Re: RC: Re: Trailer Loading

[Lucy C Trumbull <elsie@foothill.net>]

Susan Garlinghouse wrote:
> ...
> Anyway, the Lyons methods have worked pretty well for me 
> even with "bad" loading horses.  It usually takes a good 
> two hour session the first day and a few shorter sessions 
> after that...

We used this technique to teach Mouse (horrendous loader from
hell - turned from "sweet lil' 14 hh pony" to "raving lunatic
15' high, 2000 lb leaping thing" when trying to insert her into
a trailer). The JL technique worked *really* well. 

For the first two weeks.

As Sug says - the first session takes about two hours, then it
gets shorter and shorter, until the horse loads without a murmur.

As I say, for the first two weeks.

Mouse, of course, was smarter than that, and we had to work through 
her entire repertoire of "evasive manoeuvers". 

First she would try and rush into the trailer as fast as she
could, and then slam on her brakes as soon as she got to the 
step.  Her squirming contorting body was quite something to see.
We weren't forcing her, but to see her avoiding going *in* while
still moving her body was like watching a shape changer.

We ended up controlling that one by dictating *every* step she 
took. We'd stand 20' from the trailer and ask for one tiny 
footstep at a time. Forwards *and* backwards. This actually
taught her quite a lot for other areas as well - about us
controlling her movements.

It worked well for another week or so, until she came up with
the next trick - loading her front end only, but not the rest of 
her. She'd stand there, quite calmly, with her butt stuck out the
door and manage very successfully to tune out the "tap-tap-tap", 
so we had to think of an alternative "incentive".

The alternative was "you have the choice of loading, or you
will be taken 20' away and made to run in fast, tight, frantic 
circles [as long as a lead rope will allow] and you will get out 
of breath and it will be unpleasant".

This, combined with the "tap-tap-tap" method, did the trick.

She now loads beautifully and has for 2-3 years... except 
the other day. Having been the perfect model horse for an 
entire 4 mile trail ride, she promptly refused to get in
the trailer. 

Tap-tap-tap. She ignored it.

Hmmm.

So we backed up 20', ran in about five circles and took her
back to the trailer, and she got straight in. 

The alternative, apparently, wasn't too appealing.

For us, teaching her to load was one of the more creative training
things we've ever had to do, so be prepared to figure out non-
combative ways to get around their imaginations. 

And also be prepared for the horse to load brilliantly, get bad, 
get better, get horrendously bad, *then* learn to load like a grownup.

-- 
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Lucy Chaplin Trumbull - elsie@foothill.net
Repotted english person in Garden Valley (Sierra Foothills), CA 
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