Fun with loading practice

Jane&Ziggy

Jane&Ziggy

Jane&Sid these days!
Apr 30, 2010
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Surrey Hills
Ziggy does not like to load. I rarely need to load him, but having done so let's see, 4 times since I had him I have never managed to walk him straight on. The fastest I managed it was 10 minutes and once it took 40 minutes :oops:. He travels well, but does not like going in, whether it is a lorry, box or trailer.

So when my field mate said she was going to borrow the RDA's trailer to practice with her mare I jumped up and down and said "Me too! Me too!"

I tried first last weekend. I read up on the Mark Rashid clinic I watched last year and did my best, but Ziggy stopped at the ramp. And stopped at the ramp. Trailer 0, Ziggy 1. Not even a foot on it.

I called my RI for help and she came on Wednesday. We had Ziggy in his rope halter, me with long lead rope and dressage whip, and my RI giving instruction. The trailer was open at both ends. We used pressure and release: if he went even one hoof in the direction I wanted, I was to release the pressure. If not, keep up pressure and tap tap tap at his girth with the whip. All facing in the direction I wanted him to go.

Fair to say that I was rubbish, but I did get him to put 2 feet on the ramp. My Ri took over. Her timing is way better than mine and she got him to all 4 feet on the ramp. Each time we backed him off. I took over and he walked in - hurrah! My RI asked me to step him back with two feet, forward with two feet, back with two feet, to get him used to moving at my control within the trailer. Back with 2 feet was fine: forward with 2 feet and he was past me and leaping off the front ramp. I (sensibly) stood back and let go, and we were back to square 1.

I caught him (no problem) and deleted that last mistake by backing him up; then we tried getting him on again. Of course he had scared himself, so we settled for 4 feet on the ramp and a calm pony, and finished the 45 minute lesson.

On Thursday I practiced again on my own and managed to get him in, standing calmly, and backing out - no jumping out the front. He was still taking at least 5 asks to get up the ramp, but it was much easier. I had fresh rosehips with me, which made no end of difference to his performance, and I could use them to get him to lower his head when he braced, which was really helpful.

On Friday Sarah my RI came back and we loaded him, backed him off, loaded him and backed him off again. He was taking about 4 asks to get in this time. He is awful at backing off and always swerves to the edge of the ramp and ends up waving a hoof in the air, but he tried hard. Then we switched sides in the trailer, whereupon it was very scary again, but soon he was feeling better about it. Then we tried walking out, asking him to get to the top of the exit ramp and then back up 1 step and so on. Within 3 tries I had him accompanying me down the ramp (quickly) rather than jumping ahead of me! Then we tried lowering the bar, closing the front ramp, walking around on the ramp behind him and so on and he was wary, but very good - his attention on me all the time and prepared to be distracted and cheerful.

Sarah told me to give him a day off. The trailer was going back today so I snatched the chance for a last try. Bless me if we didn't walk in with only 1 stop! He gets his front feet on the ramp and then stops to have a look around. That's ok by me. I walked him in on a loose rope, backed him off, walked him in, and then practiced WALKING not JUMPING off 5 times until he had it right.

This practice was so good for me. It really helped my feel and sensitivity - I couldn't always be looking at him, so I had to feel through the lead rope whether he was going to stop or not. I was apprehensive to start with, but really enjoyed it by the end, especially the challenge of projecting just the right energy to get him to move forward without over-stimulating him.

My RI says he goes where I ask because he trusts me, and I must now ALWAYS load him myself, because people chivvying him and hitting him will make it bad for him again. No pressure!
 
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Sounds like you have made real progress. I think that all horses need to be taught to load, mine certainly did. He had a habit of planting at the bottom of the ramp and used to have me in tears when we first started. I thought that I had spent a fortune on a lorry that my horse wouldn't step in! What worked with him was turning him in tiny circles to keep his feet moving and only letting him stop moving if he walked forward to the ramp. We soon made progress when he realised that walking in was far easier than walking in circles outside.
 
I think that works too, but unfortunately the trailer was standing in a large field of long grass and Ziggy made it hard to move his feet by trying to eat all the time!
 
Oh Jane this is fab to read!! I have similar issues with flipo (at the dick vet it took three hours to load him. Scarred both me and my dad mentally!)
I think now after seven years of owning him I could get my horse to go anywhere, but sadly my father won't let me have the trailer at the field as otherwise I'd be doing what you're doing and I know I could get him in with lots of time and practice.
I'm now faced with a possible need for trailering him to the vets for X-rays and I'm so depressed at the thought that without practice, I won't get him there.
My biggest problem is that I can eventually get him in the trailer, but he does what ziggy did and shoots right out the front and you don't argue with 750kgs in a tight space!
Hope you get the opportunity to do it again and let us know how it goes!
 
