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Jenna1406

Jenna1406

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Hi, I am new to the site and am in need of some advise on loading.

My horse who I have had for 5 years wasnt always the best at loading, would have a wee tantrum but go in the box or some days would run into the box (chestnut mare, need i say more) however, the last three times that I have tried to load her I have had major issues.

She had been loading fine until she was taken in a 505, she planted her feet but eventually went in, apparently she didnt stand still for this ride (ex part loaner took her) and I was there to load her going home and she was almost refusing to go in but ex part loaner, waved a whip at her back in and she went in.

Last time I got her in a box was a 511 and when she got back one travel boot was off and her leg was all cut (personally the person I think was driving to fast and their horse was losing its balance).

Anyway, I tried to take her to the beach last weekend in a 505 but she wouldnt go in, she was rearing, planting her feet. I never use lunge lines around her bum. this is what she was like the last few times.

She is head shy anyway but recently she has become more head shy (for what reason, I dont know) :(

does anyone have any advise, ideas, miracles that can help me get my mare back in the box with confidence?

Sorry for the long winded story.

Jenna:(:confused:
 
First of all you need to establish if she is genuinely scared, or just taking the mick. I would suspect the latter if she has had a bad experience.

Will she load if she has a companion?

Have you tried her without the partition?

Have you got somone else to help?

Have you tried feeding her in the trailer?

I have had some sucess with the Monty Roberts Dually halter for stubborn loaders. Also if she is rearing on the ramp I would invest in a poll guard, just in case!
 
Sidney said:
First of all you need to establish if she is genuinely scared, or just taking the mick. I would suspect the latter if she has had a bad experience.

Will she load if she has a companion?

Have you tried her without the partition?

Have you got somone else to help?

Have you tried feeding her in the trailer?

I have had some sucess with the Monty Roberts Dually halter for stubborn loaders. Also if she is rearing on the ramp I would invest in a poll guard, just in case!
Click to expand...

Hi,

Thanks for the reply.

We have tried her with both my wee pony and a horse to load and nothing,

Not tried it without the partition yet but that is next on my list.

There was quite a few of us trying different things, one hold her, one giving her a wee nudge, one with a feed etc.

Does the dually halter have poll pressure as she tends not to agree with that?

Never thought of a poll guard, on my list. :D
 
You need to do the pressure halter work away from the trailer first.

I would suggest you read Richard maxell's train your young horse and the section on loading.

Pressure halters are not about exerting force on the horse it's about training them to move away from light pressure and then using it in all sorts of situations. RM covers this very thoroughly in his book. Well worth a read.
 
FfionWinnie said:
You need to do the pressure halter work away from the trailer first.

I would suggest you read Richard maxell's train your young horse and the section on loading.

Pressure halters are not about exerting force on the horse it's about training them to move away from light pressure and then using it in all sorts of situations. RM covers this very thoroughly in his book. Well worth a read.
Click to expand...

I am unable to use any sort of pressure on my mare, as she reacts in anyway by throwing her head up in the air and with her been head shy, I cant ask her to move away from it when she already has an issue with it :(
 
The Richard Maxwell training halter is amazing and sorted out our chesnut mare's loading problems. It comes with a DVD showing you how to use it. I have used it twice at shows when people have had problems loading their horses! They have been amazed by it too!
 
My approach from the start with a new horse is to be firm, load briskly and be prepared to put a lunge line around its bottom. I find pressure from behind is the most effective - push on bottom or use stick or lunge line (the best.) This is for starting out, and as yours has become secondarily difficult may not be so effective.
Make the experience as positive as possible. Always have a nice big haynet and preferably a horse a bit hungry. Drive sensitively (always amazed at how carelessly some people drive with horses). I always imagine I am driving crates of crystal champagne glasses. Careful cornering, braking and really slow around round abouts.
My horse started out nervous loading (would load but then try to back out) very nervous travelling. He now loads easily and has become much calmer when travelling alone, but except for when I collected him, I travelled him most times (say 3 times out of 4) with another horse. He is now calmer as I always give him a careful ride and he associates the trailer with food. Also try to give him a graze or similar when we arrive.
You could try loading him with a team of people one leading, two on back to provide hind end pressure, one at side to prevent run-outs - get him on ( one way or another) then take him for a short trip. I think another horse in trailer helps, but with a reluctant horse may not be enough. Good luck and let us know what works.
 
