Yearling will not load - need to move ASAP - offered free if anyone can load!

muff747 said:
Please don't listen to any advice about beating the poor thing in, you will put this horse on course to be a big problem for the rest of it's life if you do. If it is highly strung it could turn into a violent horse and end up on a downward spiral to the abbatoir anyway.
Contact Tim and Shirley Piper in Somerset, I am sure they will get the horse in and WITHOUT violence.
Monty says "If you set out to get your horse loaded in five minutes it will take you five hours. If you set out to load your horse in five hours, it will take you five minutes".
Horses communicate by eye and body language. It sounds like this mare is VERY aware of people staring at her, to her that is aggressive and means "go or get out of my way". People tend to stand around in a circle with their arms folded, staring at the horse. You get some gathering round behind trying to shush the horse in, staring intently at the horse - recipe for disaster!
Please, please pm me and I will give you mobile numbers of Tim and Shirley. I am sure if they know the situation they will come quickly and they will succeed.
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Another vote for Tim Piper here. Does a lot of work with race horses that don't go in starting stalls

Tim Piper
based in Somerton, Somerset

Contact:
01458 223890
07721 617203
07736 118891
timandshirley@tiscali.co.uk
 
definitely try a trailer or small lorry (side-load with low ramp), this can make an enormous difference.
i'd get a good local NH person to come and get her in tbh.
or
give sedalin or similar, and blindfold, and have a few strong determined calm experienced people around (ring the local hunt? i bet they'd come out and do it, not for free though).
i devoutly hope they get her in at the next attempt. good luck.
 
I know of someone who is not a million miles away (Glos) and will load her, no vile methods but not NHy rubbish so very reasonable rates. But she will get her on. PM me if you want another contact!
 
Haven't been able to read all responses so sorry if I'm repeating anything here but please try a trailer or a low ramp side loading box....

One of my boys WILL NOT (and I mean it) load into a horsebox, we've tried nice methods, nasty methods, sedation, NH, Arms round the back end, Blindfolding, the lot, he WILL NOT go on.....get a trailer out and he's usually in within 5 mins.
 
I had one of these ancy fancy loading people out to my darty who was a total pain in the back side to load - stubborn! They smacked him around threw ropes in his face, shouted at him and were generally very vile. I gave them 30 more seconds before I went ballistic at them for treating him in such a way, took him off of them and he ran up the ramp next to me to get away from them. Never worked again though, he is still a toad but I do not believe they did a single thing to help, if anything they made it worse!

If you can get a trailer then do. I am also in favour of the "Pick Up and Chuck" method. Done it many, many times before and an Arab yearling can't weigh that much. I'm sure that getting chucked in once will do her no harm and in her new home they can go back to the basics and teach loading all over again the nicey nicey way.

I hope she loads and goes off to a nice home without too much hassle.
 
3Beasties said:
Sedate, blindfold and a couple of big strong men with their arms joined behind her bum (like they do to load TB's into starting gates) to lift/push her in?

Hope you manage to sort it.
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This is by far and away the best way... put straw up the ramp into the box as well though. Best of luck.
 
be nice halter works every time.When I used to ride and did my long distance.I took with me a be nice halter.I have saved alot of distressed owners trying to load there horses.
It works on the principal when the horse pulls back he feels sight pain so he goes forward and hey presto into the box trailer what ever.No nonsense with people shoving them in or pulling or putting one foot on than the other or a lunge whip behind and or across there behind.
 
Unfortunately it sounds as if this poor yearling has already been subjected to some pretty scary stuff. It's not going to be easy to load her using any methods, and Arabs do not like being pushed around. Once they have decided they are not going into a box, they will fight all the way.

If she has had pressure on her head to the point where she has reared and fallen over, she will need very careful handling to keep her feet on the ground. If she has already had people behind trying to huckle her in, she will be very resistant to going into a box, as that terrifies horses more than anything. Such horses will do anything to avoid loading.

The natural instinct of the human, when a horse pulls back, is to hang on and try to restrain the horse. Actually, the best thing to do is let the rope slip through the hand, so that the horse has nothing to resist. That way the horse will be dissuaded from running/pulling back or rearing. It can then be set up at the ramp and asked again to load. Horses cannot be dragged onto a box.

