Loading/Travelling?

B.F.G

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I have a pony that is a first class pain in the rear end when it comes to loading! He will sometimes happily walk in, other times he locks his neck and tanks off. I've tried loading him with treats, patience (a couple of hours of me sat at the front of the trailer waiting for him to walk in!), Lunge lines round his bum, bridles, different types of head collars, different people loading, ramps down, bars/partitions open etc. He travels well, never rushes out when we get to destination. He will happily walk in through the front and out the back. If we put any kind of pressure on him he tanks off, literally can't be stopped by anyone but just goes far enough away to make us move away from trailer. We've tried different trailers. When he is in the "right mood" he trots in to the trailer. Tried a lorry and although he goes in he doesn't like the herringbone style, we turn him to stand side on and he starts to panic.
One time he refused point blank to get on the ramp so I took the front bar down and he stepped in and just stood where the bar would be placed. Like I said he happily goes in sometimes and refuses other times, there is no sense or pattern to him loading (or not!).
I don't know what else to try with him apart from travel him backwards in an ordinary iw trailer (510/511). Has anyone done it? We "walk" him through the trailer as much as we can and even shut it all up when he is loaded as if we are going somwhere. Also if anyone on the yard has a trailer around (just got back/leaving) then we always take the opportunity. We also park it in different places to see if it helps.
Sorry for long post, hope someone has had a similar experience and has overcome it. ?
 

Marigold4

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Try Richard Maxwell's pressure halter. Watch the DVd that comes with it first, do the groundwork, then practice loading. It will take time to convince your horse, but once convinced horse should load reliably ever after. It took me 3.5 hours to convince a difficult loader but she never put up a fuss again, so time well spent!
 

Shay

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When you practice lopading always make sure he is padded in exactly the same way as he would travel. I've seen owners utterly bemused that thier horse will walk through the trailer, eat on the trailer etc then refuse to get on when they are actually going somewhere. But they only put the travel pads on when they are really going out. Pain though it is - pad him for practice and practice very day for at least a week.

I would echo the Dually. We have a Connie atm who can be randomly akward to load and if you put too much pressure on him he will rear and run back. He isn't afraid - he is stubborn. It has to be his choice. We tried bridles, lines around the back, treats... everything. What works is a dually and a long line so if he pulls back the human doesn't move. He can have his hissy fit and get right back to where he was. We ask once gently and release. Then more firmly but always ask and release rather than a constant pull which he would resist. We also load with the front bar down, the front ramp open and the rear swining partiction secured to the side so he is walking into a more open space. He doesn't rush through he stands patiently and waits for the bar to go up. Everything has to be quite calm - as if we had all the time in the world. If we get anxious he will resist.

Do watch the video that comes with the dually carefully. It won't be effective if you don't use it correctly.
 

holeymoley

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Yours sounds exactly the same as mine! 90% of the time will load straight away and the other 10% he says ‘nah don’t want to today’. He will also load himself and will load via the front ramp too if asked. I gave up competing years ago as he gets too stressed and that’s if we get there so now he only travels to vets or to hack. I think you have to have a very laid back attitude to it. The more you get wound up or angry the more he says not a chance. Pressure doesn’t work with him. The one time he didn’t load recently I sat on the ramp with him at the end for 45mins until there wasn’t really anything else for him to do except walk on it. We walked in and out a few times then I took him a short drive and came back.

Sorry no actual help. Luckily he doesn’t bog off anymore, he just stands there. I use a single trailer so I think part of it is not having a friend next to him.
 

B.F.G

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Thankyou for replies, the only head collar I haven't tried is the Richard Maxwell one, what makes it different to others such as dually/parelli etc?
I don't own my own transport but can use a friend's trailer whenever I want and it's normally the one he travels in so gets used to it. He never wears boots or rug when travelling so always load him as if travelling, he isn't fed in there but mainly because he only gets a handful to have supplement in. I do use treats and he gets a treat/carrot once in but again as soon as any pressure is put on him mentally or physically he can't cope and runs off. Same goes for if someone even says hi to me and he goes.......he thinks I'm distracted then!
I've sat in the front of the trailer with everything open for over an hour recently and he just fell asleep half on the ramp and half off. Annoyingly the workmen started driving in and out with rattly trailers and he just didn't want to know after that. Hes not even big and I'm putting him into a iw510 and 2 other trailers that always seem to be out with ramps down are a 511 and 510. So disheartening when he enjoys going out, doesn't get upset travelling and is cool as a cucumber to unload.
 

