Loading nightmare - At wits end!!!

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K9Wendy

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Mare does not load well... Used to load fine in trailer, then when we moved to new yard and she was using their fancy lorry (loads perfectly into it) she has been a nightmare to load on trailer.

She will trot or walk up to ramp, has two front feet on and stops. If you go behind or to the side of her she back off at high speed including off to the side.. The only way she will eventually load is with a bucket of feed. BUT this is not as simple as she sees food and loads immediately. She stands on ramp, takes a mouthful of feed, looks around her, takes another mouthful, and will eventually walk on. This can take anything from 5 minutes to nearly an hour. If you pull, push, slap or shout she backs off and the fuss starts all over again.

Today we nearly missed the hunt as she took so long to load, in all 45 minutes! She does her stopping getting food, looking around, moves 1/2 and inch, then back off ramp etc.. At the end of the hunt we were the last trailer on the road.. It got the stage where hubby and I finally lost it, daughter trotted her up and we tied two lead ropes together and pulled her on like they do at the races, except she backed off every time.. Eventually on last attempt I am ashamed to say I lost my temper and hit her one big whack on the backside with the leadrope and she went on.

I don't like resorting to violence, as it usually doesn't work, lunge lines don't work, she panics and pulls back! It's nearly impossibly to do repetitive loading every day as I cannot hitch trailer up.
Any suggestions?
 
Ah, mares. Sounds like one of mine!
Well, if she's stubbornly refusing to shift but is clearly not scared and is unlikely to kick you then I'd grab each foot in turn, pick it up and move it forward. In my experience most horses give up quite quickly and load OK. The key is not to let her back off and moving the feet seems to work in this regard. I try not to turn a horse away from a trailer/lorry unless absolutely necessary.
I know it can get VERY annoying, but well done for not resorting to the broom/lungewhip, etc!
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I find a be nice halter works really well.

I have had a couple of horses who either wouldn't load or used to rear up and try and back away and it has stopped them.

It works by putting pressure on the poll if the horse pulls back or pressure on the nose ifthe horse pulls forward. But it releases as soon as there is no pressure on it.

They cost about £30.

Some of mine won't load in a bridle or if you chase or hassle them but put the be nice on and the load immediately without a battle.
 
i have had one exactly the same u couldnt push, pull, slap and as for lunge lines he snapped about 4
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...

anyway he was at a comp 1 day with his new owners (loaners at the time) and after and and hour and a half
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to people came up and told them to put his bridle on have someone strong hold his head in a normal position, not down on the ground, but not let him shot it up. they then tied two lead ropes to the tie rings on the side of the trailer and crossed them underneath each other and put pressure on his bum and he went in. not being aloud to get his head up ment he couldnt push bak on the lunge lines. he can now be loaded any time any place anywhere by there 10 year old son in a headcollar and no lungelines!

hope this helps PM me if u would like me to explain in a bit more detail!
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Have you tried the water trick? Might seem really silly - but it does work. You flick water at the horse's bottom when you want it to go forward into the trailer (having already got it in position and straight). Can just flick a few drops at first - and if that doesnt work could build up to throwing a cup of water at her bottom. Advantage is you are throwing something that cant harm the horse, doesnt look bad if you do it in public - and just the surprise of it can be enough to move her forward. It worked on our young mare when loading early on (only took a few drops) and preferable to upsetting her with lungelines and whips etc
 
iv had exactly the same prob with my mare. Try loading her with a pressure halter or bridle. Mine was so bad I resorted to getting richard maxwell (horse behaviour expert) out- he was quite expensive but my mare hasnt had a second thorought about loading since!
 
If you actually gain control of her reverse you will get her on. Walk forward a few strides - then back her up a few. then forwards then back and keep going for about 10 mins - then walk up to the ramp and back her away. then back to the ramp then back away - then a step on and then back up. then walk up and back off don't go all the way in until she is almost loading herself. do not use feed as a reward until she is actually on the lorry. by allowing her to feed at each stride any horse with basic intelligence will maximise the number of strides and train you to give loads of feed. And don't just load her when you want to go anywhere. I used to load mine for a trip to Tescos. No pressure, no timescales and infinite patience. She doesn't sound frightened , just adamant she can't be bothered.
 
Took me a year to get his lordship to load like a baby on my own, we had all the useual problems, rearing, sideways in, flying out, nearly pulling trailer over if tied him up ect, I ended up feeding him in the trailer everyday 7 days a week light or dark until it became the norm for him to just walk straight in, eventually the penny dropped in his little brain that going in the trailer without a fight was easiest and loads with no problem, it is hard work in the beggining though.
 
