ridecamp@endurance.net: Trouble floating/trailering young horse

Trouble floating/trailering young horse

McClements Darryl (dmcclement@infotech.agric.wa.gov.au)
Mon, 18 Aug 1997 18:30:19 -0700 (PDT)

Hi all!
Just thought I'd let you know how I went with my troublesome Connemara cross
Arab gelding. After taking all the responses and suggestions on board, I
decided to try the Monty Roberts 'lead mare' method in the round pen, which I
had only limited success with. I think this is due to the fact that my round
yard ,is not enclosed on the sides, and he kept getting distracted and
ignoring me, even after an hour of lunging etc. After a week of this and some
on ground work, he was still as arrogant and rude as ever, but we decided to
try him on the float anyway. We spent 3 hours on the Saturday trying to coax
him on the float, as soon as we got him up the ramp he'd back off flat out
and then he'd decide that he'd had enough and would either rear or plant his
feet before we even got him near the ramp! Aaaagh!! I can tell you, after 2
hours of this, I was uttering a few swear words and I had to go get a coffee
(which we drank while holding him on the ramp and basically ignoring him) to
calm my nerves. At one stage, I thought he was going to kill my partner when
he reared so high he nearly fell over backwards and then proceeded to leap
forward onto Tony! Our patience was nearly gone when we finally coaxed him on
and I got the bum bars done up and the tailgate up!!! Too good to be true-
Tony was in the float with him when I heard a huge commotion of kicking,
scrabbling and banging, and saw him going down after he'd panicked at being
shut in and had tried to pull back. I yelled at Tony to get out, but by that
time he'd calmed Zeppelin down and he seemed to be standing there all right.
I was dreading opening the tailgate, I had visions of Zeppelin coming out
under the bum bars! But, he stood up and did not rush until I got the bum
bars undone, THEN he rushed off, nearly decapitating himself. At this point I
didn't know whether to be relieved or have a nervous breakdown at the
thought of having to do it all over again! Well, we decided to try him
again, as he seemed quite calm for all his antics and we wanted to be sure
we could do it again in the morning so we could take him to the ride. He
was a good boy, only 2 rears!!, and went on, tailgate up etc. no panicking
in the float, nice exit-then he pulled a shoe!!!! This at 5:00 at night, too
late for a farrier so that he could compete in the ride the next day. Ah
well, we felt like we had really leaped a hurdle with him, both mentally and
physically!! I decided to try him again the weekend after so he could get
some heavy sand work, it took 4 people 10 mins. to get him on, coming
home he was tired and it took 3 people 20 mins to get him on, BUT no
rearing and one very calm horse-Hooray! The last week we have had the float
in his night yard with his feed in it, and surprise, surprise he is no longer
frightened of it, in fact he virtually drags me up the ramp when I go to feed
him! Has anyone else had any success with this method? I took to heart the
advice of one person who said to make it a good place to be, and thought this
might just promote that? Anyway, I feel quite confident that he is well on
the road to being a happier about being on the float, and hopefully he will
only improve. I am going to send him to a very good trainer who uses natural
horsemanship methods as well as 'stockman' type training just to give him
some manners on the ground, though. I had him shod yesterday and he reared
everytime the farrier picked up his front feet, so we put a 'war bridle' on
him which puts pressure on the poll when you pull hard on it, but releases
when no tug is applied, and found that and some cuddles to work
exceptionally well, better than the nose twitch which I hate. He seems to
have worked out that when he rears he gets pain, but if he stands
quietly he gets immediate reward. We didn't even have to tie him once he
worked it out! I am also going to use a flank rope as recommended to stop
him from pulling back when tied up at the wash bay. Whew, who ever said 'you
just sit there'-it's all the on ground stuff that tires you out before you
even get in the saddle! Thanks for all the help and suggestions, and sorry
this is so long, but I thought maybe my experience may help someone else not
to make the same mistakes.
Cheers, Carol and Gang: Pandora, Al Jahara and Zeppelin (See Mum, I really
do love you and try to be good-HEhehe!)

Home Events Groups Rider Directory Market RideCamp Stuff