Teaching a foal to load.

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B_2_B

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In advance of any serious efforts, tips and tricks on a postcard please :)

She has sniffed the trailer, licked the entire ramp (yes, really :rolleyes:), knelt on the ramp (so as not to actually stand on it!) and kicked the ramp.

Think a foal version of the lava game, "the ramp is lava" :D
She had a lot of fun :p
 
First get her leading confidently and backing up through poles in the school so you are controlling her feet. Watch her feet not her face!! Get her walking over a tarpaulin first in little stages then a board flat on the ground that sounds like a ramp. Then make a space like a trailer and lead her in and out and ask her to stand in it you can make it very gradually more narrow. If you can its also a good idea to rig up something she has to walk under as the lower roof in the trailer can also be challenging for them. When you've mastered this then go back to the trailer and you will see a different reaction. Good luck.
 
elliejay's ideas are excellent for an older horse but with a little foal it'll all be a bit too much!

Sounds like she's going in the right direction. Bribary is the key ;) If she eats out a bucket, let her wander in by herself and have a munch then wander out again. Practise restraining her a little but I wouldn't do partitions ect until shes entirely calm and used to be restrained (ties up well, moves from pressure). If she's still with mum, let her follow mum in and out and have mum stand in the partition with foal loose on the other side.

Foals are so inquisitive and playful that there is no reason she should be frightned of the trailer and anything you do with it should be short and fun.
 
Best way is to take mum in and give her oats the baby will normally follow and discover that trailer = food and stand happily trying to get his or her nose in the same bucket as mum. when unloading have someone at the side of the ramp to gently make sure the foal does not step off sideways
 
Sorry no help Orion was such a nosey little foalie he just walked straight on, did this a few times and made sure he got lot's of treats for being good and standing calmly on the trailer.
 
If you have an independant foal, or one thats weaned, then have plenty of help.
My this years foal, didnt care that mum was on, and wasnt interested at all. She leads and will be tied, well handled etc etc, but just wouldnt go on.

So we had one person on either side of her, with arms behind her bum and slowly walked her on. Everytime she made a move forward, we stopped and praised her with a scratch, once on she was fine and has loaded since without fuss. :)
 
She's almost 6 months but still with mum although she wasn't being much help lol!
Thanks Elijay I can try the tarpaulin and poles stuff in the school, she's very very good to lead normally although haven't done much backing up work with her. Not sure I can get the stuff to do the rest anyway.

Kallibear, she ties up brilliantly already :) Food normally works and we put a bucket at the top of the ramp but she wanted to play a game! That's when she knelt on it so try to stretch to reach it, she walked round the sides of the ramp to reach it that way, anything but standing on the ramp, which was the only goal we had for that day lol!
'Tis just a one horse trailer so no partitions to work with anyway.
Definitely short and sweet the way to go, we took her for a walk up the track afterwards too so it wasn't just that she was doing :)

Crabbymare, problem with her is that she is extremely independant of mum (starting this a bit late but relying on volunteers, we have been very short staffed particularly of competent horse people this year :( ) I've done a lot of the basic work, picking feet up, tying up, leading etc.
She has no problem whatsoever with doing the exact opposite of what mum does :rolleyes: :p

Hehe orionstar! She might well decide next time that she doesn't want to play games and she wants to investigate inside and walk straight on. She's very intelligent and
 
Asha said:
If you have an independant foal, or one thats weaned, then have plenty of help.
My this years foal, didnt care that mum was on, and wasnt interested at all. She leads and will be tied, well handled etc etc, but just wouldnt go on.

So we had one person on either side of her, with arms behind her bum and slowly walked her on. Everytime she made a move forward, we stopped and praised her with a scratch, once on she was fine and has loaded since without fuss. :)
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Yes I can envisage exactly this happening :p :)
 
We have the same method with most things, not just loading
  • Try once with mom going up in front - most do as asked
  • If not, another day have one person lead the foal, two people on either side with a cloth across the butt
  • In future, we have a twine contraption (used for many things, bath time etc) similar to this, but free , to simulate the feeling of having people back there. It's looped through the ring the leadrope clips to, and unless necessary no pressure or force is put on it, but if a youngster is fidgeting (more than expected for their age ;)) the rope round the butt can be upped
 
As said, get her leading first, forget the trailer for a bit longer yet.

We have a very low 'step-up' built on the yard, half is sand, half is 2" thick oak plank pallet that sounds hollow. We don't even take foals near a trailer until they are walking on and off this without a second thought.

These photos are merely put up to demonstrate what we use, I am perfectly aware that there are examples of what not to do/wear.

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Mine was 5 months when I bought him, had travelled once to a sale with mum and then home on his own. When I picked him up I walked up the ramp as if I expected him to follow, and he did. I believe in starting as you mean to go on, so if they will lead straight on, stand to have a treat, then unload, that's great :)
 
Unless you have a schedule, I'd let the foal set the pace. Winter is coming on and you'll probably be giving hard feed. So why not feed it in the trailer? The "teenagers" here are really keen to get into the trailer as it always contains something nice! (The problem is to keep them out if the ramp is down. I'm serious!). Let them discover the delights in their own time.

Tieing and leading we do completely separately so there are no negative experiences with the trailer. But DO make sure the breast bar is removed so they don't bang their heads and DO make sure the trailer is supported on all four corners -- or attached to a vehicle -- so it is stable.

Once mine realise there is food in the trailer, they are left to get on with it. If they come out, that's fine. I just leave them alone and in a short while they get very bold about going in or out, even playing in it.

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Patience and lots of it. They each take their own time. Having mum show the ropes helps but with my weanling, that was not possible. Despite field pal going in and out happily, he took more time. He was the same the first time he met snow or changing surface or texture - he is fine now with all these things but the ramp makes funny noises and trailer can move etc... all potentially horse eating threats you know!

I had more issues getting my youngster back out of the trailer once he finally went it!
 
If they won't go on of their own free will, then having a helper each side of the foal, arms around its back end whilst the third person holds the lead rope can work. Mum in the trailer waiting, and eventually (quietly peacefully hopefully) you should get the foal going up the ramp. The aim of the 2 helpers at the back end is to prevent foal going backwards and strongly encourage forward movement up the ramp into the trailer.

We had to load a 2 month old foal (moving yards) last year and had no trouble using this method. Took no longer than 10 minutes. Even now as a great big 18 month old, he loves going in the trailer. Lucky for us though that mum was happy to stand there waiting for him to get his act together.

Filling it with haylage and closing all doors overnight can also work (if the foal knows what haylage is)
 
Same as PennyJ if still with dam but as weanlings I'll take them to where it's parked and sit on the ramp and let them investigate it. It's never long before they clambour up onto the ramp and further in and I haven't asked them to do anything; it's all been done by free will. The next time I'll take them and lead them in and never had a problem doing it this way; they'll get a refresher about twice a year but that's it, I've never sold a youngster yet that hasn't loaded straight away onto transport because they've never been worried or frightened about it.
 
I can't give her normal feed in it since we have close to 100 animals to feed so everything is in a routine and don't have the time to deal with trailers when it's breakfast/tea time! :p

Thanks everyone, I think she will take a while but that's fine :)
 
I've always done as others have said. If foal hasn't been weaned load mum first. One person to lead the foal, two people behind with a tea towel round the foal's hindquarters. I do feel strongly that if you are trying to teach your foal to load you must ensure that the foal goes into the trailer and doesn't learn that he/she doesn't have to go up the ramp.

As you only have a single trailer I would wait to do loading practice until the foal has been weaned.
 
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