pressure halters, help with normally well behaved horse

[Lucy J]

so, successfully taught my new forest pony to load pretty quickly using a richard maxwell halter. quickly because his reaction is to pull back and run away, so he learned fast by getting to the end of the rope and jolting himself, but i am having more of an issue with my mare.

my mare is always good to lead, but we are working on loading. the problem is, as she always follows me everywhere it is difficult to teach her to respect the pressure halter. She follows me up to the ramp then walks round the side - it is the ramp she doesn't like.

Yesterday after 2 hours we successfully loaded about 15 times by the end of the session, but I had to really provoke her to get a reaction that would teach her sufficiently. She ended up rearing a few times and on one occassion cut her leg above the knee, not serious, but more than a graze.

Is this typical of a horse who follows/is not bargy 99% of the time? This walking round the trailer ramp lark really annoys me - she will load fine if there is something either side of the trailer, but lets face it, I always have to load alone and there are no gates or walls at show grounds, so I have to teach her this way. I am hoping that the time spent yesterday will be remembered and she will be happier to walk in and out, and I will repeat as much as possible this week, but I felt really mean and she got quite argumentative with me, but I didnt like forcing a reaction when, according to the instructions I am supposed to let her find the end of the rope - but when she walks round the side of the ramp and just stands there it is very difficult. I turned her in circles and backed her up and walked her round for 2 hours, but still had the same response - walk to side up ramp and stop.

In the end I succeeded by getting her to walk across the ramp first, but by this time she was sweaty, had a cut leg and was not a happy girl.

Any advice?

[Yann]

To be honest my advice having had similar problems would be to suggest you have an RA out to show you how to deal with this. There are a lot of little tips and tricks that will make the process much easier for both of you, including dealing with the ramp thing :)

If you're in Basingstoke both Zoe Chipman and Lynn Chapman are pretty local to you.

[galadriel]

there are no gates or walls at show grounds, so I have to teach her this way.

Perhaps not, but there's no reason not to start with them. If it's the ramp she's hesitant about, then when she's had some okay experiences with it, she'll lose some of that hesitation. If she's being resistant and you're having to get forceful with her, that's not a positive experience.

If you can get her to load consistently with a wall to keep her from going around the ramp, then she'll get more comfortable with the idea. And loading without a wall should become an easier idea.

[LodgeRopes]

Lucy,
float loading is such a difficult thing to deal with. In NH there are so many videos showing the standard techniques, which often is no more than driving a horse into the float. We have always felt uncomfortable with the concept of upping the energy to get a horse to calm down and follow a cue. The parelli/pony boy/who ever technique can be down right dangerous and we never felt 100% convinced it is the best way to go.
if you have the time, just get the horse to stand with a foot on the ramp, than leave it there. Dont push it any further lead the horse away and do something it enjoys. The next time, try for 2 feet on the ramp, then lead it away. Try to have the horse relax on the ramp....dont ask any more as it may get the juices flowing and the fear/flight/oh my god reflex will kick in.

you dont have to solve the problem in one day.

it all often relates to the go forward cue...is the response strong enough.

Wish we could help more, but still working on it ourselves. :0)

[Lucy J]

thanks peeps, the problem I have is getting the foot on the ramp! once the foot is on she is happy to walk in. It is getting that initial step. having to provoke her with a pressure halter is not ideal - but i tried the sitting on the ramp and reading a book approach - she just went to sleep. its so hard - ciara is a horse that when loose schooling if she stops in a corner you can actually wave a lunge whip in her face and she will still just stands there as she knows i won't hurt her!

galadriel, I usually would drive the trailer into the yard, reverse it into our barn and position it so the only way out the barn is through the trailer. We successfully loaded my friends mare and foal this way (mare loads but foal just didn't get it.) The problem with that is it depends whether there are horses in the stables at the front of the barn or if there are other people around! On Sunday I just decided that I had to stay out the way - of course the other problem with doing it on the yard rather than out in the back field is people think you are trying to go somewhere and keep offering their 'help' which ranges from brooms, to hoses to lunge lines and you have to politely say no thanks I'm just practising!

[Yann]

When you say provoke, what are you doing? If you take a steady pressure on the line at an angle and release it to reward when they take a sideways / forward step it's possible work them up to and onto the ramp without getting into a direct tug of war.

It's perfectly possible to ask this from beside the ramp too if they step off or away from it.

[Lucy J]

yes, I am pretty much taking a steady contact then releasing when I get any kind of movement in the right direction, but I have to take more of a contact than I like, although it is not a tug of war. i find I have to take a contact at an angle - I know for a fact that a constant pull results in horse acting like a stubborn planted mule! (I know, I shouldn't have tried, but i was running out of ideas!) Im just worried incase I am doing something that my hurt the horse. I am going to practise again this morning but put the trailer in a different part of the yard and see if the work the other day makes her walk in quicker this time.