@Flipo's Mum I am glad it is not just us!

It seems to me that if he will go in with the front gate shut and you can travel him, and if you have to unload him by opening the front ramp and bar and shouting "CLEAR!", so be it, at least you got him there...

I think the reason I can get Ziggy to see sense is that of late we have been doing almost nothing but groundwork. I ask him to move forward and he has to go BEFORE my feet move. I ask him to stop while I am still walking and he has to stop and park. If he does something wrong, he gets backed up, and he needs to back up with his head low and his quarters engaged, light in my hand.

My Ri says he has to be light on the Go, light on the Stop, whatever you are asking him to do in whatever direction.

We've been working on this for weeks and it's amazing how much difference it has made. I can move one of his feet at my choice, forward, back and sideways. So when he teeters at the top of the off ramp and lowers his haunches for a leap and I make a backwards squeeze on the halter and say "Whoa!" he pretty much whoas.

I think your dad should let you have the trailer at the field. There is nothing like practice. I did 5 reps today but wish I had the trailer for long enough to do 50!

Just thought: I know you are really handy. If you can't have the trailer, could you build a ramp? A slope up to a flat thing, so he has to practice stepping up on to it and the noise and all? I am sure that would help. Anything unusual and difficult, really.
 
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Sounds as if you're doing really well, Jane and Ziggy. I was interested in your use of rose hips - I've never thought of offering them to the horses; they seem to be all fluffy and itchy inside.
 
I like the sound of your groundwork Jane. I imagine it would take a lot of effort to get my horse to move before me and stop before me. But I can see the usefulness in this while I'm trying to load!
So have you got plans to go buy yourself a wee trailer then hehe?!
I have an ongoing argument with my dad about use of the trailer. He bought it for flipo and loves to suggest I can practice using it.....at his house (they have a paddock right outside). But he forgets that to practice, I first need to trailer him to their house.
He keeps saying to me that he has no issues driving my horse to the vet, he just wishes flipo would load. What I can't get round is his illogical attitude when usually he's so logical. How can you expect the horse to load if I can't practice!!
You do make me laugh with the handy comment though lol! Yes I have had thoughts over what I could use. I've got him comfortable coming into confined spaces, through doorways into the darkness of stables etc, but I'm reluctant with the whole ramp thing. I don't think I can make anything robust enough to handle his weight and definitely don't want to risk it exploding and causing him more frights.
 
I think I would explode if presented with that level of illogicality @Flipo's Mum !

The leading/groundwork practice I have been doing is great. My RI says it's comparatively easy to get a horse to move when you move and stop when you stop, but much more helpful if the horse moves when you ASK (whether you move or not) and stops in the same way.

If you want to try it, this is what we did.

  1. Work in the bridle for clear cues and easy transition to ridden work.
  2. Have your dressage whip in hand.
  3. To practice Go: stand by your horse's head facing his tail. You're going to ask the horse to walk forwards. Once he starts, you will walk backwards beside him. To ask him to go, move your energy in the forward direction and cue a little forward with the rein. If he doesn't go at once, tap him at the girth with your whip. Keep tapping until he moves and stop tapping and walk with him (backwards) the moment he moves.
  4. to practice Stop: cue a stop with your core as if you were riding (that sounds weird, but if I get it really right Ziggy sometimes stops!). Then follow it with a light stop cue on the rein. If he stops, great. If not, ask again with stronger pressure and THE MOMENT he stops get him to back up.
  5. Backing up is the "delete" button. So if he walks before you ask, back him up. If he stops before you ask, back him up. If he stops after you ask, back him up! You get the picture. It's only a couple of steps but it tells him that you did not want him to do what he just did.
  6. Once he can do forward and back you can start doing shoulders and haunches, using the rein as a cue for shoulders and the whip as a cue for haunches.
I have got Ziggy to do what I would have thought 6 weeks ago was impossible - walking sideways over a pole. I walk him over the pole, stop him with his front feet across it, and get him to side pass off it. Amazing! And his leading and whole demeanour is very much more obliging than before.
 
Sound very productive, great that he went on and off without a fuss :) I don't want to kias normally perfect loading skills, but Eowyn was a beggar for not wanting to load at first, didn't plant just walked on to the trailer ramp then hopped sideways, through you if necessary, to get off it. Took me weeks of walking her on and off and stopping her to feed her on the trailer before we cracked this. After it I never had a bother again though :)
 
I've take a picture of your suggestions Jane! I've got a lame flipo just now so will keep us occupied, thankyou for the suggestions! I fear though that you make it sound simple but the reality will be something entirely different for us lol!
 
The hardest thing is remembering that when you are walking backwards with him and you ask him to stop, you have to go on a step or two so that he is "parked". Trying to stop with my inner muscles (so that Ziggy stops) while going on walking with my legs was mind boggling!
 
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