Trailer tying help

[Landcruiser]

I had a lot of this with one of mine, he was a non loader when I got him. I tried a variety of things over the years. I think the very first was backing the trailer into a corner with a wall only a short distance from the bottom of the ramp, so that shooting back was less appealing as there was a physical/visual barrier there. Obviously there has to be space to get horse onto ramp. This helped a lot, but wasn't a practical solution. Next, I discovered that my horse was bendy enough to turn round in the trailer (obvs no partition) so I'd lead in, turn him round, put up the back bar with him facing backwards, then turn him back round and cross tie at the front. (He's a touch over 14.2, not sure this would work with a bigger horse). I loaded him like that for years. I used a loop of rope round his rump to encourage him on in the first place, but the need for this faded as time went on (Idolo ties both sides) . I always had the front ramp down to make it as inviting as possible, but I understand this isn't an option OP.
In the end, he got so used to travelling that I dropped my intervention to just looping my long loading line under the breast bar and walking back to put up the back bar whilst keeping a feel on the front rope - he's an excellent loader these days.
I think it's a matter of persistence, trying a variety of approaches, seeing what works, and small wins while staying safe and keeping your horse safe. I would definitely NOT, under any circumstances, tie fast to the front on one of those bungee things, before getting the back bar up - that's asking for disaster.

 

[Boughtabay]

I had a lot of this with one of mine, he was a non loader when I got him. I tried a variety of things over the years. I think the very first was backing the trailer into a corner with a wall only a short distance from the bottom of the ramp, so that shooting back was less appealing as there was a physical/visual barrier there. Obviously there has to be space to get horse onto ramp. This helped a lot, but wasn't a practical solution. Next, I discovered that my horse was bendy enough to turn round in the trailer (obvs no partition) so I'd lead in, turn him round, put up the back bar with him facing backwards, then turn him back round and cross tie at the front. (He's a touch over 14.2, not sure this would work with a bigger horse). I loaded him like that for years. I used a loop of rope round his rump to encourage him on in the first place, but the need for this faded as time went on (Idolo ties both sides) . I always had the front ramp down to make it as inviting as possible, but I understand this isn't an option OP.
In the end, he got so used to travelling that I dropped my intervention to just looping my long loading line under the breast bar and walking back to put up the back bar whilst keeping a feel on the front rope - he's an excellent loader these days.
I think it's a matter of persistence, trying a variety of approaches, seeing what works, and small wins while staying safe and keeping your horse safe. I would definitely NOT, under any circumstances, tie fast to the front on one of those bungee things, before getting the back bar up - that's asking for disaster.

Interesting! Yes I do think persistence is the key so that’s the long game but it is a massive hindrance to getting on with ridden work at the moment. I CAN let him turn in the box - he does it uninvited BUT it doesn’t look very easy (he’s 16hh but clearly compact enough to wiggle round if he really wants to..) and I’m concerned he’d want to launch out the back while I’m closing. That said I might change from my current trailer to a 510 so I could unload through the front AND have more room behind his bottom … as you say though the real key will just be keeping going I think …

I’d never use a bunjee tie think they’re awful but I might run a lunge line through the idolo (try off the trailer first obviously) to see if that helps combat the rushing back

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

This came on my facebook feed yesterday, must admit my late mare i just put the rope through string never tied as she hated tying up

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[Boughtabay]

Just popping back to say 2 weeks of consistent, clear work have paid off! Let the solo adventures resume thanks for all your tips. Ultimately i just worked on sending him in, getting him comfortable at a certain point then repeat repeat repeat before moving on to the next (what a surprise! ) Got to be relatively speedy and quiet closing the back bar but I’m sure with practice and his confidence growing it wont be as much of a military operation! I’m using the idolo tie in the box and outside now too.

 

[Annagain]

Well done!
I thought you said your trailer was rear unload only. Isn't that an IW with front unload? Either way, glad you're now mobile!

 

[Boughtabay]

Well done!
I thought you said your trailer was rear unload only. Isn't that an IW with front unload? Either way, glad you're now mobile!

