loading

[carolynn7]

My 14h pony is an absolute nighmare to load and I wondered if anyone had any tips! Once she is in she is perfect but she wont walk up the ramp

She hasn't had any bad experiences and she is loaded into the largest ifor williams trailer.
Any tips would be much apprieciated!

 

[carys220]

Try loading her into a box? It might be something to do with the trailer...it would certainly rule it out.

 

[fraza_m]

Keep trying all I can say, my mare is exactly the same, box's she fine, trailers she will take hours sometimes.
Try putting your ponies compaion in the box so he feels more safe, or try feeding at the bottom of the ramp each day then gradually move up into the trailer etc...
Its all about just getting them used to it I think, over the past 6 months my mare has got a lot better and will load in about 20 mins now!
Good Luck

 

[charlotte162]

my friends pony would not load for neither love nor money until she put a lunge line on him and put it through the haynet ring inside the trailer then stand outside, and then sort of reeled him in, as soon as there is slack you take it not sure if that makes sense.
ive seen the lunge line around the hindquaters work a few times but can be dangerous it your horse pulls back and becomes tangled in the lungeline.
fooooooood

 

[Bosworth]

the best way i have found to get a horse to load is to teach it to reverse. walk it forward - back it up walk it forward back it up. eventually get it to the bottom of the ramp but don't let it go on it and back it up. for the first day just do this about a dozen times. don't let it go on, just keep backing away. All done calmly until you can just say back and he goes back. you then own his reverse. next day - exactly the same. only let him put one foot on the ramp - nothing more - and back him up straight away. not hurried backing just calmly. If you do this patiently over a period of about a week eventually leading him half way in and back out - then the whole way in and back out without fastening him in, you show him that he is not trapped, he can get out. By all means have the front ramp down so he can see out, but don't walk him through - don't show him a front escape route as that will encourage him to charge straight through. What you are basically doing is saying to him 'you can't go in there, no matter how much you want to - until I say ok' Only after he comfortably walks on and walks back can you then put the bar across and get the back up. You need someone to do this for you, doing it yourself for a while is setting yourself up to fail. Don't rush it - i have had bad loaders become brilliant loaders in a day, some took a week. Non have taken more than that. You want to set him up for the rest of his life so time spent now solving the problem rather than fighting each time will mean you have horses that self load.

My horses now self load and un load. I say on you go, they walk straight on and I shut the bar behind. To come off I unclip them, go to the back - un hook the bar and say back - they reverse off slowly with their lead rope and as they back off I can catch hold of the lead rope. One of them was a horse who had had a serious fright, was allegedly an appalling traveller. When I got him he would go nowhere near a trailer or lorry. He had major panic attacks breaking into a sweat rearing and plunging. I was advised to take him in a lorry- never a trailer. I only had a trailer at the time so he had to learn, he did and now is a travelling star, will go in lorries, trailers and in seconds, no hesitation. good luck. keep calm and lots of praise.

 

[Jennypenny]

Have you tried using lunge lines? Attaching one side to the trailer and going around the back of your pony?

 

[DollyDolls]

I agree with Bosworth. -Very good method.

My second trick is to tickle the back of the fetlocks with a dressage whip. They hate the funny sensation & walk forward away from it & into the box.

 

[the watcher]

[ QUOTE ]
Have you tried using lunge lines? Attaching one side to the trailer and going around the back of your pony?

[/ QUOTE ]

the problem with using this method, or hauling on a lunge line as described above is that the horse does not learn to load - it just learns to comply with the force being exerted - or not in some cases, and then where do you go?
Teaching the horse with ground handling methods and no pressure is very much more the way to go in the long term, even if those methods vary slightly

 

[BigBird146]

My horse can be a nightmare and I've tried every trick in the book. This is the only one that works **for him** and they are all different! He is very stubborn and won't be physically bullied with lunge lines etc.
I have a be nice halter and long rope with a flicky end (nh type thing). I take him to the bottom of the ramp and if he won't try and load I whizz him round in as tight a circle as I can as close to the bottom of the ramp as I can, using the end of the rope to flick towards his quarters (not touching him). I then immediatley step up the ramp with my back to him. I f he doesn't come at this stage I do it again. He usually loads the 2nd or 3rd time. If he won't go in after that, increase the pressure by getting a whip and just tapping him with it on his quarters (NOT hitting, just annoying him) or a schooling whip with a plastic bag tied on (again just an irritant).
The idea is the tight circling is a form of pressure and if he comes up the ramp into the trailer give him a stroke and a rub and thats his reward.
I was shown this method by a natural horseman, it is a bit more full on than the Monty Roberts method (backwards and forwards) but the problem with that was it taught my horse he could run backwards out of the trailer!!

I have also removed the partition from my trailer as my travels much better without it and it helps with loading.
Hope this helps!

 

[Bosworth]

The running backwards means you don't actually own his reverse - he does, and he uses it as a form of evasion - so you need to keep on taking him backwards, if he goes back, keep pushing him back, until it is on your terms. He has learned that going back stops him from having to do what he doesn't want to do. And also means he has not accepted that he has to load. I have seen your method work, and it obviously does for you - to an extent - But with the method detailed above your horse will self load - no more planting and reversing. Lunge lines, a stick, etc may force the horse to load but they do mean that you will never be able to load your horse on your own. You will always need someone there to load with you. if you spend lots of time teaching your horse to load and really crack it then you have a horse that loads for life.

 

[annunziata]

We taught rocky to load by tapping him with a whip, we tap him on the left side to get him to move over and same on the right then above his shoulder to move forward so now we stand at the bottom of the ramp and I tap him and have the rope in the other hand and keep doing this till he moves forward one he moves I stop then if he stops again I tap away till he moves. Now i only tap him once and he get straight on.

 

[BigBird146]

Mmm, sorry Bosworth, I hear what you are saying, but I have to disagree that yours is the only way to load on your own. I have taught my horse to self load, which he will at home when he knows it's not 'for real' but never when it is for real... just goes back to messing about.
I can (and do, all the time) load him on my own this way. I have no-one else to help so I have to do it all on my own. Once he is in the trailer, I give him a pat and just loop the long rope over the breast bar while I do up the back bar (so he can't turn around). Then I clip the ready tied leadrops on to his headcollar. Then do the back doors and top door up.
It can be quite frustrating when every-one thinks their way is best, and the only way, then it doesn't work for you. I have had a number of NH poeple try and help me crack my horses' loading problems, and the MR method just doesn't work long-term **for him**. They are all different and what I described does work for us, and its safe and can be done on my own.
I think the OP asked for ideas, this is mine!

 

[bex1984]

may sound strange but have you tried letting her load herself?!

My pony was taking longer to load each time, just standing at the bottom of the ramp refusing to budge, you couldn't pull him in, or push him in, he's incredibly strong. Was quite happy when he was on there though.

I recently discovered by accident that he just wants to do it himself (stubborn, opinionated coblet!!)...I get someone to stand right at the front of the trailer holding his feed bucket with a little treat in, walk purposefully towards the ramp and let go as he starts to walk up the ramp - he happily walks (or trots) in on his own.

 

[OWLIE185]

Practice makes perfect.

You are going to have to practice loading every day for 8 weeks. Use patience and do it quietly.

Feed your horse in the trailer every day until loading becomes automatic. Keep some feed permanently in the trailer so that it smells of feed.

If possible park trailer downhill so that the ramp is as close to horizontal as possible.

 

[dwi]

Having you tried poking a broom very lightly against the pony's bottom? We did it once with Daisy and since then she has loaded beautifully