Trailer Training for my pony.....

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kelly_s1

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Hi all,

Has anyone got a professional out to help load your horse/pony onto a trailer?

If so, what tips could you give and who did you use?

I live in the south so any recommendations would be greatly appreciated as I need to et this sorted.

Thanks :D
 
Not had someone out but I taught a very reluctant loader to load well - he loads himself now :D

Patience, patience and more patience is the key. Oh, and a trailer ;) It doesn't require any special ancyfancy NH, just good horsemandhsip, patience and common sense. A bucket of feed always helps too!

Mine took 4 days of twice a day to even be willing to touch the ramp! Another 3 days to get him in the trailer and a couple of days to tolerate standing still. And a good couple of months of weekly trips to be calm about being shut in.

Start really small and build up. Take all the partitions and bars out and have the front unloader down. Firstly just standing quietly by the ramp, then touching it, then feet on it then walking through. Then stopping and waiting (having dinner) before walking out. Then with part of a partition, then with the full partition then finally using the bars. And eventually getting the ramps up and closed.

All in small easy steps and it could take weeks of practise for a very nervous loader.
 
Kallibear

He will walk on, through and off

He will not stand in it, he just drags me through. I have tried feed but he doesn't really care even tho he is a porker. If I put the front bar he wont even touch the ramp.

Its a single trailer, its its lovely and wide.

I have been patient, but we have been at this stage for a while now with no progress :)

I have also tried just sitting at the front of the trailer waiting for him to come to me, but he just plays about and rears a bit. I don't think he is scared, just taking the pee.
 
My OH decided that H and I were having way too much fun without her as we were able to go all over the place to rides and her 17 year old mare was left at home as she has a long history of unreliable, bad or just straight non-loading.

We had a professional recommended who used a combination of "special ancyfancy NH" techniques combined with an thorough understanding of the horse AND the owner.

The trainer visited us several times and left 'homework' to be done. We also visited her, as at one point we had an issue with difficult loading when coming home from somewhere.

I think in total my OH and her mare underwent about 4 or 5 hours of training and although not exactly self loading (like my chap), we are able to take the pair of them pretty much anywhere and have done fun rides, days out and even taken them on holiday.

There are about as many opinions on this subject as there are people to give them, but in our case, a professional was the answer.

I should add my OH has 40 years experience with horses and her mare was a rescue project who was almost unreadable when she got her. My OH was able to bring her back into full work, but just could not crack the loading issue on her own.
 
I feel really sorry for you, it's so frustrating isn't it! I had one who was dangerous to load - he would literally bolt in and out, taking whoever was there with him!

It was a case of slowly slowly, and as Kallibear suggests, using food. When we eventually got to the stage where he'd stand in there, we'd take him in every day and give him his dinner to make him realise it wasn't such a bad place to be.

Saying that, if it isn't a case of being scared but being cheeky - have you got a couple of people to help who can stand either side of the rear ramp and gently hold a lunge line round his bum so that he is discouraged from going backwards (although I suspect that is exactly what he will do in the first instance?!).

As I said before, I feel really sorry for you as it is so, so frustrating. I am always sceptical about getting people in to help as you can never be sure that they won't try to fix the situation by being agressive, but I hope someone on here can give a reccommendation to help you out :)
 
He's barging through because he's claustophobic - pretty common in horses who, after all, evolved living on wide open plains! He's not being deliberatly 'naughty', he just doesn't want to go in, and with good reason.

It you can't work through the steps yourself then a proffesional will help but they don't do anything 'new' - it's all just good common sense horsemanship. You can do it using pressure and release ( the entire basis of NH) or you can bribe them. I find bribing easier for most food-orientated horses ;)

You need to break it down to the point where he starts to struggle. Get one foot on the ramp then stop and reward. Then two. Then standing all four in the ramp. Easiest way is having a bucket of feed and let him eat it a little futher in every time. Don't put the bars up until he's standing calmly without any restraint as he'll just panic and take you back to square one.

It really does need patience though - it's SOOO frustrating having a horse who won't load but loosing your temper will ruin everything.
 
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