My pony won't load into a trailer easily..any ideas what i can try?

Question

He used to load fine, but for some reason, fights with me now, stands on the ramp and won't go any further, and will keep this up for around 2 hours...have tried food, and rope round his back legs

Answer 1

Why not try an old farm trick, cover his eyes and lead him in, he won't fight that, Farmers have been doing that for years to lead horses out of burning buildings.

As a horses sight is not like a humans, it magnifies everything and they get spooked easily in some situations. If you blind fold him lead him in then remove it he should be ok.

Answer 2

It sounds as though he is now taking the mickey. Have a strong person (No1)holding him and lead him as close to the edge of the ramp without fighting him. Let him stand and look, then when person No1 asks him to 'walk on', before he has a chance to run back or whip round, Person No2,keeping directly behind him, gives him a short sharp spray of cold water from a kitchen spray on to his rump. He should be totally surprised by it and jump up the ramp. Person No 1 should immediately make a fuss of him and give him a small titbit. There should be no other people about as this will make him worry or play-up even more. Always handle a difficult loader with a bridle, not a head-collar and don't have a rug on as he won't feel the water!!!
Best of luck!!!

Answer 3

He might have been spooked on a journey and no longer trusts the trailer. Its best not to force him by using ropes round his legs or a brush up his rear; it just increases their resentment and they're stronger than we are anyway.
When you do manage to load him the first time its probably best not to put hthe ramp up and drive off, just try to get him in there and feed him, then unload him.
Leave the trailer out with the ramp down and put his feed at the bottom of the ramp. When he'll approach and feed, start putting it on the bottom of the ramp. Next step is to move it up the ramp slightly.
Keep going until he's happy to walk up the ramp to feed.

The next step is to do things like put up the ramp, or start the engine, but without driving anywhere. It's called 'desensitisation'. Don't rush it and be patient, it could take weeks.

Finally, if you can find out about 'starting' which is a technique developed by behavioural trainers such as Monty Roberts, you should be able to get him to trust you.
You'll find details in Monty's book 'The Man Who Listens To Horses' and that used to be stocked in the library.
Good luck!

Answer 4

Does the trailer have a front "jockey door" which you can open when loading, just to let a bit more light in? Many horse are wary of walking into dark spaces.

If you have the time, you could spend time just practising loading: spend a few days just leading him up the ramp, standing there for a few minutes and then unloading him, then he may start to relax.

Check that there is nothing in the trailer that he could have knocked himself on. He may have banged his head or something and now be worried about doing it again.

As some horses are bad travellers, you could try travelling him backwards, or letting him be loose in the trailer so that he can get into a comfortable position.

It may also be worth getting your vet to check him over. He may have a deep muscle injury or something which hurts whenever he walks up the ramp.

Hope you manage to solve it!

Answer 5

Hi! The tried and true rope around the legs is usually what works best in that type of situation. But! If you really are interested in learning a neat method try checking out the Parelli way, Pat Parelli is pretty awesome. I watched a clinic once in which he taught a horse how to load, He uses a round pen whip and he taps the horse on the butt with the whip until the horse loads. It worked on a gelding I have, but I have another one who doesn’t like trailering and that doesn’t work. I have to get him to load backwards or try loading him with me just walking in as if everything is natural. Some days he loads fine some days it takes work. He has just always been used to a four horse trailer or bigger, but when we use my friends trailer to haul for the weekends he doesn’t want to have anything to do with it because it's small. You can also try getting him to load first. Sometimes they want to be in the first stall, sometimes in the last. Slant load trailers usually work best. Straight load trailers are troublesome with even some of the best horses but you can get them to load if you work at it. If food and grain don't work persistence will. Just keep at it, and ask him and ask him and ask him and he will get tired and do it. Work with him on it when you don't plan on going anywhere and reward him when he does get in. Use your feed window to feed him something. If you have a lot of time you can leave a horse trailer open with the ramp down in a field for your horses to learn how to load. Throw in their food everyday and leave the door open and they will learn to just load and not be scared. Take away the food after awhile and just leave the trailer. Sometimes they just go in to hang out.

Cheers! I hope this works for you!!

Answer 6

Hi could your pony have had a bad or rough ride in the trailer?
My mare wouldn't load for love nor money. She would follow another horse up and we would have to shut everything up around her. We also took the middle partition out to give her more space and so it didn't look so dark and claustrophobic. I tried food etc and she wasn't interested also tried rope around her legs she just went up and lashed out at me. I tried her in a chiffney bit and she loaded for a little while but then got wise to it. I also resorted to riding her up into the trailer. She loaded fine in a lorry though.

Answer 7

I too used have a horse that went this way and i found the best method of getting them into the trailer in a stage of relax without bullying or frightening them is to use a twitch.
A twitch relaxes the horse almost to the point of sleep and he will load effortlessly. Once inside reward him with pats and treats.
Keep using the twitch for a few months and hopefully by the then he'll realise trailers arent so scarey and go back to loading well.
Good luck. xx

Answer 8

I had a horse the same as you to start with we would use a broom and just sweep behind his legs and he went straight on. After that when he saw a broom he went on automatically. I have had another where I have just stood there with a bucket of feed for an hour. I prefer the broom method they are not frightened of it. I have one know that will load no problem but will not back out. Horses - they are great!

Answer 9

Polos and patience if it's a trailor leave the door open at the front so the pony can see daylight walk him straight through a few times til he gets used to it gradually putting the bar up but leaving the door open let him just stand a while stay with til he get's used to it once he's calm close the door see how it goes..Good luck I know what buggars they can be

Answer 10

An old timer once told me that if worse comes to worse,take away your ponies water.Keep him turned out with the trailor in the paddock with a bucket of water in it.Animals in the wild will chance being eaten by crocodiles to get water,i dont think a trailor will be much of a problem.Specially if shes been ok in past