I really like the my Dually - have achieved great things with Bree with it. Both halters seem to work on similar principles.

Paula
 
Jenna1406 said:
Does the dually halter have poll pressure as she tends not to agree with that?
Click to expand...

My boy was a *****e to load and we started using the dually as he rears and can go over if you exert too much poll pressure and has also learnt that he can evade to lunge line by doing this too.

Dually has worked wonders for us no poll pressure in fact no pressure at all when moving in the correct direction! I load (full width breast bar) my boy by walking over the ramp sideways to start, then up the ramp back up, into the trailer back up, straight through, turn around and up the front ramp and through then get someone to whip the breast bar up and we're in! I play around with it. I think he'll just go in but superstitious to break the pattern :o

Good luck!
 
Have a read through this:
http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=518139&highlight=solo+harness

There is a video of the harness on my website.

The key for you is probably time. I'm fairly sure that horses have a different perception of time to us, so what feels like a long time to us doesn't necessarily to them. How patient have you been in your attempts to load? Have you given it several hours of gently asking for the same thing? That is what I would try - gentle pressure, reward ANY positive behaviour, ignore anything negative and just calmly start again, and give it lots and lots of time and patience.
 
Samuelissimo said:
My approach from the start with a new horse is to be firm, load briskly and be prepared to put a lunge line around its bottom. I find pressure from behind is the most effective - push on bottom or use stick or lunge line (the best.) This is for starting out, and as yours has become secondarily difficult may not be so effective.
Make the experience as positive as possible. Always have a nice big haynet and preferably a horse a bit hungry. Drive sensitively (always amazed at how carelessly some people drive with horses). I always imagine I am driving crates of crystal champagne glasses. Careful cornering, braking and really slow around round abouts.
My horse started out nervous loading (would load but then try to back out) very nervous travelling. He now loads easily and has become much calmer when travelling alone, but except for when I collected him, I travelled him most times (say 3 times out of 4) with another horse. He is now calmer as I always give him a careful ride and he associates the trailer with food. Also try to give him a graze or similar when we arrive.
You could try loading him with a team of people one leading, two on back to provide hind end pressure, one at side to prevent run-outs - get him on ( one way or another) then take him for a short trip. I think another horse in trailer helps, but with a reluctant horse may not be enough. Good luck and let us know what works.
Click to expand...

Thanks. We had someone leading her and myself and another girl linked arms, so give a wee bit of pressure on her bum but she is sooo stubborn, its unreal.

Im going to start tonight and just led her have her dinner of the ramp, she doesnt even need to be on it. Just around it. Take things from there.

Its more frustrating than anything because I KNOW she can load perfectly (at times) :( x
 
soloequestrian said:
Have a read through this:
http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=518139&highlight=solo+harness

There is a video of the harness on my website.

The key for you is probably time. I'm fairly sure that horses have a different perception of time to us, so what feels like a long time to us doesn't necessarily to them. How patient have you been in your attempts to load? Have you given it several hours of gently asking for the same thing? That is what I would try - gentle pressure, reward ANY positive behaviour, ignore anything negative and just calmly start again, and give it lots and lots of time and patience.
Click to expand...

