Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Your mare sounds like my gelding Sundance.  The number one rule with him is to never get into a pissing match with him, because you *will* lose!!!  LOL  Trailer loading...99 times out of a 100, he'll walk right in.  But every once in a while, he'll walk up to the back, pinch his nostrils and lips, and stand there like a mule..."I ain't gittin' in, and you can't make me."  Sometimes it's when we're leaving home, sometimes it's after a ride and we're loading to come home.  It takes a LOT of persuasion to get him to load.  Anything resembling force or strong tactics just makes it worse.  Gotta use gentle persuasion, otherwise he just bows up more.  Same with other things.  If he suddenly gets pigheaded about something, I have to stop, count to ten, take some deep breaths, and ask "pretty please, would you do this for me?"  Sometimes I have to ask multiple times.  Sometimes I have to ask him to do it a different way.  If I screw up when he first refuses and urge him firmly to do it, uh oh, that mule surges to the surface and the fight is on.  He's getting much better the more time we spend together, and those "challenge" times are getting feweer and farther between.  But he is a stubborn, hard-headed little sucker, and still hasn't decided that I deserve to be the "boss" of our little team.  He's tough and fearless on trail, though, and is turning into an awesome endurance horse.  We've just got to work out who's in charge!  <G>

 

Dawn Carrie 

On Sat, Oct 18, 2008 at 6:13 PM, Michelle Aquilino <michelle.antoinette@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I did a search on ridecamp to try to find anyone who has experience with hard headed horses, but then decided to just send an email to the whole group, and see what sort of responses I get.  I have a mare who I have gradually fallen completely in love with, despite multiple attempts at selling her.  She is great to ride (not perfect, as she is young and can SOMEtimes be spooky, but she is pretty solid and trustworthy, and I always feel safe riding her alone).  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, and she only gets worse with more pressure and any of those techniques that most people recommend (butt rope, for example).  I can't figure out anything that works for her, and feel like with the way she is, even if we get to the point where she'll load, I know she'll test that requirement at several points along the road together, as I know she knows full well that she'll win a tug-of-war contest hands down.  It's not a fear thing, so it doesn't seem like the "desensitizing" needs to be done.  It's more of an "I don't want to, and even if I get on, I'm not going to stay on if you get near that door".  She's a great hauler though, is really quiet on the road, and unloads beautifully, which makes it all even more confusing to me.  I don't know, but I am hoping to get some ideas, so that maybe I can keep her =)  Thanks!  -Michelle

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"Don't breed or buy while shelter animals die"