loading issues regarding a seasoned traveller

Birker2020

Birker2020

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My horse who I've owned for almost 8 years had always loaded into my trailer well, practically bounding up the ramp. I've never given him a bad journey that I can remember, apart from one emergency stop at very low speed due to a dopey driver who didn't know their width up a country lane, and this was about two years ago.

All of a sudden my horse has started playing up to load. The first time it happened we were going to a show and loading at around 9am one morning. As it was only his second night out the previous night (as we'd turned them around from out at day to out at night) I thought it was due to him being tired when coming in. We missed our classes but me and my friends spent two hours loading him and managed to get him to walk through the trailer. The next couple of times he's been very hesitant but has gone in with a large container of 'goodies' shaken in front of him and I've taken him out places. Last time coming home (first time in 8 yrs he wouldn't load) - it took me and two others 3/4 of an hour to get him loaded. But when I got back I'd discovered he'd weed in the trailer so I think it was because he was desperate for a wee (never weed before).

He's had seven double clears and a single clear in the last four or five outings and really loves his job, ears forward, loves to jump so its not a reluctance to compete.

The only differences recently that I can put it down to are:

1) wants to sleep when comes in from field so doesn't want to go to a show
2) trailer movement is making arthritis worse in his coffin joints
3) trailer was painted in the same colours as before, before horse started having problems loading but wondered if smell of paint/brightness of colour when new.
4) scared himself big style when I went to a show about 2 months ago as there was a couple of pigs in a field at the show ground and he was terrified and stood trembling outside and in his trailer at them.

Incidentally brakes have been changed and working fine, double floor been checked and re-checked. The horse only started jumping again about three months ago, after 9 months off competing, and I've been out to about 9 or 10 shows during that time, two of them were dressage so hardly over worked. And prior to this was out almost every weekend for the last 5 or 6 years.

Any suggestions however strange or off beat please folks.

All this will he/wont he load? is really upsetting me as I feel he is trying to tell me something and I'm too damn dumb to understand.
 
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No idea y this could be but my
Mums mare has always loaded but does have day when she's a real pain, while we was at vets one day there was a horse behaviour therapist there, he put her in long reins & walked her through the trailer again & again, it worked and she loads every time.
 
That last sentence of yours, in bold. He's probably picking up on your worry and nerves and wondering what there is to be worried about, then he learns that he gets treats and we're into a downward spiral.

If you have access to the trailer every day walk him through it every day when you have no pressure to be anywhere. If you don't have access to it every day then load him as frequently as possible. If he won't load keep yourself calm and try standing still at the bottom of the ramp and making him walk round you at the end of his lead rope until he's prepared to go in. It may take a long time the first time (mine took 1 hour 20 minutes!) but it's something you don't need to get wound up about - he's just got to keep walking and you don't need to interact with him. Eventually you'll notice him look into the trailer, then you can see if he will load, if not, put him straight back on his circle. I've found that they may try to play up after this but once they get on their circle and realise that the only way they get to stop is by going in the trailer they give in remarkably quickly.
 
If you are 110% sure that the trailer is fine then you have two options IMO.. He is either in pain or something has happened whilst travelling.

Did anything happen the last time he was out/loaded (you mention pigs but don't say if this was the time before he played up)?
 
Hi. It might be due to the arthritis getting worse. Our mare with arthritis in coffin joints and pasterns travelled very badly, I think it was very painful for her.
 
He played up loading before he saw the pigs at the show but he's only played up since the trailer went home, I'm sure of that. I loaded him on three separate ocassions today. The first time when he came in from the field and was starving and it took half an hour to get him in. He ate his breakfast in there and I drove it a few feet and unloaded him. The second time was approx six hours later and it took him ten minutes or so - I shut the doors and took him round the block. The third time was about an hour later, when Dad arrived back at the yard to see how I'd got on earlier and I tried him again so dad could watch. He wouldn't go in so I opened it all up and he walked through it about four times then stood still and we did up all the ramps (front unload). He's quite anxious whilst in there, and whips off the ramp to come off it like he's scared of it. I noticed this morning when I first hitched up that the back off side wheel wasn't turning correctly. I rang my dad after I'd loaded and unloaded him and Dad came out to fix it. He couldn't find anything wrong with it but stripped the wheel down, checked the discs and shoes (that he'd replaced weeks before) and loosened it all off and bit (he knows what he's doing) and its been fine. As all trailers do the brakes seize from time to time, its happened before with the wheel sticking but if you go forwards and the reverse it releases. I've been in tears most of the day worrying about it all, I feel so desperately sorry for him as he's never had issues. He definetely didn't have a bad journey before he started playing up to load. A couple of people from the yard who've known him years say he's not being naughty, he is genuinely scared and I'm inclined to agree with them, he's not being naughty at all, there's something wrong somewhere.

I'm going to try him tomorrow as I'm going jumping, I've buted him tonight and in the morning in case he is feeling the motion of the vehicle through his coffin joints although he's not lame at all. I'm also going to squirt a bit of fly spray about half an hour before he loads in the trailer in case it is the smell of paint. If I can't load him in time to go to my class but it takes me a couple of hours or whatever instead then I will run him up to the riding club, ride around the car park and try and load to come home. I've packed my flourescent in the car in case he won't load and I can ride back home. If we get stuck at our show (too far to hack home) then I'm not sure what I will do, as I start a new job tomorrow, cross that bridge when we come to it I guess. :(

Thanks for your ideas guys x
 
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Miss L Toe said:
Maybe he does not want to jump any more, arthritis and all that. bute :(
Click to expand...

No, he want's to jump all right, he's dead happy - ears forward, and clearly loving his job. He's been out the last five times and got six double clears and three single clears (in single phase classes) with one elimination (jumped third try - show centre very kindly let me have another try at fence with water tray underneath). He's very consistent. We have had a third, two fourths a fifth and a six some of those have had mid thirty's in the class.

I took him last Sunday and we came 4th and 6th in the 2ft 6 and 2ft 9 with 35 and 37 in the class respectively. He took ten mins to load and jumped on the trailer on the way home. This was after Dad had released the sticking tyre the day before. Hopefully this is it and it was slightly sticking previouslly which had made him wary of loading.

He's buted on vets advice when the coffin joint arthritis kicks in, which has only been previous to the last two outings and last Sunday he was buted for the first time for this.

Thanks for your comments guys
 
Make sure he has LOADS of space when actually travelling, if you have a trailer, take the partition out and see if his problem is that he just needs to adjust himself to a different angle/spread his hind legs more. If you have a trailer camera it will become clear very quickly if that is the solution.

I had problems loading my mare for years, getting increasingly bad. Had 'experts' loaders out, etc but in fact the problem was that she was finding it difficult to balance when travelling. One day I read this tip on here and I have never had a problem again.

May not be the problem, but worth elimination. If you do a search on here, you will find that it has been a pretty magical solution for many people/horses. After all, it does sound as if your horse is trying to tell you that he has lost confidence for a reason, and I suspect that reason is that as he gets older, he is finding balancing more difficult and needs more room to spread his legs?! If definately won't make the problem worse!
 
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Applecart, get your trailer checked out thoroughly, inc. the floor. My money would be on something being wrong with it, and your horse knowing that.
 
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