First night that she wouldnt load, after 3 hours I had to admit defeat as I was getting worked up and she was getting stressed, it was a no win situation. I never try and get her in, in 5 minutes, I alwaysgive myself plenty of time to ask. Treats, feed, haynet the lot. I think i am just going to have to be patient and just hope that it clicks again with her :( x
 
It sounds to me as though your horse is quite scared of going into the trailer and is not bein stubborn she is frightened in case she hurts herself and she knows she will be trapped inside a moving box with no chance of using her instinct and being able to flee.

I think you are doing the right thing by feeding her close to or on the ramp of the trailer, you need to take your time and let her take her time too. Don't push her, think outside of the box!

Try to work out exactly what it is she dislikes, is it the noise of the ramp, feeling claustrophobic, the travelling itself, having walls all around touching her sides. Then you can break it down and work on this. E.g the noise of the ramp could be mimicked by using a sheet of thick ply with a rubber mat on it or you could set obstacles up in the school to mimic going into a tight space etc.

This can all be done along side feeding in/on/around the trailer
 
Wheels said:
It sounds to me as though your horse is quite scared of going into the trailer and is not bein stubborn she is frightened in case she hurts herself and she knows she will be trapped inside a moving box with no chance of using her instinct and being able to flee.

I think you are doing the right thing by feeding her close to or on the ramp of the trailer, you need to take your time and let her take her time too. Don't push her, think outside of the box!

Try to work out exactly what it is she dislikes, is it the noise of the ramp, feeling claustrophobic, the travelling itself, having walls all around touching her sides. Then you can break it down and work on this. E.g the noise of the ramp could be mimicked by using a sheet of thick ply with a rubber mat on it or you could set obstacles up in the school to mimic going into a tight space etc.

This can all be done along side feeding in/on/around the trailer
Click to expand...

She is head shy. And recently she has become more head shy, like someone has actually hit her in the head. As ive noticed if i put my hands up beside her she throws her head up, she used to be like this but I worked hard on her to stop it (shes not perfect but no where near as bad as she is now).

I know that if she was to get a row and a wee slap I NEVER hit her face, always on her neck (not that she feels it lol).

So, really it will be the height of the box that is the problem but its never been a problem before.

You have given me a good idea, she if I can get things that I can make her walk under and start lowering them, the more confidence she gets, that might help her go in the box plus feeding her on/beside the ramp. :)
 
Might be worth getting her back checked, she could have a problem around her poll that has been agravated when tied up in the trailer.
 
I would try with dually/pressure halter or chifney, and give them time, a lot of it is because of the stress that we cause loading them.

Try with a small horse on other side, or like someone said without partition so there is more space.

One of mine is a real git to load but we have our technique which means using a chifney as he's a strong wb- yours may not need this. and a wave of a whip behind him, if you touch him he freaks and will rear and not go on.

So really its trial and error, i find the more you can get them on and take them to somewhere 'nice' the happier they are to go on next time.

Don't give up I'm sure you'll get round x
 
sorry ur having problems and i dont know if my experience with my mare will help but here goes. i have a welsh d x 11 yr mare very stubborn. when i ask her to go into the trailer (505) she just planks her feet on the ramp and dusnt move , u can ask and ask and ask and she wont budge, but shes not scared just stubborn so i started trying this. i have the exit ramp down and the bar out. i take her up to the ramp she if she puts her feet on i treat her and take her away, a continue doing this 3 or 4 times then i ask for longer on the ramp then before i ask fo her to go right in i circle her a few times at the bottom of the ramp let her put her feet on slightly praise and take away again, i then give her loads of encouragement and try to load her this takes a few tries then i let her walk in and right out a do this twice then put the bar up and load a third time. i just treat for everything she does right and if shes naughty and tries to rear or jump off the ramp i will take her away from the trailer and make her feel uncomfortable ie make her turn in small circles both ways then take her over to the box and let her relax. as i say i dont know if this will be of any use to you but i thought it might help xx good luck x
 
