Loading tricks... chifney?

Michen

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I can't practice beforehand unfortunately. Have only ever travelled Torres to vets and back and had to sedate him to get him home. Any usual tricks for getting him into the trailer as a short term fix. I think I might try loading him in the chifney as I imagine this is what he's used to from racing (he is equally bad to load into a rear load lorry).

If worse comes to it... blindfold??
 
I had an ex racer who just wouldn't load if you tried to put him in the lorry or trailer straight away. Absolutely nothing would coax him in. However, I realised quite early on that all he needed was to stand and look at it for a few minutes without any attempt at loading him. Walking him away and past the ramp and then just letting him stand and look (took 5 - 10 minutes). Then I would get a bowl of food and he would go straight in. If I didn't spend this time with him before even trying to walk him up the ramp he would go beserk, rearing, running back, you name it. Probably won't work the same for Torres, but worth a try.
 
Can you back the trailer right up to his stable door so there are only two options, stable or trailer?
 
Is he motivated by food at all? I used to only feed my horse half his breakfast if he was due to go on the trailer and he would load happily and have the rest when in. Can you get a bit of Sedalin gel to help a bit?
 
There is not short term fix but make sure you have everything open all ramps down partitions out if possible. Have people on hand who are competent and will do as you ask when required. Be set up with lunge lines, feed etc so all is to hand. Keep your cool and allow yourself a stupid amount of time. Also could try having the trailer parked against a wall so it forms a solid barrier on one side of the rear ramp.
I had a bit of a situation a few years ago where without fail I had to load my mare who has always been tricky, boringly we were borrowing a friends rice richardson trailer (big one) and put it this way I couldn't get her to stay on it. We removed all the partitions and got her so she would walk through but the minute I tried to stop her in it she would either reverse or charge out the front at 90 mph. So we went through the whole tricky loader options and eventually got her on...she was twitched, blind folded, lunge line behind her and I moved every leg each step until she was in. It was the most stressful thing ever yet at the other end she walked off cool as a cucumber!! I've never had to resort to all that since as I now have my own trailer (Ifor 510) which she more than happily loads onto.
 
Just to add my experience to the mix. As lottipony has said, most important to have people with you who are prepared to be as patient as you and do as you ask and give yourself a stupid amount of time!
My horse is a very cooperative chap normally; just doesn't like to go into the trailer. He travels brilliantly and strolls out the other end without a hair out of place.
I spent lots of time trying all sorts of different methods; feed, ( he is a foodie), bridle,waiting it out- friend made coffee for me whilst he stood, planted at the bottom of the ramp! moving his shoulders and not allowing him to stand still, placing feet on ramp, pressure headcollar- the more he felt the pressure the more he pulled back so stopped as he was hurting himself!- definatley won't be using that again .... I found any force was met with even more force back from him! Not fostering the relationship I want to have with my horse. Lunge line didn't worry him- he sat / leaned back into them!!! Made barricades at side of ramp so he had no where to go but forwards. All these methods failed.
Then I remembered a method I'd learned years ago. With a knowledgeable and fairly strong helper to discourage him from moving away from the trailer, I used a lunge whip to simply tickle at his heels so he couldn't stand still. After 3 hours, he was in in less than 30 seconds. Led him out, repeated 4x then left him in and went for coffee. Repeated another 3x.
So i know that works for me and is minimally stressful as long as I have the right person to help. I know he'll keep testing me but, because he is clever, will eventually go in when he sees the lunge whip coming.
I didn't get to my lesson that day but achieved a lot in other ways.:)
Hope some of this might help- sorry it's a bit lengthy.
 
My ex racer became a nightmare to load when he once knocked his head unloading. From then on he would go in but come out at 100mph. As you can imagine this was less than ideal and he soon learned that he didn't want to go in at all (and you can hardly blame him).

I took him to a natural horsemanship guy for another reason and he worked on his loading. He put three roadword barriers round the ramp (the Orange/red and white ones) one either side and one like a gate to open and shut. He walked him toward the ramp and shut the barrier behind him and then let my horse have a think. He asked him to come forward. Naturally my horse moved away backing into the barriers and then shot forwards (they are made of plastic so had he crashed into them they wouldnt have caused no harm and fell over). This was of his own accord though, there was no pulling, shouting or bribing and my horse had to work it out for himself. There wasn't really anywhere to go other than in the trailer and upon asking a few times and him backing up and coming against the barrier he walked in the trailer.

