Teaching yearling to load - advice please

[filly190]

I have Ifor trailer and an arab yearling. For the past two days I have fed her from the ramp. Day one I moved the bucket and she came all the way in, the side ramp was down and she leapt out, which I did'nt want. She seemed ok, but I had not intended to go this far.

Day two, I just fed her from the ramp and she stood there, all four feet on and seemed willing to go right into the box again. I stopped her, as I did'nt want her walking through again and leaping out as she did before.

I want to feed her in the box every day and get her standing in to eat her bucket and lead her quietly out, no leaping.

What would you suggest, she is willing, but jumpey and I dont want to risk spoiling things by her leaping out and frightening herself.

Time is no issue, I can do this every day for as long as it takes.

Any suggestions please.

 

[happihorse]

You are definately going about this the right way!

I have a four year old warmblood who I trained to load in a trailer when he was a yearling. Like you I spent days feeding him on the ramp so that he became accustomed to the trailer and it smelt better! I decided to keep the front ramp closed so as to stop him haring through and hurting / scaring himself. I would just keep up with the feeding on the ramp, gradually moving further in aand then feeding until she is settled. Then I would put the partitions in and do the same. When she is happy with this, put the bar behind but leave the ramp down. Again fed in this position. Obviosly this should all be done gradually over as many days/weeks as necessary. When she is happy that far, I would put the ramp up and start with a very short journey. When you get back, don't rush to get her out of the trailer. Give her a feed and let her settled. Keep going until she is confident oing on 20 min journeys. You must keep up with the loading. even if you don't need to take her anywhere, try to take her out every 2 to 4 weeks to keep her confident. I followed this procedure with my warmblood and now he is one of the best horses I have ever hd in respect of travelling, loading, unloading and waiting in the trailer. Good luck and sorry if this is very long!

 

[filly190]

Thank you, your post is very helpful. I have just started a long project which I will do everyday, until the time is right to take her on a journey.

I intend to take her out and about a lot, we go cross country schooling and I am wanting to take her on the lead. I want to teach her water and new things when she as a yearling and manageable. So my intention is to take her to every event our older horse goes to and to be able to see and do things on the lead.

Because she is an arab, I want to put in all the ground work in when she is a baby so that she has seen it and done it all before I back her. I feel that way the backing will be easy and she will be ready to ride away almost straight away.

 

[henryhorn]

We make a point of leading all our youngsters in and out of the box from quite early on, make sure there is nothing near the ramps that they can hurt themselves on if they suddenly leap, and load off soft ground not concrete.
Remove all partitions, breast bars etc and persuade the youngster in with food.
Once it's in just very slowly and quietly allow it to eat a couple of handfuls, then turn it round and walk out again. Do not walk out the front ramp...
A trailer should have loads of room to do this with a yearling.
repeat this several times, then after a few days wait until it's hungry and allow it to eat a small feed in the box preferably with you holding the bucket in your arms.
this may sound odd but once you put the partitions back in, you do not want the youngster putting it's head right down to get a feed as they invariably whack their heads on the breast bar, panic and run backwards.
Next stage is lead in and out through the back then front ramp.
Add a partition on wide and feed as above.
after this it's really up to you to make sure nothing goes wrong.
Move onto moving the partition over, opening the front bar and walking out.
Over time it should calmly accept being shut in and you standing with it. I wouldn't tie a yearling up in a trailer, too risky.
The whole key is do not put the horse in a position it gets scared or worried.
our yearlings/two year olds literally run up the box ramp as they know they get a reward inside.
If you go slowly and you sound as if you have the right ideas, you will end up with a horse that virtually loads itself..!

 

[amandaco2]

i would do it the same as henryhorn has suggested.

 

[filly190]

Many thanks for your help, I will follow your advice to the letter. I am glad you went into detail, as I had been leaving both ramps down, and can now see "what could go wrong". Thanks for that, the last thing I want to do at this stage is let the yearling have a fright.