If your horse is headshy, have you had teeth checked, our 17hh TB went very headshy, our vet tried checking his teeth by grabbing his tongue, horse was not for having it, swinging me off my feet, a hefty man tried holding him, same affect, turns out, that his teeth were cutting into his gums and cheeks,
previous owner still claims his teeth were done just before we took him.
A proper equine dentist took over two hours sorting out this poor beggars teeth, a lesson well learnt by us
 
flirtygerty said:
If your horse is headshy, have you had teeth checked, our 17hh TB went very headshy, our vet tried checking his teeth by grabbing his tongue, horse was not for having it, swinging me off my feet, a hefty man tried holding him, same affect, turns out, that his teeth were cutting into his gums and cheeks,
previous owner still claims his teeth were done just before we took him.
A proper equine dentist took over two hours sorting out this poor beggars teeth, a lesson well learnt by us
Click to expand...


My mare due to problems in the past, gets her teeth done every 6 months. She isnt due to be done again until November. (money money money)
 
Food is very effective at changing how the horse feels about the trailer, but you. need to use it systematically, so that you're not accidentally rewarding the wrong thing.:)

Shawna Corrin Karrasch has a great series of videos on using positive reinforcement (she's an ex Marine mammal trainer, so an expert at this) - the first video is actually great, as it shows the trailer from the horse's point of view :). She also shows how you can work on the problem positively in really short sessions... no need to spend hours chasing the horse around or standing at the foot of the ramp, just small positive progress each time. You do need to teach your horse to touch and follow a target first ;)

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xhug38_1st-trailer-loading-session-from-bugs-perspective_animals
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xhvp9e_bugs-trailer-loading-day-two-short-and-sweet_animals
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xhzhsl_bugs-trailer-loading-3rd-session_animals
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xi3tq1_4th-session-bugs-trailer-loading-ongoing-series_animals
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xiax0e_5th-session-bugs-trailer-loading-ongoing-series_animals
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xibx0a_6th-session-bugs-trailer-loading-ongoing-series_animals
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xjj82d_bugs-trailer-loading-finishing-up-ongoing-series_animals
 
Thank you to everyones advice.

Well, I spend most part of last week after riding, feeding me horse on the ramp of the box, she was fine having her front feet on the box, so I didnt push her too much. But Sunday when I had more time, I just started edging the feed into the box and her back feet came onto the box she came half way in twice and backed out (not as violently as she has been) but when I rewarded her she came in further and to my delight, she came all the way into the box herself, I let her finish her feed in the box whilst I carefully opened the front ramp (as didnt want to back her out of the box and give her a fright)...................so ME = one very happy horse owner...again lol :D
 
Hi Jenna,

I see you are only 35 miles away!

I have a round pen and back the trailer up to one of the gates. A bad loader is worked in the pen until it gets near the ramp, then rested. Each time I ask for a bit more. As they go into the trailer, they are rested, then asked to back out and work starts again after a minute or two. After a while, they are quite keen to get into the trailer for a rest and the hay net and there is no negative feedback from being forced in. It is their choice!:D Works great for youngsters too as they do not associate loading with anything nasty. Sometimes the problem is to keep them out!;)
 
Dry Rot said:
Hi Jenna,

I see you are only 35 miles away!

I have a round pen and back the trailer up to one of the gates. A bad loader is worked in the pen until it gets near the ramp, then rested. Each time I ask for a bit more. As they go into the trailer, they are rested, then asked to back out and work starts again after a minute or two. After a while, they are quite keen to get into the trailer for a rest and the hay net and there is no negative feedback from being forced in. It is their choice!:D Works great for youngsters too as they do not associate loading with anything nasty. Sometimes the problem is to keep them out!;)
Click to expand...

Mine is currently being trained like this, it's working very well. I'm more focused on the backing out than the getting in, as I feel the escape route is the most important for the horse. If she can back out calmly, she'll go in calmer the next time. I'm not a fan of walking through personally, but that's because mine used to launch from the top of the front ramp to the bottom. It's safer for her to back out.
 
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