hints, loading?

[Lucy J]

now i've got my towbar i have decided to teach ciara to load properly rather than the old 3 people routine. as i want to go to shows myself i need to do this myself. she leads very well, does join up and will put pne foot on the ramp, but i spent 2 hrs today just patiently keeping the rope loose and only using pressure if she stepped back. i can get her to stick her head in the trailer but she always ends up walking round the side of the ramp. yes, i know if i have one side against a wall etc that will help, but again, if i go to a show chances are i will not have a wall either side of the trailer. how can i help her decide to come in the trailer without the use of walls, lunge lines, bridles or whips? she just stands at the bottom and thinks about it. i've used food, i'.ve sat in the trailer and waited, i've annoyingly rattled the leadrope, but no help. she is just a little unsure. i want to do this myself, but need some other ideas! help!

[Kanuma]

put her feed bucket in the front of the trailer, dont let her have it till she goes on! then let her off straight away! next time take her for a 5 minute trip then stick her back in the field.
one of ours wont go on if the front ramp isnt down, anouther wont go in if there isnt anouther horse in there! other then that, just basiclay put a feed bucket in the front, when she gets bored enough and hungry enough she will go in!

[RodeoDreamer33]

It seems that nothing is working because she is having second thoughts on if the trailer and everything in it is safe. If it is a two-horse trailor, try bringing in a friend of your horses so that he knows, well if he can do it, i can!! It will re-assure him about going into the trailer. If he sees another horse go in, maybe he'll feel better about going in.

P.S. Make sure you don't over-use this though, because you don't want your horse buddy-soar with the trailer. You also want him to be able to go in alone as well.

[galadriel]

If she truly is simply unsure, then you can do the waiting thing. Eventually she WILL get bored and act--it just may take a very long time.

I've taken a feed bucket and a book...and I sit on the upturned feed bucket and I read. If you make a big deal out of asking her to get on, you may work her up a bit without accomplishing anything. If you ignore her, find something else to do, then SHE will...eventually...get bored and do SOMEthing. If you're sitting there feeling impatient and bored, though, you're likely to crack before she does.

One thing my Morgan has done is to sniff and nose the whole area--floor, walls, ceiling, all of it--before she decides to move further. Fine with me...at least she's doing something, not standing there looking unimpressed.

A couple of things that can be very helpful:
* Put shavings on the floor. The floor may look a little more inviting, and will be easier for equine vision to see.

* Make sure the interior is well-lit. The lighter it is, the better...and I just painted the wood slats on the inside of my trailer white, which really adds to the effect. The more light colored and well-lit it is, the safr it looks for horses.

* Hook the trailer up before practicing loading. A horse stepping into a trailer can cause the trailer to shift unnervingly. The trailer jack often isn't strong enough to keep the trailer entirely stable. A vehicle usually will keep it stable, which makes the horse feels safer. When the floor's moving, it's upsetting to them.

[Yann]

The method RA's use is to apply pressure on the headcollar or halter at an angle to encourage the horse to take a step across and instantly release the pressure when it does. The sideways step invariably takes them forward too, in this way they can initially be 'worked' into the trailer. The process is then repeated a few times, it's slow at first but soon gets quicker, and then the horse often seems to decide that it's no big deal after all and loads itself happily.

Make sure you're able to easily manoevre her around away from the trailer, and make sure you aren't blocking her visually or physically when you're trying to load her. It also helps a huge amount to load without the partition in, or with it to one side, and with as much light as possible in the trailer.

You could always get an RA out to show you:)

[Showjumper]

I once spent a whole day teaching Dolly to load into a friend's old 2 horse trailer. I did the same thing as Galadriel - sat inside the trailer holding the lead rope and reading a book. Dolly loaded herself after a bit of deliberation, so I unclipped her to let her decide what to do, and she stayed with me for about 10 minutes before leaving of her own accord. She then came back in and out about 20 more times, completely loose :)

However, loading her into my friend's ultra modern (silver inside) 4 horse lorry, she shot up the ramp immediately! :)

[Merlinz gal]

similar to showjumper,
i got merlin to load the trailer while it was statick but when he desperatly needed to go to the vets he refused to load and the very nice y/o and her husband came and gave us a hand yet again :D (im seriously in debt to them).

but he was finding it extremely hard to balance so maybe this is the situation with your mare too???

