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Re: [RC] Getting in the trailer - Barbara McCraryMany years ago, I bought a Morgan mare for our daughter from a ranch in northern CA. These horses were raised in the mountains and weren't handled much. A friend of ours who lived near to the ranch and who was coming down our way agreed to bring the mare to our place, so I wasn't there when the owner tried to load her into a 2-horse straight load trailer. The story I had was that the man pulled her into the trailer with a tractor. (How brutal and horrible that must have been.) The mare arrived here with an eye swollen shut and we called our vet to come treat her. He extracted several slivers of bone from the wound, pieces that were broken off the brow of her skull. She survived it and actually became a rather nice little riding horse. If I had been there, I probably would have strangled that man...... Barbara ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ed & Wendy Hauser" <ranch@xxxxxxxxxxx> To: "GarnerT" <GarnerT@xxxxxxx>; <Ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Sunday, August 22, 2004 10:20 AM Subject: Re: [RC] Getting in the trailer "...The best thing I could do, was to ask/pay someone who know what they were doing to help me & to help my horse!...." Back in the bad old days, horses were routinely forced to load. It was a nightmare. There are many ways to teach loading using "go forward cues", and patience. The consistently worst mistakes I have seen are: 1. Using force If you use a whip or a butt rope as a "go forward" cue, you are trying to annoy the horse into moving, even a little bit. You are not trying to hurt, scare, or force movement. Lots of "natural horsemanship" books videos show how to do this. Clicker training should also work, but I don't do that stuff. 2. Trying to load when you "have to leave ...now". It is amazing how much easier training to load goes if it is a nice summer evening, you have nothing else to do for the next two hours, and will be happy if the horse just makes a bit of progress. 3. Not allowing the horse to back out right after loading. Many horses get into a trailer, panic and want to leave. It is a human reaction to resist, or slam the door. An old cowboy once told me "He needs to know how to get out also". Let him back out, calm down and reload. Do this as many times as required. He eventually will stand quietly. Then back him out. Repeat as required. Ed & Wendy Hauser 2994 Mittower Road Victor, MT 59875 ranch@xxxxxxxxxxx 406.642.6490 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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