Training to stand quietly on the lorry

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Has anyone any successful methods of encouraging a youngster to stand quietly on the lorry on arrival at shows?

Loading and traveling isn’t a problem but once at a show and she can hear other horses she becomes agitated and just wants out. It doesn’t matter if the ramp is left up or put down she just starts throwing herself about.

Obviously I’m hoping this will improve with regular outings but at the moment I’m struggling to get her tacked up as I go to training and shows by myself and she is literally throwing herself against the partition and leaning on it until she is allowed out.

I’m wondering if clicker training could help in this situation but any other ideas gratefully received as I don’t want an injured horse or broken partition. Traveling with a companion is sadly not an option.
 
I did some work on this at home with mine, she's only allowed off when she's standing quietly , if she's stomping about she stays on. We practised this at home and she's good now but only once the ramp is down and she can see. I think that's because the ramp stayed down when I did the at home training as I was on my own so couldn't shut it! But it's good enough for shows, somehow she also behaves with the ramp up when we're stuck in traffic or at lights, but at the venues when you stop to open the gate off she goes, thankfully with the training she now stops once the ramp is dropped.
 
ihatework said:
Urm, is it wrong to say I just ignore them and leave them there until they stop creating?
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I fear it would only go quiet when either partition or pony breaks. I’d rather it was a more positive experience and training process. Others I have left and they settle but don’t think that is the best option for this one sadly.
 
Its a really hard one to crack as the behaviour is inherently self rewarding. Eventually someone will come - even if it is because something broke. And you can't always leave them if they are creating at a show because someone will tell the secretary - and so they should.

A mirror or a companion might help? Or can you leave her safely tied outside the lorry rather than on it? Because it is self rewarding this type of behaviour is very hard to extinguish once established so my preference would be to avoid it if at all possible rather than confront it.
 
My welsh used to be a terrible traveller - I had to set off as soon as I had her bundled into the lorry to stop her causing a ruckus and she needed to be unloaded immediately on arrival or she'd start up again. With the force and violence to break something or herself :o I know that fear only too well, OP.

Firstly - she is now good to load, travels like a dream and will stand on the box for hours quite happily.

What I did was stick to the routine that kept her safe and didn't unduly stress her - so got off on arrival and given something to do: lead around, ride, tie up with a net to watch other horses etc. When she was a little bit less fresh, I'd put her back on and stand with her for 5/10 mins or so. Then off, and ride again, or tie up with a haynet. and repeat like that - gradually building to having her on the box while I stood in the back, or sat in the cab.

When we had that bit nailed, I gradually left it longer and longer on arrival before getting her off the box. I left the doors closed but I could see and talk to her through the window into the cab.

Don't know if that helps - but I really thought mine would be a nightmare for a long time but these little learning task really helped and she's lovely to take out and about now.
 
I did similar to Milliepops, I used to always unload immediately on arrival anywhere as I was getting anxious about him being on when we'd stopped. My pony wasn't especially fussed but did get a bit fidgety. Then I started putting him back on after he'd had a look at his surroundings and leaving him to eat his hay while I got myself organised then I'd get him ready and back off to start. He always goes back on when I've ridden to stand for a while before we leave. It's now progressed that I don't need to unload him on arrival now, I open the ramp and he's quite happy to stand for a while and wait. We still need to work up to longer times of standing but it's certainly so much easier now that I don't have to worry about unloading as soon as we get somewhere.
 
Really interesting to read the different experiences and mine does sound similar to yours Milliepops. I’ll try and do more practice at home and keep the stress levels down by attempting to unload before the thrashing around starts. Hopefully she’ll settle with time as yours has. At least it has given me some hope that it is fixable if not allowed to escalate.
 
No doubt, part of the thing with mine was getting her to engage mentally with what I was asking her to do - rather than just be desperate to get off, I tried to get her to think about the box, think about me, think about her haynet, stay inside the box in her head rather than be totally distracted by the outside... her natural tendency is to just lose the plot and be completely irrational, she does it in all kinds of circumstances but if I can get her to pay attention to the task she is quite good at learning, and this was a good example :D

She was the same about loading, she was impossible until I could get her to focus on the ramp and the interior of the lorry and digest the idea - you see it all the time, people trying to load horses who are not remotely paying attention to the lorry but looking at everything else around them. She was exactly like that all the time!
 
