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[Nicole5310]

This is important to me because I'm laying down the foundations of a baby horse.

My yearling filly and I have just started float training. All is going well except I dont know what to do next and I dont want to rush things. Ideally I'd like to take her to Pony Club next week for an outing to look around and as preparation for some inhand showing.

I have done two sessions with her, using her hardfeed as motivation and taking time and I havent pulled her onto the float at all. The first session she needed me to put 1 foot on the ramp first then she was away and by the end of it she was right in but not up to the breast bar. Today she only hesistated for a second when I intitially walked her up to the ramp then stepped on with her front feet. Pretty quickly she was right inside eating over the breast bar. I started gently pressing the internal dividing bar against her side which gave her a little fright but I talked to her and she came right.

We have a trusting partnership and she is going well with her handling, most of it is petting and respect stuff at liberty in her paddock, but shes great to handle.

My questions are; How long does it usually take to be able to float them without them freaking out? When will I know if I can put the ramp up?

Shes bold ( a little tanky to lead at times) but very sensitive. I think because of this it would be very damaging to her to have a bad floating experience.

Any advice would be appreciated. I'm on holiday at the moment and I'd like to do the work with her while I have the time.

Thanks.

[galadriel]

I have a mare who went unhandled for a long time, and shortly after I got her she had to go have surgery. So we did quite a lot of trailer training in a hurry...

Started off with just getting her into the trailer, and helping her figure out how to get back out.

Once she was doing that fairly well, I went ahead and closed the back (which she found very distressing at first, but after a brief test, decided that she could live with it.

Right after that, I took her for a drive around the yard. I just drove in a circle (I fortunately have enough space to drive the truck/trailer in a decent sized circle).

At that point, I was out of time, and had to get her down to the surgeon. I would have liked to do a few more driving sessions before taking her on a long drive.

If I had had time, I would have taken her on a more extended short trip, perhaps 10 minutes, unloading at home.

The next session, I would have taken her on a short trip, unloaded her, reloaded her, and driven her home.

After that I would have started taking her places for the experience of being there (parks, showgrounds, etc) and started focusing more on what we were doing while out, than on the trailering itself.

[Harry Hobbes]

My questions are; How long does it usually take to be able to float them without them freaking out?
The best way to lower the risk of a horse "freaking out" is to ensure that it is totally comfortable moving around in the float; that is, it is comfortable moving its feet and shifting around while it is in the float.

Horses that are afraid to move their feet (i.e., they are frozen in place) are the horses that tend to explode.

So lead your horse into the float and spend a lot of time stepping the horse forward and back, left and right, one step at a time, until the horse is absolutely comfortable (and bored) with moving around in the float. The horse should yield forward, back, left and right with just light pressure cues from you.

Also, spend a lot of time entering and backing out of the float, because the threshhold of the door tends to be the place of difficulty; especially with mares. So she needs to be really good traversing the threshhold.
When will I know if I can put the ramp up?
When she is comfortable with the exercises above, close the ramp and leave her alone for a while (about ten minutes). Then build on the time that she stands in the closed float. (You can also put a full hay net in the float so she will view the float as a place to eat food.)

<Edit to add:> The first session in the float with the ramp closed should be about ten minutes. Then bring her out and go to work doing some ground word away from the float for about ten minutes. Then return and put her back in the float for fifteen minutes; then bring her out and do more ground work away from the float (ten minutes). Then put her back in for twenty minutes; then another ten minutes ground work.

Build the amount of time that she stands in the closed float first in five-minute increments, then add ten minute increments. When you get to an hour of her standing in the float, she'll be pretty well acclimated to it, and you can feel comfortable taking her for a drive. <End of Edit>

If when she is in the float, she paws or otherwise acts out, leave her be and do not pay any attention to her, else you will reinforce her behavior to paw or act out. You can bring her out of the float when she's calm and relaxed.

Also, you need to fix the "...tanky to lead..." issue as this will get both of you into trouble when she is under a little pressure (such as the pressure of fear from claustrophobia). This is a disrespect issue that will be easily triggered, and until fixed both you and she are at risk of injury.

Best regards,
Harry

[Nicole5310]

Thanks guys, she is excellent to yield to a feel and I'm working on the occasionally tankiness by halting her and sometimes backing her as well everytime shes like that. I insist on the utmost respect from my babies. Now that she is comfortable with me and is finally in good condition she is getting cocky and testing boundaries. Remembering she is only one year of age today I dont want to leave her in the float for too long. That technique might be something I use further down the track. Shes at an age where growing up should be the biggest thing in her life and I dont want to push her too much. The things I do with her and the games I play are based around things she can find entertaining ( fun stuff like at kindergarten )

She is moving around quite confidently in the float now. When I lead her up to the ramp she walked in by herself. I just cant help worrying that she'll get a fright somehow.
Thanks again for you advice. I was wondering how others taught it, but it seems im not too far off track.