Check it Out!    
RideCamp@endurance.net
[Date Prev] [Date Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next]
[Date Index] [Thread Index] [Author Index] [Subject Index]

Loading, possible pain?



Hi! We have used Angie's method with success. It also helps if you can get another horse that loads very well to get in first. This seems to help calm  anxious horses.  My favorite method of training is to grab them when they are three days old and weigh 70 lbs or so, and just lift them in (with mom in there of course)  Do that a few times, and it never becomes an issue.   I do have a friend who had a serious loading problem. She had a 15.3 hand Arab, "Crackers" she was hauling in a little old cowboy trailer she got in Montana.  Crackers would rear before getting in the trailer.  I went to help her, and got in the trailer to have a look.  We found that every time Crackers got in that trailer, he would smack his head on the roof. To make matters worse, she had a center divider that went all the way to the floor, and his compartment was very narrow.   I would have sold the trailer, but she was on a shoestring budget.  So what we did was, take out the center divider (she was only hauling crackers), put shavings on the floor which was slippery, and got him a leather head bumper to protect his head.  After that, he would load very nicely, if he had his head bumper on. If she forgot it, he wouldn't get in and would rear.     We also had a trailer clinic at our club last summer. Same problem, trying to load a big thoroughbred into a little trailer. When he was standing outside the trailer, his ears almost went to the top of the trailer!  The guy giving the clinic had a "warmblood" trailer, and he aimed that rearing devil of a horse at his warmblood trailer, the horse got in like it was the first class section!   Before you whip the dog snot out of your horse, please consider whether the trailer fits!   Beth


Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com



    Check it Out!    

Home    Events    Groups    Rider Directory    Market    RideCamp    Stuff

Back to TOC