Won't load in the trailer?

[Admin]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGsOV_eOYXk

Or you could always use a butt rope, hehe.

[piopico]

Very interesting. I wonder if I could make it work with a 'Be Nice" halter.........since the 'dually??" that he's using is his own invention.

[beckybee]

I did it with a rope halter, grain, alfalfa and an hour. Not as flashy or quick, but I can't keep either horse out of the trailer now! Repitition, repitition, repitition. I followed his part about when they start to want to go in, back 'em back out again. 1 foot, back, 1 foot, back, 2 feet, back, 1 foot, back, 3 feet, back... I don't think it takes special equipment.

[wendyp]

I had a mare that would load using grain -IF she wanted the grain. If not, then no go. So just a heads up that if they will only load for food, they may not be 'trained' to load, and in an emergency they might not load. I had Kathleen Lindley work with my mare - took her an hour and a half, no bribery, no mistreatment, just repeatedly asking her to load, and she learned to load really well. She colicked a year later (hadn't been loaded in a year) and walked right into the trailer to go to the vet. She didn't survive the colic, but it would have been so much worse if I couldn't have gotten her loaded - and grain wouldn't have worked durig a colic episode.

Just my two cents worth.................

WendyP/Bend, OR

[beckybee]

Not really bribery, per se, just was making it a good place to be while we worked on forming the habit. Others at barn were scoffing when I was "bribing" them too. One of the scoffers was telling me how her horse won't load into a trailer so she has purchased a second trailer and is looking at a third, searching for a trailer her horse likes . While she was telling me this, her horse (loose at the time weed-eating) walked right into my trailer to see what the boys were doing in there .

Web doesn't bribe well anyway. He can't even be lured with grain into the the corral at night - he wants to stay in pasture. I think he's part mule - he definitely makes decisions and states his opinion! He does know if I have treats in my pocket, we are going to be "working" on something. It's kinda cute - he'll see something scary like a tarp, sniffs my pocket ("she has treats, this is just a lesson") and walks over to the tarp, sniffs tarp, then turns to me for treat ("okay, I did it"). I think he would be a good candidate for clicker training, if I knew how to do it.

Manny is very food motivated and can be a total pig running over the top of you. If I go into the pen with hay, he'll run small circles around me until I throw down the hay. Dangerous! So I have been going in pen with hay/grain and short lunge whip to keep him off, but don't set his food down until he comes to a complete stop at a safe distance. It's getting better, but I had to pop him a couple times when he rushes in too close. But he wouldn't walk into the trailer for food. Getting to stop and eat a little grain/hay at milestones as a reward while getting in the trailer seemed to work. (not hand fed!) I can tell the difference between Manny rushing out of control to get to food and him stepping in and backing out of the trailer in a relaxed manner.

The test was, did they *comfortably* load/unload when the hay was cleaned up? Yes. Did they comfortably load/unload a week later without food? Yes. Three weeks later? I'll let you know tonight! Back to the vet's today...

Trailer loading is scary and dangerous for both horse and handler. Because of this, people don't like to practice and end up only loading when you *have* to transport them. This is the worst time to be training. For me, working on it when we have no place to go puts me in a relaxed frame of mind, which relaxes the horses.

[swissgrl]

I have a very food oriented arab, but you can dangle carrots, grain, hay, you name it, in front of his nose, and he will not load.
Granted, I have not been working with him consistently, he used to load just fine, but since we don't trailer as often anymore, he decided he doesn't have to go in there.....

[beckybee]

Boys did great both to and from the vet. I noticed that if they start to even *think* about hesitating and I back them up, they forget they didn't want to go forward. The new problem I realized I created is they walk on and next step is to back out! They used to not back up so comfortably, so needed encouragement. We're going to work on standing still now. I don't want to tie them in the trailer, because I'm not convinced they're safe tying in general. If it ain't one thing, it's another...