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[RC] Hard Headed Horse - k s swigartMichelle said: But she is strong, smart, and hard headed, and I am relatively timid. I have built up some confidence through some training with the two of us, but when it comes to trailer loading even the trainer couldn't get her to load when she didn't want to. I know that it's not a fear of the trailer, as she'll walk right on if she wants to, no questions asked. But if she doesn't want to, there's no getting her in, ... I had a mare like this. I left her behind a few times when she wouldn't get in to come home (when she had gotten in for the ride out just fine) and when she decided she wasn't doin' it, she wasn't doin' it (and, incidentally, one time, even after she had been successfully closed into a trailer, she decided she wanted out so she just broke the back door of the trailer off its hinges, broke the nylon halter she was tied with and backed out). She wasn't the kind of horse you could argue with. The only way that I could reliably get her into a trailer was to breed her, teach her foal to load into the trailer, and have her follow the baby in. When we took her and her new born to the clinic because the baby was sick, the commented that we shouldn't have any trouble loading the mare because with the baby we had "bait." However, when the baby died at the hospital, she wouldn't get in the trailer to come home, so I came back with a saddle the next day and rode her the 18 miles home instead. One time, when she had been left behind in San Diego and the professional haulers and multiple broken unbreakable ropes (she was good at breaking things that were supposed to be unbreakable...I sometimes thing that country western song was written for her, it certainly reminded me of her every time I heard it) couldn't get her in, we starved her...for three days...so she would go in for the food. And we had brought a big enough trailer so that she had to go all the way to the front to get the food and we could get the door shut before she had a chance to back out. I never did figure out how she decided when/if she were going to go in the trailer. It wasn't the trailer (she was loaded...or not...it many different trailers); it wasn't the type of trailer (she was loaded...or not...in stock trailers, step ups, slant loads, straight loads, ramp loaders, two horse, three horse, four horses); it wasn't whether she was in season or not (she was loaded...or not...when she was in or out of season or pregnant); it wasn't location or activity (she was loaded...or not...at two different homes, when trailered out for trail rides, when trailered out for jumping shows; when not taken anywhere); it may, however, have been the phase of the moon as I never thought to check that. The fact is, she was a 1300 lb mare with a will that didn't quit, and if she decided she wasn't gonna get in the trailer, she didn't get in the trailer. And sometimes she decided she wasn't getting in the trailer. I suppose if I had kept her bred so that she always had a foal at her side so I always had "bait" that I could have always gotten her into the trailer.... But mostly, I just didn't take her anywhere where I couldn't ride her home if I absolutely had to. This went on for the eight years that I knew her. She died at home. kat Orange County, Calif. :) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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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