My OH's horse is a bit of a nightmare like this, think he's just nosey and likes to know where he is. So we tend unload him as soon as we arrive anywhere, take him for a walk around the lorry park (so he knows where he is) and then load him back up. He'll then stand as quiet as a mouse ;-)
 
MissGee said:
My OH's horse is a bit of a nightmare like this, think he's just nosey and likes to know where he is. So we tend unload him as soon as we arrive anywhere, take him for a walk around the lorry park (so he knows where he is) and then load him back up. He'll then stand as quiet as a mouse ;-)
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Next time out I shall try this approach I think. Might confuse her if nothing else ��
 
Similar to others - I used to have one who would get herself in a complete tiz and no amount of leaving her in that state would improve the situation, her brain would just wind itself into ever decreasing circles. She also couldn't be tied up as she broke everything, so I had to get her reasonable at staying on the lorry. And as others have said, the best method was to keep her in her comfort zone and work out a routine that allowed her to calm herself and then gradually expand it. So it was arrive, take her off, walk in hand, put back on, take off, walk around, tack up, ride, to start with, gradually shortening times and cutting bits out.
 
great advice. my boy is 20 and still gets very excited about getting off the trailer particularly if he is somewhere new or somewhere that is particularly busy. he can take several minutes to load (although that has improved over the years - we just keep going out and I keep him calm and load him on my own) he is angelic once he is on and to travel ( I often load him and then go back a muck his stable out because he is absolutely fine once he is on the trailer). my advice is persevere quietly. I always go out on my own and we have been all over the place. he is 17.2 and can be a handful I just ignore him and quietly he has learnt that it is ok and mum will protect him. ignore advice from other people on show grounds. they mean well but rarely do I find they help . I also put the front down on the trailer when we get anywhere and then just ignore him.
milliepops said:
My welsh used to be a terrible traveller - I had to set off as soon as I had her bundled into the lorry to stop her causing a ruckus and she needed to be unloaded immediately on arrival or she'd start up again. With the force and violence to break something or herself :o I know that fear only too well, OP.

Firstly - she is now good to load, travels like a dream and will stand on the box for hours quite happily.

What I did was stick to the routine that kept her safe and didn't unduly stress her - so got off on arrival and given something to do: lead around, ride, tie up with a net to watch other horses etc. When she was a little bit less fresh, I'd put her back on and stand with her for 5/10 mins or so. Then off, and ride again, or tie up with a haynet. and repeat like that - gradually building to having her on the box while I stood in the back, or sat in the cab.

When we had that bit nailed, I gradually left it longer and longer on arrival before getting her off the box. I left the doors closed but I could see and talk to her through the window into the cab.

Don't know if that helps - but I really thought mine would be a nightmare for a long time but these little learning task really helped and she's lovely to take out and about now.
Click to expand...
 
claret09 said:
great advice. my boy is 20 and still gets very excited about getting off the trailer particularly if he is somewhere new or somewhere that is particularly busy. he can take several minutes to load (although that has improved over the years - we just keep going out and I keep him calm and load him on my own) he is angelic once he is on and to travel ( I often load him and then go back a muck his stable out because he is absolutely fine once he is on the trailer). my advice is persevere quietly. I always go out on my own and we have been all over the place. he is 17.2 and can be a handful I just ignore him and quietly he has learnt that it is ok and mum will protect him. ignore advice from other people on show grounds. they mean well but rarely do I find they help . I also put the front down on the trailer when we get anywhere and then just ignore him.
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Another vote for quite, steady, comfortable repetition. It's taken us years to get my boy to load well and stand on the trailer. The thing that has made the biggest difference has been doing monthly riding club comps. His routine is always the same so he knows what's going on and that he is guaranteed his haynet inside the trailer, if he's outside it is at my discretion whether he gets it (usually about 10 minutes before I want to load up again it is removed). After 18 months of going out this time we finally had a completely uneventful trip last weekend: loaded fine, stood on the trailer while I sorted entries, etc. Stood on to be brushed off, loaded back on and stood eating between classes (it was chucking it down) and walked on to go home with no fuss. I won't say we have cracked it, I think he will always have his "issues" with loading but I have made sure the trailer is now his "safe space".
 
milliepops said:
She was the same about loading, she was impossible until I could get her to focus on the ramp and the interior of the lorry and digest the idea - you see it all the time, people trying to load horses who are not remotely paying attention to the lorry but looking at everything else around them. She was exactly like that all the time!
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I'm interested to know how you got her to focus on the trailer for loading as mine does the same looking around everywhere and then
 
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