It's probably too late for this filly now, but my advice is always to tell everybody else to stand well clear, and still, and keep quiet. It is best to take time away from the trailer/lorry, to teach the horse how to yield to pressure and how to seek release from it. Once a horse has realised that leaning back or standing still involves pressure, but advancing, even a step at a time, means freedom from pressure, it can be persuaded to load.

I'm working with a mare at the moment who was forced onto a box. She loaded for me the twice I tried her, but I had to make sure the yard was deserted, but for two quiet observers, and had to give the mare time to assure herself that no-one was going to come out of hiding and set about her with ropes and loud voices. Once she had tried everything, including ripping back, rearing, trying to run off, during which displays I 'played' her on the rope without trying to hold her down, she had a last look around and went onto the box.

This young filly in question will need a person who knows what they are doing if she is to be loaded without any further damage to her mind. Her future is already tainted by what has happened so far, and she will need much remedial training and understanding if she is to become a willing loader.

Offering her free if she can be loaded says it all. She won't be much good to anyone after this.
 
Have you tried simply herding in??? have had to do it a few times before with difficult horses.
As long as you dont force them to bolt up the ramp and in but just slowly push them in the right direction until they are in can work very well.

Also doesnt put too many nastys in the way of having to load in future as it would be partly her descision to go in.

Taking a leader/handler out the situation can make it much calmer :)



If you do get desperate I have a trailer and a spare spot in a field, it would be a 3hr trip so couldnt really come down just for a helping hand!! :o
 
Thanks again everyone, I now have a list of transporters, trainers and people willing to adopt if they can load, all will be passed onto the lady concerned this evening.

As I said, it will be up to her, I have no real connection other than the concern for the welfare of a potential very nice young horse.

Thaks also for not letting this thread degenerate as they so often do, and not get too critical of the unfortunate situation.

I will update the thread once I hear what is going to/has happened.

Thanks again to all. :)
 
I know this lady and my heart really goes out to her. She has had to close her stud and rehome all of her horses. She has sold VERY nice stock VERY cheaply to the right homes not the right price.

What people aren't picking up on is that she is a pensioner, she is on her own. Her sole income is her pension. She really has tried everything to keep her stud but it just wasn't possible. She has absolutely done the right thing by her horses. She hasn't ignored the fact that she can't keep them any longer. How many times have you heard that they end up being left and are found skinny and starving. This is not the case here

She has bred some amazing horses and although I have not seen this filly I can tell you that she should be very nice indeed.
 
Don't know if this will work, or whether anyone has suggested it, but back the box up to a narrowish area where it can't get out the side, turn on jet washer or hosepipe with your finger over the end for extra power, and when the horses is going forwards point water at its back end and keep it on. Horse shoots into box like a rat up a drain - job done. Don't turn the water off until the horse is fully in the box and fastened in and the inside of the box will get wet but it's a small price to pay.
Did this with an unloadable horse once after an hour of trying - went in with this method first time.
 
Holly Hocks said:
Don't know if this will work, or whether anyone has suggested it, but back the box up to a narrowish area where it can't get out the side, turn on jet washer or hosepipe with your finger over the end for extra power, and when the horses is going forwards point water at its back end and keep it on. Horse shoots into box like a rat up a drain - job done. Don't turn the water off until the horse is fully in the box and fastened in and the inside of the box will get wet but it's a small price to pay.
Did this with an unloadable horse once after an hour of trying - went in with this method first time.
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Can second this method, tired it and worked wonders, had one that wouldnt go on for 3 hours, chucked buckets of water up its backside walked on and has done ever since. Need to be in an area where the horse can go of the side of the ramp though, i found this worked better with a box with the gates down the side backed into a narrow area than a trailer, as the horse can only really see into the lorry.
 
Perissa said:
I know this lady and my heart really goes out to her. She has had to close her stud and rehome all of her horses. She has sold VERY nice stock VERY cheaply to the right homes not the right price.