when it came to getting merlin home *IN A LORRY* he was unsure backed off then went straight up:D he found it hard to balance at first and the nurse had to punch his chest to get him to stand but after that he found he had one very important thing...............BALANCE. maybe your mare would be better in a lorry?? i know everyones not rich enough to rent a lorry let alone buy one because i AM one of those people :o

[Lucy J]

yeah, she loads much better in a lorry and for longer journies i do hire lorries, but i want to be able to quickly, cheaply and easily take her to local shows! galadriel, i cracked before she did! although she needed to be used in a lesson, and i had my little boy running around so i kept getting distracted. perhaps i'll try it before her breakfast next time. the main problem i have is she always outs a front leg either side of the ramp. also, it is an old trailer and i can't seem to budge the partition, i am sure that would help, although it seems more that she is afraid of the ramp rather than the box itself.....watch this space...

[Funky MeerKAT]

How did he travel once you got him on? If he has difficulty traveling he will not want to load, you can help this by trying the other side of the float or tying the partition across giving him more space, they also seem to travel better if the can see out the window and make sure that he is not tied too short (but not long enough that he can turn his head right around). For the actual loading the first thing I have to stress is NEVER TURN HIM AWAY FROM THE FLOAT for a 'run up', the reason for this is that horses are very much 'out of site out of mind' creatures if the float is out of their vision they have solved the problem for them selves and continue to pull away again and again. To start with do some basic work on the ground have a long whip and teach him to move forward when you tap himand from rope pressure, stop straight away when you tell him and back up step by step, you can also get him happy with being lead thru narrow spaces and onto boards and stuff. Have plently of time and a helper when you have a loading session (preffrably not before a competition), open the partiton right up and tie it across, and you will need a long rope (about 12ft) and a dressage whip. Remember for loading, 'two steps forward one step back'. Start with you facing the horse and your helper behind and to the side with the whip, do not face your horse as this is body to stop, face where you want to go, put some presure on the halter and have the helper start to tap his bum (not to thrash him, just consitent quick tapping, more to annoy the horse than hurt him), do not let him turn away and at this stage you only want him to put his foot on the ramp, keep up the presure untill he attemps to (or actually does) take a step on to the ramp, as soon as he does stop the tapping and presure straight away and give him a rub on the head, then put the presure on again until he takes another step, at this stage back him off again (straight) and stop him just in front of the ramp and don't let him rush, give him a pat and let him relax, this is so that he does not feel so trapped, he feels that he can step on and he will be able to get off again. Then start again and get him on one step futher then back him off again, if he goes crooked at any stage don't turn him around or straighten him, he has eyes, he's not stupid and he can load from the side of the ramp. Keep doing this untill he can load with his haed just inside the float. Now you can back him off turn him around, give him a little graze or you could finnish the session for the day. During all this stay very calm but firm, if he gets wound up don't ask for anything but for him to stand still where he is, if he runs backwards hold on to him (this is where a long rope is good) and don't let him turn away keep presure on till he steps forward again. In the next session start at the begginning again and then ask for a few more steps in, (again two steps forward one step back), if he starts to worry at any stage ask him to stand still then back him out and start again, if he wants to chuck his head and looks like he is going to hit the roof, ignore him, there is nothing you can do and he will soon learn not to do that. Once he has his shoulders in you can take him off and and ask him to load to the same point with out backing on the way, but you may want to stop every few steps to keep him controled. This is a good time to finish again. For the next seesion you can go in the whole way but don't lock him in, but do make him stand in there for a while, a bit of hay might help (but do not use it to coax him up) him stay there, then back him off, then you can do the same with the partition in the normal spot, again load him but don't lock him in, if he was happy with that take him off, load him again and close the bum bar, let him feel the bar and make him stand for a minute then quietly back him off and put him away. If he's not happy just load him again with out locking him in and leave it at that, then next session you can lock him in. Next session load him up take him off then laod him again lock him up and take him for a quiet drive. The idea is to keep him happy and settled, you cannot teach an upset horse, if he is not happy stay at the same step or the one before and get him relaxed before you continue. This is a lot of work but it is worth it to get a horse that will just happily walk on for you. Oh, and when you are backing off don't let him rush, take it one step at a time and be able to stop him when ever you want. When he gets really good you can ask him to walk up ahead of you. Never ask him to do the next step until he is happy with the one before. I hope all this is of some value!! But trust me I have a lot of experience with loading and this never fails done correctly. Bum ropes etc will never actually cure the problem, only cover it up.