry, cross, whilst loading, even though that's exactly what you want to do, I also know we must be quiet so not to put him under extra pressure, not to face him or look him in the eye as he will see that as a threat.
Would love to hear from anybody who has actually cracked it & what the secret is!?!?
 

The Fuzzy Furry

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Get Richard Maxwell out, or someone like Tarrsteps.
They will give you the tools to deal with an issue, once they have seen your horse and his reactions.

Don't bother taking in info ranging from blue pipe to hoses, brooms, blindfolds, lunge lines, riding in etc, get a good sensible assessment done and some quality training sessions in.
Random methods are not reliable and don't help when you have to load horse on your own.....
 

Queenbee

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I had one like this, she was the devil incarnate to load, we created a walkway at home: trailer with 2 gates at the side of the ramp forming a clearly defined walkway, the lunge line was used but as a barrier behind, it never touched her - we would walk her between the gates, then set the lunge line behind her spanning from one gate to the other, we used this method at home and loaded her probably 30 times. We then moved onto removing one gate and attaching the lunge to the side of the trailer in place of the gate to form a walkway - the lunge line parallel to her, we did the same - load on, off, on off... We were then advised to park parallel to a hedge at shows, the hedge forming one side of the walkway and the lunge forming the other, the first few shows she was slightly hesitant - a min or two (down from hrs) then she would go straight on. We then continued to park next to a hedge but would give her the opportunity to load without the lunge line on the other side, which she did most of the time, when she hesitated we took out the line and she only had so see it in our hand to go 'ok then' and walk up. Within no time at all we didn't have to search out a hedge to park alongside, we could park anywhere, I could leave it a year between loading and she would go up the ramp straight away. It's always good to have a second person come and advise and help, the chap who came to me was quite old school and said to me 'it may be she just needs a bit of s slap on the rump but won't take it from you' I almost told him not to bother coming but I'm glad I didn't. No matter how old school he was he took one look at my girl and said 'I could never hit this horse - it would destroy her and would do no good' he assessed my horse and came up with a kind and clear approach for her which worked so perfectly.
 

Identityincrisis

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Absolutely 100% recommend Richard Maxwell, read my previous posts to see what I went through (it was only a fraction of what I was actually dealing with) Richard literally solved my loading problems within 4 hours (half of that was spent chatting while the horse was stood on the box!!) I used all suggested techniques and other NH people and nothing worked, I wish I had saved time and tears and went with Richard straight away. DO NOT be put off his price, I would have paid double!!!
 

Abacus

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Depending on location I would also massively recommend Michael Peace who was fabulous with my difficult horse, and was so good that he was asked to come back to another lady on the yard with problems. He fixed both horses, both very different - he said that mine was genuinely worried and didn't know where to put his feet, and the other was not at all scared and had learned to get away with it. His methods had the same basis but the techniques he used were a bit different, and worked very well - I haven't had major issues since, although sometimes on a different box my horse still gets confused (he is a bit slow, poor love). I fel totally confident to manage it myself now and have also dealt with other peoples horses using the same techniques with a lot of success.
 

soloequestrian

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I sell a loading harness that was partially 'invented' by a horse similar to yours - he was very wary of the lunge line (or any people) behind him. I can send you the details if you are interested.
 

Fred66

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I'd suggest finding somewhere not too far away but off the yard you are on where you can travel to, off load maybe groom him or take him on a short hack and then reload feed him and bring him home.

Leave yourself plenty of time and basically keep doing it until it is such a regular thing he is loading straight away.

I'd also practice some serious in hand work with him, in a good forward trot if you can keep up with him as we always find it easier with ours thats awkward to load doing it in a forward pace.
 

turnbuckle

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Possible quick workaround...can you give a horsey pal a lift to the event, then load the friend first?

Mine is (touch wood) a reformed character, loads himself....ALMOST all the time. Fixed it be only feeding on the wagon......
 

Seville

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Get Richard Maxwell out, or someone like Tarrsteps.
They will give you the tools to deal with an issue, once they have seen your horse and his reactions.

Don't bother taking in info ranging from blue pipe to hoses, brooms, blindfolds, lunge lines, riding in etc, get a good sensible assessment done and some quality training sessions in.
Random methods are not reliable and don't help when you have to load horse on your own.....