We do already load with a bridle on, and have to clip leadrope to bit for control. I do believe we have conditioned her to stop for food on the ramp, sad as it is, it is all our fault, I will admit that. Some very good suggestions, of which I will have to try.

The frustration is the worst because suddenly when the notion takes madam she just walks in, we know it is not fear. Today was the worst and thankfully it was daylight and dry weather, we have done this in pouring rain and in the dark nearly in tears.

There are times I could simply cry!!
 
Our 17hh built like a public toilet stubborn gelding was a bad loader. The key to solving it was that you have to put the time into training outside of the times you actually need to go anywhere with them, and you have to be prepared to be there as long as it takes.

We took our lorry in the manege, put the foot in the lorry (right in at the end) and when he wouldnt load initially, allowed him to stand or move forward ( with a Dually halter) but not to move back or sideways, if he did that we would walk him round in a circle and back to face stright up the ramp again.

It actually only took one session and about half an hour for him to go in of his own accord, which felt like forever (ssooooo dull) but although we did some feeding in box after that, the critical thing was that first session because he had decided to go in with no force or compulsion from us,and so he couldnt really justify arguing next time!

Now he can still be cheeky and very occasionally has to be shown that the lunge line is coming out of the tack area, but he never has to be touched with it and even that's rare, normally he will now load straight on or within a few seconds.

Feel that there is hope because this is one of the few horsey problems that is hardly ever impossible to solve, unlike some of the others! So you will solve it, though I completely understand about the getting cross bit, it is SOOOOOOOO frustrating and other people all pile in trying to be helpful and their idea of help is tying your horses legs in a cats cradle.......:-)))

good luck,,,,let us know how you get on.....
 
I will second the controlling the reverse or more to the point, the direction and position that the feet move in. It really does pay to do some serious groundwork moving them around prior to loading. I have 2 fantastic loaders 99% of the time, the other 1% is my smaller one who is as strong as an ox despite his fine frame. Forward is so much simpler than reverse so if he stops and starts playing then he has to reverse again and again, nice and slow and then he will walk straight up no fuss.

You have to have time and patience thou and not just try it when on your way out.....
 
I have a feed bowl tied on to the front of the breast bar and make sure there is always some feed in there before I load. After a couple of times they load easily.

Many years ago, we had a bad loader and used a lunge cavesson, clipped a rope to the front ring, threaded the lungeline through a haynet ring at the front of the trailer and steadily pulled. Worked a treat.
 
Practice is the only way IMO. One of ours did the same when he arrived and was "testing" me. He would walk half way up, then stop and just stand there for 5 mins admiring the view! Then evenutally he'd suddenly just walk in! If we tried doing anything during this time to get him to hurry up, he'd have a huge strop and this is NOT a horse you can force to do anything! Violence would never work with him. In the end I got a squeezy bottle of water - as soon as he thought about stopping, mum squirted his bum with it, he was so surprised he went straight in! Did that about 4 times and now he goes straight in no problem! I also had success with a thin string halter which tightens if pulled. But you have to practice a bit on the flat first, pulling so he learns he needs to move forward to remove the pressure. Works very well for loading - especially as it stops them running backwards (usually!).

If this doesn't work, it is just a case of practice. Opening the whole trailer up and then just asking him to walk through it, go round and do it again and again and again! ONLY giving him a little bit of food once he goes in properly. Ive had success with making a trail of food up the ramp and in as well. Otherwise just generally loading, giving him dinner in there and then unloading. So he doesn't always link loading with going anywhere.
 
I find parking next to a wall or fence very helpful with a trailer means you only have to worry about one side then.
 
Apparently for a horse to learn something it has to do it at least 10 times for it to become a learned response, it sounds to me your mare has some how learned this obstinate behaviour! what you need to do is create a new learned response, take some time out to practice, load her up, and when you are loading her it is very important to not turn her away from the ramp, keep her facing forward at all times, when she is on, bring her off and re load her again, and again at least 20 times so she learns the response to walk straight on, reward her by all means when she is on. I personally never use a stick to load as often winds them up more, i have always used a lunge line above the hock, with some strong men either side! only releasing the pressure when horse walks forward.
 
Charlie was a nightmare loader. I tried food on the trailer/lorry floor, polos/carrots up ramp. An hour trying to coax him on. Absolutely nothing worked. I had some behavioural issues when being ridden. I turned to natural groundwork (Richard Maxwell) to solve these issues. This worked. Anyway, next time I came to load Charlie full of the usual expectations of not loading. So I was shocked and suprised when Charlie walked striaght on to the trailer and followed me in. Never had any loading probs since. My secret is to do regular natural groundwork. I always reward when in the trailer with polos
 
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