Front way out doesn’t work its fixable and I’ll get round to it one day but he’s a rusher so I’m not mad about backing off

 

[Annagain]

Front way out doesn’t work its fixable and I’ll get round to it one day but he’s a rusher so I’m not mad about backing off

Ah I see! You can cure the rushing in the same way. I cracked that with Charlie more easily than the loading. Stop as soon as you can as you lead him off (preferably still on the ramp but don't worry if not. Reward (pat, scratch, treat, whatever you use) and walk on. Once he's stopping easily, wait for a bit before the reward. Then stop twice on the way out, then take bar down and ask him to wait for a second before walking off and build that time etc.

 

[TheChestnutThing]

I’m glad this has been revived as was just looking for advise.

Mine won’t tie to the trailer or stand in the trailer so I’m essentially f£&@ed going out alone. He’s getting worse and being impossible to handle when it comes to shows and any form of tying up.

I have the idolo and he’s snapped that (leans further and further back and snapped the clip), tried multiple lead ropes. Tried a bicycle inner tube (leans back until the clip snaps). He breaks at least one lead rope every time we are out by snapping the clip (last Friday was 3), if he can’t snap the clip he snaps the headcollar (on our 3rd leather one).

Last week he went up in the trailer, snapped the clip, went under the front bar (he travels with a full length bar), and jammed it up against the top door at the front. He must have bounced open the pin in order to do this.

I’ve always had issues with him but he’s getting worse and frankly dangerous to deal with in any tie up situation.

He is also VERY herd bound/buddy sour even on individual turn out.

Any ideas? (Other then giving it away/letting it loose on A12 or a behaviourist).

 

[Annagain]

I’m glad this has been revived as was just looking for advise.

Mine won’t tie to the trailer or stand in the trailer so I’m essentially f£&@ed going out alone. He’s getting worse and being impossible to handle when it comes to shows and any form of tying up.

I have the idolo and he’s snapped that (leans further and further back and snapped the clip), tried multiple lead ropes. Tried a bicycle inner tube (leans back until the clip snaps). He breaks at least one lead rope every time we are out by snapping the clip (last Friday was 3), if he can’t snap the clip he snaps the headcollar (on our 3rd leather one).

Last week he went up in the trailer, snapped the clip, went under the front bar (he travels with a full length bar), and jammed it up against the top door at the front. He must have bounced open the pin in order to do this.

I’ve always had issues with him but he’s getting worse and frankly dangerous to deal with in any tie up situation.

He is also VERY herd bound/buddy sour even on individual turn out.

Any ideas? (Other then giving it away/letting it loose on A12 or a behaviourist).

I'm not quite sure why a behaviourist is on that list considering the other options! If he's that bad, it's definitely worth a shot. We have an excellent one in our area and she's not expensive.
Can you travel him tacked up if he travels ok so you can get him off and get straight on him? Not ideal if you want to socialise a bit but at least you could get him out and about?

 

[Boughtabay]

I’m glad this has been revived as was just looking for advise.

Mine won’t tie to the trailer or stand in the trailer so I’m essentially f£&@ed going out alone. He’s getting worse and being impossible to handle when it comes to shows and any form of tying up.

I have the idolo and he’s snapped that (leans further and further back and snapped the clip), tried multiple lead ropes. Tried a bicycle inner tube (leans back until the clip snaps). He breaks at least one lead rope every time we are out by snapping the clip (last Friday was 3), if he can’t snap the clip he snaps the headcollar (on our 3rd leather one).

Last week he went up in the trailer, snapped the clip, went under the front bar (he travels with a full length bar), and jammed it up against the top door at the front. He must have bounced open the pin in order to do this.

I’ve always had issues with him but he’s getting worse and frankly dangerous to deal with in any tie up situation.

He is also VERY herd bound/buddy sour even on individual turn out.

Any ideas? (Other then giving it away/letting it loose on A12 or a behaviourist).

Mine prefers the long bars to travel but frankly, on my own, it’s not safe to put the back one on as they’re so bl**dy awkward - by the time I’ve lifted the damn thing up and over he’s twigged what’s on and shooting out the back. He’s also tried turning on the box which a poster above found to be ok but he’s a tad too long to be doing that on the regular and be safe. I couldn’t tie him before putting the bar on either as he’d do what yours is doing (although milder, he’s a snapper but he’s not quite as committed when it comes to the ídolo, but I didn’t want to push it and have nothing left in my armoury) so the only reasonable choice I had left was partition back in - if I quietly swing the partition straight and lift the bar into place at the same time swiftly it only takes a couple of bum bumps for him to realise he’s shut in. He didn’t like it the first couple of times but I’ll keep practicing and see how we go. I’m also going to hang a lick in the box.

