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Post by mustangdara on Sept 16, 2009 23:11:20 GMT -5
So i am wanting to get some words of wisdom from you all. i am having GREAT anxiety of the thought of trying to haul my 1 yr old LuLu down the road to the "trainers" for more random hands on exposure to loads of things. So the first time i went to take her some where after she was weaned, she loaded into my little stright load 2 horse triler like she had done it for years, went right in. She stood there and so i left her in with an open back door and went to get my other horse to travel with her and she tried to go under the center divider and of couse she was to big to fit under it so she tried to stand up and got her withers STUCK under the divider squiling like a pig....i have never heard a horse make this kind of noise...my only guess was she was in alot of pain and thought she was going to die. My husband ran into the other side of the trailer and shoved her down enough to get her dis- logded from the divder. it was really scarey for her and I. We did not take her anywhere that day! I asked my niebor with a LG stock trailer to haul her for me and i also asked them to bring her back. She loaded great into that trailer and of course had a rough ride be couse she was worried about leaving her mom. So now 5 month later i would love to send her back to the trainer but am scared to put her into my little trailer, i have been told to be sure to remove the divider.  she is still working on standing tied, so i cant tie her in the trailer and i am worried about her alone in my little 2 horse thrashing around. Any ideas? I dont think she will give me a problem loading ...it the traveling part. thanks,Dara p.s sorry for ALL my bad spelling, hope you dont mind |
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Post by desperatehorsewife on Sept 17, 2009 0:20:21 GMT -5
Teach her to stand tied before leaving. Or...take out the divider. Or both. But really...teach her to stand tied so that she doesn' t get into any trouble.  |
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Post by stormyranch on Sept 17, 2009 7:50:56 GMT -5
Also, load her in the trailer with the divider in. Give her something to eat and take her out. Do this a couple of times. Then take her for a ride around the block to see how she does. It's very important for her to gain her confidence in the trailer before she goes anywhere. Put a well traveled calm horse in with her if you can.
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Post by lilnagy on Sept 17, 2009 9:40:51 GMT -5
Oh, you just hate for them to have a scary experience in the trailer when they are young! And scary for you too! We took the dividers out of our trailer back when we first adopted wild ones 6 years ago, and have never put them back in. It has not been a problem. Now, the horses we haul know each other, and so there isn't much quareling. But as for tying her and having her move around, we also discovered that if you don't tie a horse in the trailer, they usually turn around and ride facing backwards. I think it has to do with their ability to balance comfortably. So, we don't always even tie them either. And once the trailer is moving, they are motivated to keep those feet firmly planted on the floor to keep their balance. If it were me, with a two horse straight load, I would load a calm expericenced horse first, the bigger horse you have the better, then go start my engine, then load the youngster, leave her untied, but I think the other horse will keep her in her space, and then get the vehicle rolling as quicly as possible. Even mine who were reletively new out of the wild calm down pretty quickly once the rig is moving and it gets boring. And especially having another calm horse in there sends a good message to the baby that there is nothing to worry about. So those are just my thoughts. Let us know when you trailer her and how it goes! Lil
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dunbnwild
Yearling
Wild horses can drag me away :-)
Posts: 403
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Post by dunbnwild on Sept 17, 2009 11:43:49 GMT -5
I've been watching a lot of training videos and shows for dogs and horses and it seems that the owners memories of a scary event are worse than the animal's. Most successful trainers of abused horses don't generally refer to the abuse or think about it, same with any traumatic experience. Today is a new day!
Proceed as if you know absolutely nothing of your horses past and start from the beginning--sending exercises, leading, tying, making sure she has a good backup (very important!)-- spend more time with loading and unloading and standing tied in the trailer, etc... build a solid foundation of going in forward and backing out calmly before closing the doors. By teaching her to back out, she learns that she can get out, and won't panic. Then be sure she stands calm before hauling.
I agree that horses calm down once the vehicle is moving, but I wouldn't rush to go unless you had an emergency situation that prevented you from getting a solid foundation first.
But above all--try not to let your own worries and nerves translate to the horse. You could also have your trainer come and work with her on site. Soemtiems a third party person will stick through a bad moment and get the horse past something that we as owners can't. They are our babies after all :-)
Good luck and let us know how it goes!
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dunbnwild
Yearling
Wild horses can drag me away :-)
Posts: 403
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Post by dunbnwild on Sept 17, 2009 11:54:00 GMT -5
Oh--and if you send her in and she backs out, let her and let her back as far as she wants, but as soon as she stops backing, send her right back forward again. Don't ever try to force her to stay in the trailer--simply send her in again and again and when she is in, leave her alone. Eventually she'll learn that the trailer is the place where there's no pressure. According to the videos I've seen, most people try to get ahead of themselves--the horse gets in and they think they don't have a problem and start tying them in and shutting the doors. So take the time to build a solid foundation. For unlimited access to training videos: www.giddyupflix.com you can stop/upgrade/downgrade anytime. It's an amazing resource and many of the big trainers have special DVDs on trailer loading, but they all seem to follow the same plan. |
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Post by DianneC on Sept 18, 2009 0:30:36 GMT -5
I don't think I'd haul her loose in a straight load with the divider in. I do haul loose in a slant with the divider tied back. One way to teach loading into an open slant is to park the truck and trailer in the pasture. Set the brake solid and have a more experienced horse load in and out several times. Then let the youngster explore it on their own, with the other horse out of the way but close by, maybe tied to the side of the trailer. With a little hay in the front to encourage exploration let them load themselves several times so they can figure out the step up and step down. Then ask them to do the same with you leading. But as dunbnwild says let them back out if they want, and leave them alone when they are in.
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Post by angelsdream on Sept 18, 2009 10:30:12 GMT -5
Ive just started hauling Bella this year and she is 1 year old. Of course she was shipped across the U.S. last year, so Im sure she remembered the trailor - but I let her get in and out of the trailor many times before ever hauling her - Im always very careful with trailoring youngsters as it's very easy to create fear and then you'll have a problem for a long while. We luckily have a 3 horse slant with a stud stall, so I put her in the stud stall so she couldn't hurt herself or anyone else - but the only thing she does is tries to stick her nose thru the screen window (curious devil) and of course hollering - I always tie my horse's, if they are lose, they can really get into trouble.
Good luck and I hope you work it out. Let us know
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