New Horse Problems

[SonnysMom]

If you want some good cowboy training I know a friend that sent her horse to Rick Trusty. The horse came home knowing how to tie, lead, side pass, turn on the haunches/forehand and load. Rick has lots of gates on his property and he does not get off the horse to open/close the gates. He also teaches them to side pass to the mounting block/truck hitch/fence line that you are standing on to mount from. He just raises his hand over their withers and they slide right over.
Her horse came back in good condition.
He is Mohnton, PA
http://krranch.net/
His website is pretty out of date.

I also know a number op people that swear by Roddy Strang. He is in Kirkwood, PA
https://www.facebook.com/roddy.strang.9

[Red_Hat]

Tell me please how long was the training period for your friend’s horse and the costs?

[DressageFancy]

This won’t help you, but, it is a funny tale…I was asked to haul a broodmare to the vet’s for preg exam. Mare loaded just fine at home. Got off the trailer and walked into the exam stall. No problem. Finished with exam I led her back out to the trailer. She planted herself and would not load. No real fussing—just would not pick up her feet to get in the trailer. Walked her away from the trailer and back up to it again. She planted herself again. Third time I asked her to get in with the same result. A couple of the guys that worked there had to come over to watch and give advice. One guy says crack her with the whip before she stops again. Now I’m just about mad enough at this mare to do just that. Except I totally missed the mare’s hind end and caught the guy who was standing on the other side of her in the crouch. (Missed her because she saw what was comming and wisely got on the trailer.) The guy I hit, well, I put him on the ground on his knees. That was like 20 years ago and I still blush thinking about it!

[chaserider]

[QUOTE=DressageFancy;8604815]
This won’t help you, but, it is a funny tale…I was asked to haul a broodmare to the vet’s for preg exam. Mare loaded just fine at home. Got off the trailer and walked into the exam stall. No problem. Finished with exam I led her back out to the trailer. She planted herself and would not load. No real fussing—just would not pick up her feet to get in the trailer. Walked her away from the trailer and back up to it again. She planted herself again. Third time I asked her to get in with the same result. A couple of the guys that worked there had to come over to watch and give advice. One guy says crack her with the whip before she stops again. Now I’m just about mad enough at this mare to do just that. Except I totally missed the mare’s hind end and caught the guy who was standing on the other side of her in the crouch. (Missed her because she saw what was comming and wisely got on the trailer.) The guy I hit, well, I put him on the ground on his knees. That was like 20 years ago and I still blush thinking about it![/QUOTE]

I bet he loads easier now, though

[TBROCKS]

[QUOTE=dog&horsemom;8453045]
I haven’t read the other long replies - but - as Beastieslave said - get yourself a natural horse trainer book ( she used John Lyons) - Buck Brannamon is another good one - educate yourself on one of their methods and take your time with him - he is scared for some reason and their method’s are probably what will build his confidence and make him easy to load in the future.
Since I learned their methods many yrs ago I do not EVER have a problem loading a horse.- that goes for ANY horse.[/QUOTE]

This. I took a confirmed non-loader that did EXACTLY what your horse did multiple times and turned him into a confirmed loader. Was it easy? Nope. I worked on it with him for a solid month every day. Now he gets on every time without any issues.

[SonnysMom]

[QUOTE=Red Hat;8603762]
Tell me please how long was the training period for your friend’s horse and the costs?[/QUOTE]

He was there 45 days. I don’t know cost.

[x]

I wouldn’t worry about the trailer loading issue being an issue under saddle…horses that don’t load on trailers may be forever fine under saddle. That said, there are ways to teach him to reliably load. For me, for a TB that knows how to load and won’t, I’ll put a chain shank on him and when he refuses to load, back him hard and fast using the chain for a good distance…and then try again, rinse and repeat. For most TBs like you describe, it takes a three or four tries, and they decide it is easier to load than not. I have had this technique completely cure the issue. I had one woman who had been trying for half a day to load a horse, call me, and used this technique and the horse ran onto the trailer within five minutes. I had another that wouldn’t load, took me maybe 15 or 20 minutes with this technique, and the horse loaded forever afterwards. Had a student with a TB with the same problem, did the same thing, and she never had another issue loading the horse. For a horse that is more nervous about the trailer, I will practice loading with food–put the horse on the trailer, let it eat, take it off, and repeat the next day, until he is reliable about loading. If I can’t get the horse on, I’ll park the trailer in the field, and put the food in the trailer, and leave the horse to load itself. Other ways that horses will load is with a whip (you’ve tried that) or with a rope behind it.