The more times they break things/run off/bash things about the more they frighten themselves in the box AND solidify they can get away from the noisy scary tin can .. & the harder it is to undo (I know you know that & speaking from my own experience ).

It’s taken me two solid weeks of training daily to get to this point (2x daily at the start). Simple pressure and release has worked, I use a stick to tap him “annoyingly” on the bum until he moves - not to whack him. We went up and down the ramp like a yoyo. Then in and out of the box (without partition) like a yoyo. Then once he was going on and staying on I’d move back to by his bum and see if he stayed put (he didn’t) so we did that over and over again until it was ok. Then I moved to sending him on from the ramp and we yo-yo’d. At each stage after yoyo-ing I’d ask him to stand a few times then we’d go back to yo-yoing. I did think eventually I’d get to putting the long bar on but I realised it just isn’t practically for something that doesn’t load reliably in the way mine doesn’t. So I put the partition back in and he took a little offence to that so we went through all the “prep” stages in one session then I closed the back bars in the session the next day. He wasn’t keen so when I let him out we did a bit of yo-yoing again and standing on and backing out then I closed the back again, repeat once more with the bar & then finished the session on a walk on, stand, back off so he doesn’t automatically think going on the box = shut in every time.

I think I’m going to have to keep doing this v regular to stop him going backwards if I’m honest. It’s taken me 2 weeks of solid work to get to this point on my own. I expect after taking journeys I’ll have to do a few “reset” sessions too where we just go on and off again until he thinks it’s all normal. If he was as committed as yours I’d be expecting it to take even longer - don’t move on to the next stage until the last one is completely chill and if an explosion happens take a step or two back to the comfort zone. It’s mind numbing and patience testing.

I’ll be attaching my ídolo to a chain on the back of the box for tying up out and about so I’m hoping it won’t snap!! he stands nicely on it at home.

Practice practice practice until it’s the most boring thing in the world (it’s really is ). That’s all I can say about this last 2 weeks.

I did say if I couldn’t do it before Christmas (gave myself a long window) I’d be booking someone specialist for loading in the new year because I’d maxed out my bag of tricks. I’ve had many horses with all sorts of quirks but none have been as committed to not staying on the box as this one and I’d have been happy to get someone else out to have a go after all this work if we hadn’t got anywhere in that long. Happily it’s going ok now so fingers crossed it continues!

 

[TheChestnutThing]

I'm not quite sure why a behaviourist is on that list considering the other options! If he's that bad, it's definitely worth a shot. We have an excellent one in our area and she's not expensive.
Can you travel him tacked up if he travels ok so you can get him off and get straight on him? Not ideal if you want to socialise a bit but at least you could get him out and about?

Travelling tacked up is an option yes. I actually said that after Sunday’s antics would be doing this in future.

 

[TheChestnutThing]

Mine prefers the long bars to travel but frankly, on my own, it’s not safe to put the back one on as they’re so bl**dy awkward - by the time I’ve lifted the damn thing up and over he’s twigged what’s on and shooting out the back. He’s also tried turning on the box which a poster above found to be ok but he’s a tad too long to be doing that on the regular and be safe. I couldn’t tie him before putting the bar on either as he’d do what yours is doing (although milder, he’s a snapper but he’s not quite as committed when it comes to the ídolo, but I didn’t want to push it and have nothing left in my armoury) so the only reasonable choice I had left was partition back in - if I quietly swing the partition straight and lift the bar into place at the same time swiftly it only takes a couple of bum bumps for him to realise he’s shut in. He didn’t like it the first couple of times but I’ll keep practicing and see how we go. I’m also going to hang a lick in the box.

The more times they break things/run off/bash things about the more they frighten themselves in the box AND solidify they can get away from the noisy scary tin can .. & the harder it is to undo (I know you know that & speaking from my own experience ).

