Today didn't go as planned...

C

CastleMouse

Well-Known Member
Joined
19 August 2005
Messages
19,169
Location
Ireland
Visit site
Arrived at the yard about an hour in advance of the time when we should've left, so we could give ourselves plenty of time to load Ali. Used the chifney on him (his previous owner always used it to load and unload him), so much for anti-rear bit... Threw up a hell of a fit, and we were being very gentle and easy with him. So I headed up to one of the paddocks to fetch Castle, thinking that maybe he'd load if he had his buddy next to him. Fat chance. When he was about to head into the threw another full blown fit, Dad was holding onto him (as I was behind with the tip of a broom), bloody leadrope snapped, resulting in Ali galloping on at full speed up round the corner, me running after him for my life (may have been an idiotic thing to do, but he was heading for a very very busy main road). The concrete was quite slippy on the corner and with the speed he was going at he slipped and fell, Dad managed to coax him back up to the yard, Castle was already in the trailer, so after cleaning Ali's grazes (which are quite large, but not major at all), and Dads friend putting some black powder stuff to prevent infection, we decided to set off with Castle in tow, away from our original plan! Ali wasn't lame, and was walking fine. Had such a great time with Castle, Ali isn't lame at all, but getting the daughter of one of Mums friends who is nearly finished training to be an equine physiotherapist is coming are way in a few days so will get her to have a look at Ali *just in case*.
 
awww no
frown.gif
what a bummer! hope he is ok!
 
Oh hun
frown.gif
Know how you feel, is so upsetting thinking that you are going to go somewhere and then it all going wrong
frown.gif
Glad he ok, my heart skipped a beat when you said he was heading for the road
frown.gif
Glad you had fun with Cass though
smile.gif
 
He's always been a tricky one to load, never thought he'd be quite that bad though
frown.gif
When we went to collect him we had partitions in the trailer but he wouldn't go in so we ended up taking off the partitions and he was fine. We tried loading him in and out without partitions the other day, no bother. Was planning to head to friends place, have already been with Castle and they have about 500 acres with xc jumps spread around, so I would've liked to know how Ali reacts in open spaces around other horses. Thanks Bean
smile.gif
 
Such a shame - friends horse will not travel with another in a trailer but will do so beautifully in a lorry - so strange, but they are all different. Try not to upset yourself xxxx
 
Don't you just hate it when you have all these lovely plans and they put a spanner in the works! Not sure if this will help at all, but here goes anyway! When my boy was off last year with a tendon, myself and a friend took on a chestnut mare on loan, anyway cut a long story short my friend still has her on loan. We were told she loaded fine and the first few times we went out, good as gold, no problems. Then all of a sudden, one day she just refused point blank to get on trailer - we tried chifney and like you, up in the air she went! Lunge lines, blind folding, feed, nothing worked! The hours passed by, the show came and went and we were determined to get her on, even if we didn't go anywhere! We called her owner (who only lived up the road) told her the problems we were having, she couldn't understand it, she came and helped and all in all it took us 5 hours to get her on - but we won in the end!

Anyway, after that she went through a stage of loading and traveling good as gold, then bout 2 months later for no reason she does it again, this time we were an hour and a half from the yard, it was a fri night and we'd been SJ with her. It got to the point where the show finished, it was 11pm at night and we still couldn't get her on! The owner of the Centre (who aparently is a bit of a horse whisperer) came and helped us, and it was amazing! She went on after about 15 mins, and this is what he did!

Just in a head collar and lead rope, made a fuss of her, stroked her head patted her etc. Had a schooling whip in left hand and her in his right hand. Lead her up to ramp and when she refused he pushed her backwards, making her walk backwards for about 4 or 5 strides, then he turned her around in a small circle for a couple of times, tapping her up with the whip on quarters, but (now heres the key) she doesn't realise it's him (or supposedly) so he was turning her around in small circles, her in right hand, tapping up on quarters with left hand, and it's unpleasant for her, so when he leads her up to ramp he stops the tapping and she then walks on, cause she's fed up with with tapping and being turned round in circles! Obviously it took a few times, and if she refuses at bottom of ramp he pushed her backwards again about 4 or 5 strides and started the whole process again - not once did he loose his temper with her!

So, that was last summer, and yes we do still have problems with her loading, but she's always on within 15 mins, and when we have people saying 'can I help with lunge lines' brooms etc, we always decline. Do it yourself and keep it quiet. We also try to make sure she is relatively hungrey when we travel her, ie small breakfast but a nice big hay net waiting for her once she's on, and always reward her with a carrot or polo once she's on!

Anyway, hope this helps, bit long winded I know - but it certainly works for our stroppy large chestnut mare - GOOD LUCK!!!!!

MX
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top