What people aren't picking up on is that she is a pensioner, she is on her own. Her sole income is her pension. She really has tried everything to keep her stud but it just wasn't possible. She has absolutely done the right thing by her horses. She hasn't ignored the fact that she can't keep them any longer. How many times have you heard that they end up being left and are found skinny and starving. This is not the case here

She has bred some amazing horses and although I have not seen this filly I can tell you that she should be very nice indeed.
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Thanks, I totally agree. I know some of the costs she has had to bear earlier this year, a huge vet and farrier bill for a colt that needed emergency remedial work to correct a leg problem (which has been entirely successful I heard) and she has been doing all of this single-handed.
The filly is very nice, but apparently has an attitude this lady has never know before, which goes some way to saying how tricky she is!
Fingers crossed some of the lovely offers received will result in her finding a lovely home.
:)
 
Tinypony said:
I think we're agreeing with each other Templewood. My thoughts are that she might react to pressure from behind as well. Too much is unknnown in this situation, if people tried to load her for 3 hours before I'd guess that they tried pressure from the front, the side, behind, lifting her feet and just about everything.
I posted a link to Ben Hart's site earlier, from your posts I think you might find him interesting. I'm not one of his disciples, and the way I train is very different to what he does, but I do believe in using the right approach to fit the horse. I don't think - now at any rate - a forceful approach would be worth the risk with this one.
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Will have a look at his site. I'm with you on the 'approach to fit the horse'. The more methods you know, the more tools you have.
 
My TB youngster did this - would walk up the ramp and go no further we tried everything.

In the end we used a trailer, the fenceline, a yard and a gate for the final side.

Trailer backed in as close as possible to the yard, ramp down, gate then tied to side of flat and edge of yard to complete the horse trap!

Brought yearling out of yard and shut gate behind her, now nowhere for her to go, bum rope on and heave and we were on.

Next time she floated walked straight on and then finally onto the transporter to go on a ship to Norfolk Island.

She was a very opinionated filly- not violent or agressive just quietly opinionated.

This is a bum rope - do the not up at the withers with a bowline.
MatamataWaikatoWorld008.jpg
 
Must state that force is not the way to go, horses can panic in the truck/float and putting them there forcefully is likely to cause a horse to panic.

My horse used to throw him self around float, now fixed through NH principles. Probably one of the worst float loaders alive, though he would fortunately travel on a truck.

My son saw a man forcing a youngster on a float the other day and it thrashed around so much it knocked it self unconcious, he thought it was dead, then it came to & started thrashing around again. He (my son, and I imagine the horse) was really stressed by the situation, and under no circumstances is forcing a horse going to achieve a good result. You may get away with it once or twice, and then the whole thing comes back to bite you. Plus any trust or respect for you by the horse is lost.
 
I hope all works out. It sounds like a horrible position for the owner to be in.
Ive had 2 horses in the past that were pigs to load.
The first was part clydie, she knew her strength. She would just refuse to move from the bottom of the ramp. She ended up being picked up by 4 burly men and placed in the box... The look on her face was priceless, never had a prob loading again.
The second had had a fall in a trailor and was stressed about going in. We put the trailor against the side of a building, so that blocked 1 escape route
We then put 2 lunge lines on the other side of the trailor, so one was about knee high, the other was eye height, when ever he looked at them or started towards that side of the trailor, they were waved up and down ( not at him ). We could get him to the bottom of the ramp, then we'd keep a gentle pressure on him and keep him looking into the trailor. He wasnt pulled, he just wasnt allowed to look elsewhere. It took a couple of hours tbh but in the end he got so bored he went in.
A freinds horse was a v spirited ( naughty ) part arab who was impossible to load. She had an expert with her preparing her to load everyday for 2 wks, with no progress at all.
In the end my friend got a transporter with a large lorry ( used for transporting TBs for the races. ) she told him she was having problems... He had the horse loaded in 10 mins, no harsh methods, he was just an expert at his job.
Kx
 
There is force and force - There is force - beating up the horse and getting heavy handed with it or the force where you make it impossible for the youngster to go anywhere but forward - using a bum rope means that you can safely encourage the horse to go forward without risking anyone being hurt.

You can keep them straight and also prevent them from going backwards.

NH may work for most horses but not all. I spent 6 months trying daily to get my filly on the truck but I couldn't quite block in the ramp enough to prevent her from backing off.

With the trailer I was able to block all her escape routes nas she went straight in. Since then no problems - the shipping company said she travelled better than the TB's - walked straight into her compartment on the ship and travelled for three days on a ship without a qualm.
 
For big strong men have you tried the local fire brigade, with luck they may also have some experience of horses from rescues, etc. Friend of mine used a length of an old fire hose with two handles made at either end, then the big stong guys just swept up a 16.2 middleweights bum and almost threw her up the ramp with another big stong lad at her head - foal stood at top of ramp having bounded up almost saying "what are you waiting for mum"! :)
 
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