It’s taken me two solid weeks of training daily to get to this point (2x daily at the start). Simple pressure and release has worked, I use a stick to tap him “annoyingly” on the bum until he moves - not to whack him. We went up and down the ramp like a yoyo. Then in and out of the box (without partition) like a yoyo. Then once he was going on and staying on I’d move back to by his bum and see if he stayed put (he didn’t) so we did that over and over again until it was ok. Then I moved to sending him on from the ramp and we yo-yo’d. At each stage after yoyo-ing I’d ask him to stand a few times then we’d go back to yo-yoing. I did think eventually I’d get to putting the long bar on but I realised it just isn’t practically for something that doesn’t load reliably in the way mine doesn’t. So I put the partition back in and he took a little offence to that so we went through all the “prep” stages in one session then I closed the back bars in the session the next day. He wasn’t keen so when I let him out we did a bit of yo-yoing again and standing on and backing out then I closed the back again, repeat once more with the bar & then finished the session on a walk on, stand, back off so he doesn’t automatically think going on the box = shut in every time.

I think I’m going to have to keep doing this v regular to stop him going backwards if I’m honest. It’s taken me 2 weeks of solid work to get to this point on my own. I expect after taking journeys I’ll have to do a few “reset” sessions too where we just go on and off again until he thinks it’s all normal. If he was as committed as yours I’d be expecting it to take even longer - don’t move on to the next stage until the last one is completely chill and if an explosion happens take a step or two back to the comfort zone. It’s mind numbing and patience testing.

I’ll be attaching my ídolo to a chain on the back of the box for tying up out and about so I’m hoping it won’t snap!! he stands nicely on it at home.

Practice practice practice until it’s the most boring thing in the world (it’s really is ). That’s all I can say about this last 2 weeks.

I did say if I couldn’t do it before Christmas (gave myself a long window) I’d be booking someone specialist for loading in the new year because I’d maxed out my bag of tricks. I’ve had many horses with all sorts of quirks but none have been as committed to not staying on the box as this one and I’d have been happy to get someone else out to have a go after all this work if we hadn’t got anywhere in that long. Happily it’s going ok now so fingers crossed it continues!

Mine doesn’t reverse out. He’s just a dick to tie up. I wonder if I should put the partition back in for safety sake. He walks straight in with the single bars no issue but now you speak about it, is it actually safer?

He weirdly didn’t used to be this bad. I always had issues. But since his brother died, he’s gotten progressively worse. Even though they didn’t go to outings together if I was on my own.

On Sunday he didn’t want to leave the hunt. Became so herd bound toward the horses there.

I agree that repetition is key. Definitely in your case as it seems to be working. When my boy went through the backing out thing, I just rinsed and repeated, exactly what you are doing.

I think I’m going to have to start from scratch again and consult a behavioural expert if necessary (although I really can’t afford it this side of the year).

 

[Boughtabay]

Mine doesn’t reverse out. He’s just a dick to tie up. I wonder if I should put the partition back in for safety sake. He walks straight in with the single bars no issue but now you speak about it, is it actually safer?

He weirdly didn’t used to be this bad. I always had issues. But since his brother died, he’s gotten progressively worse. Even though they didn’t go to outings together if I was on my own.

On Sunday he didn’t want to leave the hunt. Became so herd bound toward the horses there.

I agree that repetition is key. Definitely in your case as it seems to be working. When my boy went through the backing out thing, I just rinsed and repeated, exactly what you are doing.

I think I’m going to have to start from scratch again and consult a behavioural expert if necessary (although I really can’t afford it this side of the year).

Funnily enough it was losing my mare which triggered mine too he’s been much more worried in general since she’s gone and he’s mostly over it now but he definitely regressed into old behaviours when “pushed” a bit more after she went and one thing I was “pushing” him to do after his break was load, and all the old nonsense came back. So I decided there and then I was going back & training from scratch with the aim of being able to load solo & for that to be doable I’ve accepted we need the partition back in, at least until trailering is old news again.

I don’t tie before shutting the back so really tying with the partition in is purely to stop him trying to wiggle his head/neck round while travelling? I wouldn’t feel right not tying while on the move but I’m not sure why exactly … just to stop too much mischief on the move but not much mischief possible with partition in! I untie before opening the back & unloading and just ask him verbally to back out so