Unloading Issues

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Seahorse

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My horse loads like a dream, travels really well (you wouldn't know he was there!) stands quietly on the trailer when you get there but when you come to unloading him he literally jumps out of the trailer.
I travel him in an Ifor 505 or 510, and move the partition right over so he has plenty of room but he still rushes out. I've let go of him several times now so I normally just put him on a lunge line and stay well back.
The other day I decided to practise unloading him using a bucket of feed, he was fine and was standing on the ramp eating when he suddenly jumped about 4ft in the air knocking the bucket flying and scaring me and my friend half to death.
I've had him since he was a yearling and to my knowledge nothing has ever happened to make him like this.
I used to travel him in a lorry and he comes down the ramp of that pretty quickly but at least you can walk next to him as it's much wider.

Anyone got any ideas of how to get him to stop this?
 
2 people one holding each side with bridle or something stronger than headcollar should work, obvioulsy put a rope on each side for you to hold or those extra long ropes. Take it really steady, wear hats and gloves plus treats too. Worked well with one of mine anyway. And lots of praise when he has done it well, then keep repeating it so he gets the idea. Good luck.
 
My horse is the same (I thought it was only me!!) We have 'given up' trying to slow her down, nothing worked as such. just stand back and let him do his thing on a long line. I was suggested to use a dually, but yet haven't got one.
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Good luck with whatever you try hun.

I've got no advice to offer but thought I'd repeat what my farrier told me once because it's so unlikely to be true that it just might be! A long time ago, a client of his had terrible trouble unloading a very promising horse. The horse would shoot out backwards and almost kill anyone or anything in the way. Well, apparently, they loaded the horse up one day and drove it to Swansea docks. They stopped it right at the edge. The instant the lorry stopped, the horse started trying to destroy it. They opened the ramp and stood well back. Horse shot out backwards and straight over the edge into Swansea Bay. They eventually fished him out again somehow and loaded him back up and took him home. Apparently he never did it again. Old methods eh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Whatever you do ,be very very carefull. The horse will not even notice you if you are in the way. A friend recently had her achilees tendon 3/4 severed by her horse jumping off the ramp into her.(Swnsea docks sounds a good idea for her horse.
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,but dont ask me to fish Dennis out after
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My pony used to do this - we would unload him in a bridle and just try very hard to make him walk slowly.

I recently sold my trailer and bought a rear load / unload ... he now comes out backwards very nicely!!

Worth a try.
 
My horse is exactly like this. She is the most mannerly creature otherwise (and hitting her would NOT work at all as she is already a bit nervous) but doesn't like to put a foot on the ramp at all. We now keep out of her way. Think it's a good idea to try coming out backwards though.
 
Does he do it from either side of the trailer? Skye used to be verging on dangerous to unload in my ifor if she travelled driverside, however if i travelled her without a partition or travelled her passenger side she unloaded much better ( still rushed but not dangerous). My ifor had a left hand unload so unloading passenger side was almost a straight exit whereas driver side was quite a tight turn.
 
Ok if he won't go back - there is your starting point. He needs to learn to go backwards when you tell him to. At the moment he is in charge - he needs to learn that barging forwards over you is not acceptable behaviour nor is barging backwards. So teach him on the ground to back up when you ask him, and don't load him till you can do that calmly and politely. Then if you can make him go backwards on command you should be able to walk him in to the trailer - back him out, walk him in , back him out time and time again until it is boring. then try doing it with the front ramp down. but leave the breast bar in place. Then if you want to unload from the front you have to introduce the same walking forward, backing up routine right the way from the front of the front ramp to out the back. personally I never bother with the front ramp - mine travel loose in the trailer so when I get where I am going I clip on their lead ropes, go round the back and drop the back ramp, tell them to stand up while I remove the back bar then tell them to back. they back out slowly, I catch up the lead rope as they come level with me. All very calm and I do two horses on my own with ease.
 
he goes back obediantly when he's not in a trailer, but as soon as his feet start going downwards on the ramp if I back him out of a trailer then he doesn't like it.
I will try backing him out again properly, that's a good idea. I have often thought that once you start backing a horse out of a trailer then they start backing up on their own when you're trying to load them, and as I often go to places on my own I don't really want him to go half in then back up before I've had a chance to put the bar across and the ramp up.
I would still quite like to sort out this issue with the front ramp too idealy, but I will teach him to back out too.

Your 2 sound wonderful xx
 
Sea horse - they weren't wonderful - one was truly horrendous and seriously scared of the trailer. I could not even get him to go near it. It took me an age to get him to stand still - he charged backwards, he ploughed forwards. Eventually i started backing him hard. any sign of him trying to go backwards and i forced him back hard and kept him going backwards. he soon realised that if he went back without the comnmand then he had to reverse for a long way at speed with me shouting back at him. as soon as he went forwards he got praise a loose rope and a carrot. Initally my OH had to stand behind to put the back bar up but after about a week of daily work he just went into the trailer and stood there and I was able to go round and put up the bar myself. tying him up made him stressed - so no point in doing it as he simply pulled back and hurt himself, Now he is fanbtastic - we normally load my OH's horse by chucking the lead rope round his neck and saying on you go and mine then loads himself. They will come out the front quietly but I still find it far easier to reverse them. and they will come out on their own to compete and leave the other in the trailer and will happily load and unload on their own.

Just keep working at it - you will get there and it does make life so much easier. good luck
 
My pony used to do this when i first got him, he would also rush in and out of the stable - he does not like small spaces basically. He loaded fine into a box or a trailer but used to get really panicked trying to come out of the front of the trailer. He would build it all up and stand trembling then launch out! He used to do similar with the wagon and I used to make sure everyone was out the way before unloading.

However, practice made perfect with the wagon but we never really made him better with the trailer and we did resort to backing him out - this he could cope with.

I don't know whether you can maybe try leading him through some narrow spaces (start large and then gradually make them narrower). However, may be best to have a professional help with this. I saw this done on TV by one of the monty roberts trained women with a racehorse that didn't like starting stalls. I think the main thing is getting them comfortable with narrow spaces.
 
There is a girl at my yard that does natural horsemanship she has offered to work with him as a project and for her own experience, she is very good and although I'm not really into that sort of stuff I think in this case it might just work.
He is the sort of horse that if he's not sure he will just do it quickly, he's the same with gates too after we had a bit of an incident with one a while ago.
I think I might just see if I can teach him to come out backwards anyway, just in case!

Thanks everyone
 
You could try having the trailer (hitched up) in a safe place - arena or enclosed field, then just walk him through it again and again until he gets bored. You could just let go if he pulls at you, calmly catch him up again and repeat. Reward when he goes through slowly - probably by stopping the training and giving him a feed. Repeat a few times on different days, then see if you can load him up and tow him to a spot that's safe and do the same thing there. Once he learns there is nothing to be scared of and that he gets something nice if he goes slowly he should start doing it every time.
 
Hi, just wanted to add that I started reversing my horse out of a trailer because he leapt off the front ramp regardless of where I was and it worked at first. Thought great, then he started going in and flying out at high speed backwards, to the point he was whacking his head on the top of the trailer as he flew out and we couldnt get the breach bars up or ramp up in time for fear of being squashed. My horse wasnt keen on trailers though so hopefully your horse will be better. Needless to say, I now have a lorry and no probs at all.
 
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