I couldn't replicate that exactly so We now use a lunge line and hold it very straight, I do not wrap it round his bum. I have two helpers stand with the line straight behind and if my horse backs into the line it is a 'barrier' for him to move away from. For extra guidance the helpers may continue to walk forward with him up the ramp, lightly pressure on and then release instantly as he's moving forward ( I find the release is key). He's has never been an issue since. If he has a day were he thinks and stops on the ramp I will go get the lunge line and as soon as he sees it he will walk straight on.
 
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I had an ex racer who just wouldn't load if you tried to put him in the lorry or trailer straight away...all he needed was to stand and look at it for a few minutes without any attempt at loading him. Walking him away and past the ramp and then just letting him stand and look (took 5 - 10 minutes). Then I would get a bowl of food and he would go straight in.

This is what I do with mine, some people seem to think you should just bang halter on and walk straight into trailer but I think not being allowed to assess the risk is what causes the problems a lot of times. Let them stand and look, and also, another tip, don't *try* to get them forwards, let them move forward themselves, all you do is block them from moving backwards (if possible, if they feel that strongly about it, let them back off and look from further away) and eventually when they've had a look and thought about it and realised they cant do anything else instead, they go in.
 
Will you be alone? If so, this is probably a bit of a dodgy but effective way of getting him on. It used to work with my very stubborn old boy who knew he could play up if I was on my own (never a problem if I had back-up!). Get a lunge line and attach it to his headcollar. Thread line under breast bar and then back over the top (like a pulley). Stand behind him and encourage him forwards while taking up the slack in the lunge line. As you're behind he won't realise it's you 'pulling' him forwards so might be more likely to go on (mine would deliberately do the opposite to what I asked!) and at the same time you can encourage him forwards from behind. By going under and then over the breast bar (rather than the other way round) you'll also have something to help counter him if he goes up and you're in the right position to do the back up quickly before he can shoot off backwards. You can reward him for going forwards by loosening the lunge line a little and letting him stand for a moment before asking again.
 
I've found that with tricky loaders time invested in understanding how to use a Dually halter, and spending time working wih the horse in the Dually pays off massively. May be worth a go.
 
Another vote for a Dually, got my ex racer loading. He also liked to stop and have a think, would get 2 feet on ramp and stop, at that point I let him have a look (this time gradually got shorter but a couple of minutes) and mostly then when I asked him to walk on again he would. Ropes/people/thngs behind him made him worse and we would run backwards and rear, and would kick out at people, was best just me and him.
 
You didn't actually say what he does? It's hard to recommend anything and personally I would never advise using a chifney to load. Do you put bedding in the lorry/trailer so it looks and smells more like a stable?
 
Thanks everyone. I actually used to ride him in a dually and did loads of groundwork with it before he went lame but it makes no difference when it comes to loading. He just plants himself. Might put a couple of hooves on the ramp but will then go backwards, spin and stand on his hind legs if you push him hard enough. All with his little ears pricked forward and a smile on his face...

He's fine when in, travels like a lamb.

Edited to say food has made no difference either!
 
It may seem like he has a smile on his face but they don't refuse just to be awkward, can you get the trailer a couple of hours before you need it and just calmly keep asking for a bit more each time with pressure/release. My friend showed me how the other day and horse has gone from rearing menace to calmly walking in, all in the space of an hour! If you say where you are someone may know someone locally who can help you on the day.
 
It may seem like he has a smile on his face but they don't refuse just to be awkward, can you get the trailer a couple of hours before you need it and just calmly keep asking for a bit more each time with pressure/release. My friend showed me how the other day and horse has gone from rearing menace to calmly walking in, all in the space of an hour! If you say where you are someone may know someone locally who can help you on the day.

Hmmm, I have to disagree with that I'm afraid! I do think he is just generally awkward, as he will suddenly just go yep- fine and walk straight in like he's done it all his life (which indeed he has!). I can forgive him being awkward to load in a trailer but there's no reason for him to be a difficult loader in a lorry, he's been a racehorse for 5 years and travelled all over! Hence why I think he is maybe taking the mickey as they probably always loaded him in the chifney. But I don't like using them!
 