exracehorse

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Feel your pain. Done a 15 mile long distance ride at the weekend in the heat. Sod wouldn’t load to come home. Everyone was leaving. Car park becoming more quieter. I was getting more stressed. Had the usual ‘helpers’ who made it ten time’s worse. With him buggering off at one point after someone got a lunge whip out.
 

holeymoley

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Feel your pain. Done a 15 mile long distance ride at the weekend in the heat. Sod wouldn’t load to come home. Everyone was leaving. Car park becoming more quieter. I was getting more stressed. Had the usual ‘helpers’ who made it ten time’s worse. With him buggering off at one point after someone got a lunge whip out.

OMG these people are the worst. Always someone who thinks they can handle it better than anyone else. Usually with the lunge whip!
 

Shay

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Thankyou for replies, the only head collar I haven't tried is the Richard Maxwell one, what makes it different to others such as dually/parelli etc?

The basic principle is the same - but the dually releases more quickly and is more difficult to accidentally misuse and cause pain. The Richard Maxwell and the Parelli have very thin rope so if the horse pulls back the thin rope will dig in. The Dually is thicker so doesn't bite into the skin in the same way. Any kit can be kind or cruel in the wrong hands - but the dually is the easiest to use correctly.
 

Marigold4

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Thankyou for replies, the only head collar I haven't tried is the Richard Maxwell one, what makes it different to others such as dually/parelli etc?
I don't own my own transport but can use a friend's trailer whenever I want and it's normally the one he travels in so gets used to it. He never wears boots or rug when travelling so always load him as if travelling, he isn't fed in there but mainly because he only gets a handful to have supplement in. I do use treats and he gets a treat/carrot once in but again as soon as any pressure is put on him mentally or physically he can't cope and runs off. Same goes for if someone even says hi to me and he goes.......he thinks I'm distracted then!
I've sat in the front of the trailer with everything open for over an hour recently and he just fell asleep half on the ramp and half off. Annoyingly the workmen started driving in and out with rattly trailers and he just didn't want to know after that. Hes not even big and I'm putting him into a iw510 and 2 other trailers that always seem to be out with ramps down are a 511 and 510. So disheartening when he enjoys going out, doesn't get upset travelling and is cool as a cucumber to unload.

Here's a link to the pressure halter. Scroll down for details. I find the way you can put pressure on but instantly release it is really effective for training. The rope is slippy so slides through easily. Once they are trained, you don't have to use much pressure but you might have a fight at the start. It was the only one that worked for my difficult loader.

https://www.richard-maxwell.com/merchandise.html
 

claret09

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i completely understand where you are coming from. i have been there and done that. several years ago i took my boy to grant bazin for a week - he was amazing and really helped. i have been back several time since - he worked with monty roberts but is really good with horses. we even managed to load on the road with grant's help. i am not saying at that point he was "cured".. it has taken many years of being really patient - i feel like i have to play a game of chess. i very, very rarely accept help from other people - generally it makes the situation worse - people really do mean well and want to help. he has got better over the years. however, ironically, i seem to have had a real break through since lockdown. as soon as i was able i have been hiring our local riding club several times a week. i think i have finally bored him into submission!! he absolutely loves going out but gets a combination of anxiety and excitement, we finally seem to be getting to a point where he is calmer about going out - bearing in mind he is 23!!! just love my boy
 

doodle

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Just a thought. Do you load and unload several times while practicing? I discovered this annoyed soli. So when we practiced he went in once, got his reward, but the actual reward was to stop practicing. It was like he said he had done it and didn’t need to do it again thanks. So once on and off and then he got his tea.
A dually helped him and as someone has said it was best just me and him. He would always walk up, put 2 feet on the ramp and stop. I then had to use a well practised amount of pressure so he didn’t switch off, but not too much that he went rearing backwards and with the exact correct amount of time to stand and think.
I have to say I really appreciate Robin who walks up from any angle with absolutely no fuss!!
 

TheMule

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If he runs off then you need to have a more enclosed area around the trailer. Use a fence/ wall on one side if you can and then try to create 3 more sides- even just some jumps will do. Give him a square about 5m around the ramp
 
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