loading problems

[spiderweb4567]

hi don't know if anyone has got any tips or advice!
we are having problems loading my friends horse. we are only able to get acess to a lorry every now and again as we have to hire one!

Charlie is very nervous and force makes him worse. henever used to load at all, but with gentle persuation and encouragement and lots of food we managed to get him to a point where is actually will go into the box and eat his food. but th problem that we are having now is getting him to turn so that we can put the partition acorss when you push his bottom to get him to turn he just backs back down the ramp and off the lorry.
but normally on the ground away from the lorry when you push his bottom he will go over.

does any one have any tips or advice? we want to be able to do it gently and not force him and ruin all the good work we've done so far!

 

[spotty_pony]

You could try tying him up before you ask him to move over, so he can't back down the ramp. Keep talking to him and keep him calm by distracting him with treats while someone else shuts the partition.

 

[*hic*]

Have a lunge rein threaded through the tie ring with the free end outside the lorry so that when he loads you quickly clip the lunge rein on and a helper outside can hold his head in place whilst you turn his rear end. The idea is NOT to slam his head into the wall but merely to stop him getting off.

 

[mrussell]

I assume you are talking about loading into a lorry ? and that its a 7.5t lorry ?

We have helped lots of nervous loaders/travellers and start by removing all of the partitions. Pop the horse up, lead him to the right of the box as you go up. Have a helper close the gates behind him then lead him around to point forward. Ask someone to open the gates and lead him back down. Do this several times so he knows he has enough room to safely turn around in without banging himself. If he has trouble bending through his body, use a carrot like a bending exercise to bring his head around so he doesnt "freeze".

Make sure you have a hard hat and gloves on at all times.

Once youve shown him he can go in and turn around, start asking him to stand in the partition area (with out the partitions in initially). Next step is to put a partition right at the end of the lorry near the gates so you can swing then in before closing the gates.

You should find that if you keep repeating these steps, he will eventually grasp that its really not that difficult.

Good luck !

(we have sometimes taken 4 hours to load a nervous horse for someone at a show and its really difficult keeping "whip wavers" at bay so I know what youre going through !)