Help needed with a poor/bad loader

[chickflick1066]

I'm posting on behalf of a friend in RL.

She recently bought a 16.1hh thoroughbred for her 12 year old son and so far he's been a good boy...except he's a notoriously horrendous loader. The dealer loaded him in a rather unfavorable manner and obviously we do not and will not beat this horse to get him (unlike some others!). I have no previous experience with bad loaders so wanted some practical advice or tips that I can pass onto this horses owners.

When they tried to load him yesterday they tried in both a trailer and a lorry and after 2hrs persevering (and a missed x/c lesson) they ended up giving up. He wouldn't even go near the ramps of either the lorry or trailer. Today the owners tried in the yard and S would put his front two feet on but that was about. He was then ridden and after he had cooled down, the trailer was moved and the loading re-attempted.

I could see the owners were getting exasperated so I offered to try and 'encourage' him on. He had a large bowl of feed and we tried to inch him on. Only thing is that he was incredibly sensitive to his surroundings and he also felt unsteady in the trailer, as if he was struggling with weight distribution etc? And therefore, his first reaction is to back off the trailer at 10mph!! which unsteadies him further and isn't exactly safe.

To cut this long story short, after 15 mins of coercing him on with his dinner, I had encouraged him to place all 4 feet in the body of the trailer, off the ramp (which is a big step for him) but after the feed had gone he did his usual of running off the back. I gave him buckets of verbal praise and kept the lead rope slack at all times so as not to panic him.

I'm going to help the owners tomorrow as I'm quite patient and happy to sit around for hours getting him on.

Should we just continue the feeding on trailer or is perhaps some NH methodology or a NH worker a route to go down?

Thanks in advance (I appeared to have rather waffled on!).

[sammy]

What about clicker training him.
I did this with my new colt and he was loading himself in a couple of sessions. Also had problems with his headcollar but again clicker training resolved this.
I had the vet arranged to come and give him his second tetanus but he didn't want to be caught, so the clicker training worked a treat with the headcollar and we progressed using this method to get him to load. He was loading and unloading by himself with me at his side and then with a lead rope on. It worked a treat!!
Plus, my yearling colt went straight in the trailer using this method although he had been in the trailer as a foal,only briefly when he loaded himself!!

[rachelg]

how about having a look on youtube to see if the parelli video about loading is on? i have watched kelly marks doing it on horse and country chanel and i was very impressed...its not something im into but it seemed to work...along the lines of walking up to the trailer and looking and then turning away,repeated lots then when hes on the ramp backing off and then going back...so on and so forth...see if you could find out about that....good luck

[NFK Dumpling]

With my friend's mare it was a case of persistence and patience.

She came as a bad loader.

After she and James had got to know one another we walked him through the trailer and after watching this she followed him through. We then left it at that as a point of sucess.

The next week he stood on the trailer and she walked on was asked to stand and then allowed to walk off again, this was repeated and then the front bar put up so she couldn't walk off. It was then lowered and she was allowed off. We left it at that until the following week.

The next week she stood happily with both bars up so we shut the ramps up. She was still fine so we took them both a short way and rode away from the trailer and she went back on fine.

Over the next few weeks we repeated the same steps without James being there. The first few times it needed a treat in her bowl.

She was hunted all last winter on her own (James and I don't hunt) some 30 miles away.

[chickflick1066]

Thanks guys

[SuzieP]

I think you did a great job to get him into the trailer even for a short while! Sounds like the poor lad might have had some discomfort while travelling.

Having seen Gill (greydales) doing clicker training with her horses I do think it is effective.

Good luck - and well done for your patience.

[Debbie]

Sensitive souls will be even more sensitive to changes during traffic and driving as well. I think patient persistence will do you well in this case.

It sounds like a genuine case of being afraid. Would a passive been there/done it sort of buddy be helpful in this case??

[southerner]

have done this one. first of all get him very confident about handling - forget the trailer. get him walking on, walking towards you, stopping and backing up nicely so he will stop and stand still. this is really important as the key is not to get them on but to keep them on!!
walk him up to the trailer and on to the ramp without pressure, with preperation this gets easier as they trust you. Then back up and walk on again. As tlong as they are making the effort to move on then let them remain, When they stop trying, encourage forward a little, as soon as they try, take presure off and back up - try and get them to back off one step, then on one step. the aim is to control the feet and flight, so steps back and forth on the ramp is great, you need to get them not to move backwards, but move one step back and relax. Then forward. Using this they will soon go up the ramp and NOT run back and stand in the trailer to eat. you can then pop up the bar and ramp, then back out again one step at a time. Once they will do this you can usually get them in anywhere.

its all about confidence gong forward and control going backwards. my pony now gets in by himself when we open the trailer!

[dalesponyrider]

That is an interesting approach to get them to back up one step and relax. Food for thought.....

[southerner]

If you can control the going back, you are winning! So many go in then run back out!

[PonyGirl]

Good luck. Feather was horrible at loading. Took her 3 hours to load at pickup and 4 hours to load when she was sold.

[blackhairyjobs]

get to a monty roberts demo.i use his join up methods and have ended up taking my dually halter everywhere as i always end up helping some one at a show(not an ideal environment)
i have allways managed to get everything loading calmly at home and remember to allow plenty of time as omce you start you can't stop and to keep yourself calm no matter what to keep your adrenalin levels down

[harleydales]

That sounds like a very good session with Tola!

[shirlnjazz]

What Heather and Southerner says......Richard Maxwells training is like the monty method with the pressure and release and it works, I was at a training day and we did the loading this way with a notorious loader and eventually the ownwer said after a week the pony self loadsed every time 100%