I had an ex racer who just wouldn't load if you tried to put him in the lorry or trailer straight away. Absolutely nothing would coax him in. However, I realised quite early on that all he needed was to stand and look at it for a few minutes without any attempt at loading him. Walking him away and past the ramp and then just letting him stand and look (took 5 - 10 minutes). Then I would get a bowl of food and he would go straight in. If I didn't spend this time with him before even trying to walk him up the ramp he would go beserk, rearing, running back, you name it. Probably won't work the same for Torres, but worth a try.


I'll try this as usually my method is just to face him straight at it, and clearly that's not successful. He does enjoy defying all logic so perhaps it will work. The vet nurses were pretty shocked when they saw how quickly the lovely, sweet, quiet dope on a rope they had in could go up on his hind legs. Obviously this is a problem that will need to be sorted long term but at the moment the priority is just getting him there and not messing around the very kind person whose going out of her way to pick him up!
 
Chiffney will help with the control must admit had to load last horse in one as he knew he could drag me around, sometimes I would forget to attach the lead rope to it and he would load perfectly off the head collar as long as chiffney was in gob. Key is staying calm flipping hard when under time constraints!
 
This is what I do with mine, some people seem to think you should just bang halter on and walk straight into trailer but I think not being allowed to assess the risk is what causes the problems a lot of times. Let them stand and look, and also, another tip, don't *try* to get them forwards, let them move forward themselves, all you do is block them from moving backwards (if possible, if they feel that strongly about it, let them back off and look from further away) and eventually when they've had a look and thought about it and realised they cant do anything else instead, they go in.
This is usually my attitude too, although my little Arab mare is the opposite. You can't let her think about it, or she simply won't go in. The longer you give her, the more resolute she becomes! A few years ago I learned that the best way to load her is to walk her straight up to the ramp and on at a brisk walk without giving her a second to stop or think. This made my life a huge deal easier, as she could be very difficult to load onto a lorry. She wouldn't rear or anything like that, but just stand at the foot of the ramp and refuse to budge. I actually found that a little run up helped a bit too - I think if we approach the lorry at a brisk jog she doesn't have time to process the fact that she could refuse to go on! She sees it as not optional! I'm not sure if this is the case for any other horses though, she's quite a particular horse!
 
Hmmm, I have to disagree with that I'm afraid! I do think he is just generally awkward, as he will suddenly just go yep- fine and walk straight in like he's done it all his life (which indeed he has!). I can forgive him being awkward to load in a trailer but there's no reason for him to be a difficult loader in a lorry, he's been a racehorse for 5 years and travelled all over! Hence why I think he is maybe taking the mickey as they probably always loaded him in the chifney. But I don't like using them!

Why do you think being a racer he was loaded in a chifney? I work on two racing yards and can honestly say I've never ever seen a horse loaded in a chifney- If ones difficult we use the same route as most people.
However I can totally totally sympathise! My own horse WILL NOT load and there is no reason for it as he loaded fine before I had him. I know this for a fact as I was his groom and loaded him! Like you I figure he's just being awkward and I'm usually very much in the camp of believing horses never just mess round for the hell of it! My boss can get behind him and he go's on instantly but alone or with anyone else not a chance!
This weekend we are moving yards and I'm dreading it. He has excellent behaviour leading and in general on the ground...until the lorry ramp is lowered!
I'm going to give a chifney a try myself tbh, failing that I'll resort to calling my boss and soaking up the Pi** take which I will never hear the end of!
Good luck :)
 
I think they can just be awkward. When we had the trailer my horse would sometimes waltz in without a care in the world and other times put his front feet on the ramp and admire the view until he felt like going in. Coming back from hunting once he stood for the best part of an hour like this, wouldn't move backwards or forwards and as I was on my own I decided to wait him out.....I did nothing to make him change his mind, just held the rope and he walked in like a lamb.

There's no simple answer but patience is definitely the key. Good luck, hope he goes on eventually.
 
Some of them can just be awkward. Mine would load like a dream if there was anybody else around - they didn't need to be near him or doing anything, he just knew I had backup if I needed it so didn't play up but the second he knew I was alone, he'd start. He would also trot round me in 5m circles in the field and b****r off the second I took a step towards him. You could almost see the git laughing at you.

I know you're in a tricky situation Michen, you can't do any prep as he's lame but you need to get him to the vet. Just allow yourself plenty of time to get him loaded and try to stay as calm as poss.
 
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