Denbob
Well-Known Member
I bought one who doesn't load, very similar to your boy in that he just switches off, doesn't run or rear or bite just goes completely into shutdown - in hindsight that is in line with his stress responses but as a first time owner when his owner said he loaded I took him at her word.
It took 3 hours to get him into a lorry to move him down to Portsmouth. Since then I have used a friend's lorry to try and remove the stress element but simply opening the ramp and allowing him to move up at his own pace with food as a reward, the end goal being that he associates the lorry with food (his favourite thing) and it negates the stress element. The second time he went to travel it took less than 20 minutes with a pro because he had a better positive association with the lorry in general (and also someone with the calmest attitude to life i've ever met!)
If you are looking to loan for what he is happy doing then i'd absolutely second calls to take him back to basic groundwork over the winter/spring with a focus on walking over weird and wonderful objects (boards/tarps) under things as well if you can get jump wings high enough with plenty of transitions to keep him thinking about you rather than a reason to shut down, then hire a lorry and a behaviourist to address the issue when you can. It might be that because you are anticipating a stressful experience you are communicating that to him as well, especially as you have had the horse for such a long time so a behaviourist might help address that as well.
It took 3 hours to get him into a lorry to move him down to Portsmouth. Since then I have used a friend's lorry to try and remove the stress element but simply opening the ramp and allowing him to move up at his own pace with food as a reward, the end goal being that he associates the lorry with food (his favourite thing) and it negates the stress element. The second time he went to travel it took less than 20 minutes with a pro because he had a better positive association with the lorry in general (and also someone with the calmest attitude to life i've ever met!)
If you are looking to loan for what he is happy doing then i'd absolutely second calls to take him back to basic groundwork over the winter/spring with a focus on walking over weird and wonderful objects (boards/tarps) under things as well if you can get jump wings high enough with plenty of transitions to keep him thinking about you rather than a reason to shut down, then hire a lorry and a behaviourist to address the issue when you can. It might be that because you are anticipating a stressful experience you are communicating that to him as well, especially as you have had the horse for such a long time so a behaviourist might help address that as well.