Trailer troubles

[heulwen]

I have been working with Sanchia to get her to trust me and follow me up the ramp of the trailer. This has gone well, but the problem begins when she is actually in the trailer. We knew she had an issue with this when we bought her and I have done all the usual stuff i.e gaining trust and respect in leading, feeding in the trailer etc. At first she would keep looking behind expecting something to happen and  reverse at speed. This is much better now and she will walk up the ramp quite confidently just occasionally looking behind.

At first I tried to walk her through, but that became dangerous as she would get into the centre, panick, barge through knocking you out of the way, jumping over the ramp as if it where made from hot coals. So I concentrated on calmness, going in and standing but with the front bar up to stop myself getting trampled.

This has gone well, but still, if you put up the breech bar or close the door,the real panic sets in. She shakes with fear, walks on the spot,ears back and I am sure she would rear if she could. When we have taken her to places she arrives at the destination a total wreck and it takes hours to calm her down.

 I am hoping it's will get better with time but I need so encouraging vibes please.  :( :(

[mrsmurchin]

Do you know her history at all?

Have you done any other training with her away from the trailer?  I've been on 2 Ben Hart training courses (http://www.hartshorsemanship.com/ ) and his advice is 100% sound.  On his website you can buy a shaping plan and he gives an example of how to do trailer loading.  He basically breaks it down in to very small chunks so that you only progress onto the next step when the horse is comfortable with the one you are on.  In it, he includes training through bales of hay close together, so effectively making a fake trailer, but not actually using a trailer.  How is Sanchia going through small spaces/gaps/gateways?  From your description it sounds like she could be claustrophobic so breaking down the small space into small chunks may help her progress quicker.

Its so hard to give trailer training advice over the net, but I found breaking it down into these small steps using clicker training is the quickest way to train a horse to load - this is the route I took with my mare and she will now load with just a point of a finger into the trailer and wait there while the bum bar and ramp are put in place.  She too used to reverse at speed backwards out of the trailer, but now is calm as you like. 

You CAN do it, it just takes time!

HTH

Elaine.

[cassiejane]

Oh i know just how you feel, Regal is not a good loader, but we are working on it and its getting better and better, some people might consider Regal is just being cheeky, but when he is in the trailer he poo's loads and so I know he is nervous, so its real fear and he deserves kindness to help him get over that, and so thats what he gets.

You sound like you are doing all the right things, so just be patient with her and perservere.
Best of luck.

[samboc77]

Have you thought about getting her trust prior to putting her in the trailer?

I have just had the same sort of problems with Trinity. Her problem was trusting the places she put her feet when the contrast of the ground changed colour ie the ramps and the matting in the trailer.

She would not put her feet on the trailer for love nor money!!  : When you place a foot on the trailer for her she would then leap in to the trailer and then out the other side but she would avoid the front ramp launching herself out of the trailer 

It was to dangerous for both of us to persue this line of training so I thought that if I set up an obstacle course to get her used to trust me when I put her in places she didn't feel comfortable. I could then apply this trust to the trailer environment.

I put a large wooden board on the floor with 2 jump wings either side. I used 2 Jumping poles (one of each wing) on a diagonal so this created  "walls" or artifical sides to the wooden board. If I needed to get out the way I could and the poles would fall if knocked.

I then spent about an hour getting Trinity to put 1 foot on the board. I would reward every time she did. SHe then did 2 feet so was rewarded, then she leaped over it so we went back and started again. She ran over it many, many times till I got her to follow me over it at a calm, sensible speed. The next thing was to get her to stand on the wooden board in between the 2 jump pole (ie like she would in a trailer) It took a while but we got there. Every time she tried she was rewarded

I then bought out a big tarpualine for her to walk over.....this took a while but she would calmly walk over it as well as stand on it, all the time being rewarded for the try.

After a 30 min Break, we hitched up the trailer (we had taken everything out so it was a big space). I walked her over the wood, the tarp and then walk up to the ramp of the trailer. A few tentative step then Trinity walked on to the trailer and stopped in the trailer. She was reward again and I showed her the exit and asked her to carefully walk down the ramp.... she did

I kept doing this increasing the time she stood in the trailer (we had a hay net for eating as this helps to calm) Once that was no problem I put the breast bar in, did the same, relax, reward, open the breast bar, out we come.

Then we moved on to the partion being in there but wide, then with it closed to its proper postion.

I have then slowly raised the ramp buy only a little (all the time talking to her) then putting it down and going and rewarding her.

Over time I have little by little increased the height of the ramp to the point were I could close it BUT it was immediately opened and she was rewarded. I have now got to the stage where I can leave the back up but I haven't as yet closed the front ramp (we are still working on this) but I know she is a lot happier with the trailer then she ever was before.

I hope that some of this might help, the biggest thing to remember is that time is what is needed and that it may take a while but it is really worth it.

My next stage of the plan is to close all the doors and drive her round the feild, open the doors and let her out. she's moved but when the doors open again she is still in the same place. We will get to the stage where we will driver out of the feild just up the road, I'll take her out and see if she'll re load again. If not I can always walk her home.

Try not to put to much pressure on the pair of you, you will get their but Baby steps are often what are needed