Think we've "cracked" the loading issue!

clevelandbay

clevelandbay

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Hi all,

Just wanted to share a bit of positive news. I've posted previously about our problem loader so just thought I'd give you a bit of an update and also advise what works for her as it may be of use to someone else.

The problem? She has always walked into the trailer and then backwards at speed. She's a good traveller, doesn't sweat up/kick etc and arrives at the other end calm and relaxed.

What works?
2 calm people only loading (any onlookers/advice givers are politely told to b*gger off!).
We use a rope type headcollar and a long line and use the pressure/release system
It's only nice if she's going forwards. If she runs backwards, she's backed up sharply then asked nicely to walk forward again. We always leave her plenty of room to walk forward so we're not asking her to walk into our space
The bars at the front of the trailer are open as well as the back and the partition is open
She's asked to walk all the way through initially to get her thinking forwards
After a couple of times doing this we then ask her to stand still (with a carrot/feed as a reward) and close the back bar and then the front bar. I realise this is not the conventional way but it works for us.

She's now loading consistently within 5 minutes pretty much whenever we go out (used to take us anything up to 1 hour!). Fingers crossed this will last!
 
Well done can never understand people who try to drag their horse in, they have to accept the going forwards into the trailer. i have had success with using a long whip to tap (not smack) the hindquarters unless the horse is stepping forwards. Worst thing I saw was a woman pulling hard on a pressure halter while standing on the ramp facing the pony, the pony was struggling to breathe, because the halter was too big and was tight over its nostrils.
 
The pressure halters can certainly be very harsh in the wrong hands!

I think the biggest breakthrough for our girl has been to leave the front bar open and close it when she's in. I don't know why, but this works for her. I think this is definately worth a try for anyone who's having issues.
 
clevelandbay said:
The pressure halters can certainly be very harsh in the wrong hands!

I think the biggest breakthrough for our girl has been to leave the front bar open and close it when she's in. I don't know why, but this works for her. I think this is definately worth a try for anyone who's having issues.
Click to expand...

My boy is the same you can have the front ramp open and the bar down and he will go in with help of his MR halter but if you have the front ramp open and the front bar up he won't go in. I did think that maybe the bar was a little hard so still thinking about padding it out to provide something nice to cushion himself on when travelling.
 
Clevelandbay... silly question, but is yours a CB?

You use a very similar method to me and with mine, more definately is not merrier!

I have always done the walk through first and always put the breast bar up at the same time / after the breach bar.

need to practice a bit more with mine but we'll get there! ;)
 
CBFan said:
Clevelandbay... silly question, but is yours a CB?

You use a very similar method to me and with mine, more definately is not merrier!

I have always done the walk through first and always put the breast bar up at the same time / after the breach bar.

need to practice a bit more with mine but we'll get there! ;)
Click to expand...

I do have a part Cleveland Bay x TB, but she's not the problem (just walks in the trailer any old how lol). The horse we've had problems with is a sports horse.

Thanks for all your replies guys. We see so many threads on here about problems loading, just throught it might be worthwhile sharing a *"success"story.
*crosses fingers/toes/everything!
 
This is the exact same method I use for my difficult to load ID mare. Prior to using this method she was impossible to load. The key to this method was to repeat it many times every day for first two weeks and then to continue to load her regularly even if we are not going anywhere.
One additional thing I did for the first few months and again if we have any issues is to load again as soon as we arrive at a show so I can relax knowing she will load there and when we get home she goes in and out a couple of times before she goes out to the field. My friend who is my sole helper calls this her trailer workout as she ends up lifting and dropping the ramps several times :0)
Well done.
 
LynH said:
This is the exact same method I use for my difficult to load ID mare. Prior to using this method she was impossible to load. The key to this method was to repeat it many times every day for first two weeks and then to continue to load her regularly even if we are not going anywhere.
One additional thing I did for the first few months and again if we have any issues is to load again as soon as we arrive at a show so I can relax knowing she will load there and when we get home she goes in and out a couple of times before she goes out to the field. My friend who is my sole helper calls this her trailer workout as she ends up lifting and dropping the ramps several times :0)
Well done.
Click to expand...

Sounds like we're both getting something right! That's a really good idea (loading again on arrival) and I will give this a go if we need to.
 
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