This ∆∆∆ absolutely agree with FF.....you need the expert, not a consensus of random methods.
 

claret09

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not sure exactly where you are but grant bazin is excellent - he has worked with monty Roberts and Kelly marks - his website is new leaf farm. he is between Daventry and Banbury - he will come and visit you. my boy spent 5 days with him and I went and worked with grant every day. I personally really recommend grant - he is really sympathetic and works with the horses not against them 07548 374289
 

Spottyappy

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We had exactly this issue with our nf mare.
In the end, she went to a Kelly marks demo as a guinea pig for the students.
One thing that came out of it was not to let her eat anywhere besides in the horsebox.
Also, to corral her as queen bee says, if you can. Not all shows have a convenient hedge or wall, we took beach wind breaks and asked other competitors to hold them if the ground were hard or concrete!
Another thing that has worked is a blind fold.
She can still be the devil reincarnate, but the above methods work 95% of the time now. Touching wood as I write!
 

claireandnadia

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Sounds just like my Molly. She will go on eventually and when she decides she's going on, she just walks on like you haven't spent any time at all trying. Hers can range from 5 minutes to an hour. I can do it alone, or it can take 4 people. I completely understand how frustrating it is for you and I'm glad in one way that I don't have a horsebox anymore as it has taken so much pressure off but also makes me sad as I love going out.
I'm sure Richard Maxwell and similar are well worth the money but unfortunately for me, I just can't afford that.
I wish you good luck and hope you keep us updated.
 

hopscotch bandit

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not sure exactly where you are but grant bazin is excellent - he has worked with monty Roberts and Kelly marks - his website is new leaf farm. he is between Daventry and Banbury - he will come and visit you. my boy spent 5 days with him and I went and worked with grant every day. I personally really recommend grant - he is really sympathetic and works with the horses not against them 07548 374289
^THIS^

The man has been nothing short of a miracle worker!Can thoroughly recommend this chap.
 

abbijay

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^THIS^

The man has been nothing short of a miracle worker!Can thoroughly recommend this chap.

Interesting, my horse ended up being used in a demo for Grant at a show last year when we'd had such trouble getting him there I went over to ask for advice. He was a lovely guy and certainly had a lot to offer but I certainly didn't find him a miracle worker. I knew it wasn't "solved" when he said to me afterwards, "come and get me when you want to go home." The horse did not want to load on the same wagon just a couple of hours later so we needed Grant to get him on.
 

Landcruiser

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I agree, someone like Richard Maxwell is your best bet.
FYI my horse is extremely wary round his back end, he tenses when I touch his tail and hates a lunge line round the back of him. He was a non loader when I got him, and it took a long time and lots of trial and error to come up with my method. I needed to load him solo, because I invariably go to stuff on my own. I shamelessly use his back end wariness and clip a lunge line to his head collar, drop it over his back and let it drop behind him, holding onto the end near me along with the normal leadrope. NB he never kicks and is 100% "rope broke" round his legs. When I started this method I threaded it through a roller.
The result - as soon as the lunge drops behind his tail, on he goes, and I instantly drop the lunge. Nowadays I only have to clip on the lunge, not even drop it round behind him. He still won't load without this, and we are 9 years in, the silly beggar.
 

Theocat

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If he loads fine at home, my next step would be a few trips where you do nothing but loading practice. Load-reward-unload, ten or twenty times in a row at home without stopping until there's no hesitation, then travel a short distance to a safe place and immediately unload-reload-reward, repeating twenty times before you go home, then another ten repetitions when you get home. And I'd repeat the whole process half a dozen times before I tried adding anything on at the other end.

My current horse - and my last - were both a pain to load when I got them. It's the first thing I address and have never had a problem after the first load of the first session. No, I tell a lie, I have to get out of the way these days, because the horse is so eager to get in the trailer :D

Make sure you don't allow grazing at the other end - stick to a haynet.

How's your driving?
 

bubsqueaks

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Many thanks for all the wonderful advice, its a very common problem isn't it but at least one that can be resolved with practice & patience.
We are still awaiting our appointment time from professional help grrrr.
Yesterday he loaded from home straight on & back home in half an hour by ground work, exactly as somebody above says they just all of a sudden say okay on I go!!!
Whilst awaiting professional help I will do what you suggest Theocat by going a short distance & practicing the unload, load, twenty times etc.
My driving is very steady, we have a camera in the back to see what he might be up to!?! He stands still all the way, doesn't use partitions at all to balance, doesn't eat any hay though.
Thank you all for your input its lovely to hear similar experiences.
 
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