dpony refuses to load at home

[feezap]

Help - ideas needed!

My dpony will not load at home for the people who share her, I dont know if she will for me as I haven't tried in a while due to my pfb arriving. She will, however, practically load herself anywhere else for them, even if it is just down the road. So it is definitely a behavioural thing rather than a problem with the trailer/travelling. She absolutely loves all the pony club stuff they take her to, so I dont think its not wanting to work. She will also happily hack for an hour then compete and hack back.

I have had trouble loading her in the past but with practice and patience I got her going in easily. She does pick up on her handler's emotions very easily so now her sharers are nervous as she has got worse and worse and they are in a downward spiral.

Her sharers are absolutely lovely and love dpony to bits but if they can't get her out and about this season then there is no point in them keeping her on.

She did get stupidly attached to a friend's horse and was trying to escape back to the field when asked to load but that horse has gone now so I am hoping that will help.

She has also been difficult to get into a stable at times, but again, with me, I have always been firm but calm and gotten her in without much trouble.

The next time her sharers go out they would like me to help load before they go, which I will do and I will keep going until she is in. They will be fine loading her to come home.

But, there is no point if I have to load every time they want to go to pony club, I simply do not have the dime with DS, which is partially why I got a sharer. Even if they move on, I will need to get this sorted for any new sharer.

Does anyone have any ideas?

[balancingfigure]

Can you fool her that she is not at home by parking the trailer in a different place or taking her for a walk first?

Although probably if you help a few times her sharers will be more confident and pick up your technique and then she will be OK

[feezap]

Yes, I've suggested parking in a different place but they haven't tried that yet, I will make sure we do that when I go. I used to do this just because I found it easier to park further from the field after getting my trailer out so that makes good sense.

The going for a walk is also a good plan, I will give that a go, thank you.

Any other ideas gratefully received!

[LaLaLaaaa]

My difficult loader goes in most of the time ok but if he's seeming a bit reluctant a lunge line stretched behind him is enough to encourage him that last bit to go on.

[RinkyTinkTen]

You could always suggest an Intelligent Horsemanship person comes out, they're very good.

[couldhavebeenme]

Funny how they do this - I had one who I loaned out and when they came to collect her she would only load for me! But was ok away from home with the loaners. Then she returned from loan, I sold her, again new owners couldn't load her but again she went in for me! I had Never had a problem with her she would load herself. You don't say whether it is a trailer or lorry? If a trailer try opening front ramp up? Gives illusion of more space.

[feezap]

Thanks all,

Lalalaaa - whenever we have tried lunge lines it seems to exacerbate the situation rather than help. The same can be said for a schooling whip (not attacking her with it obviously, just to try and help guide like with lines).

Rinky, this or a behaviour therapist will be my last resort if we can't worth this out ourselves. Being on SMP at the moment makes it tricky just keeping dpony but if it is the only way the issue is solved I will have to fork out.

Couldhavebeenme, did you ever get around this at all or did the new owners find a way? I always have the front ramp open and have asked the aharrrs to do the same. I will make sure they do.

It is so frustrating!

[LaLaLaaaa]

Then I would second a behaviourist. Before trying the lunge line behind I used a heap of positive techniques with my boy, allowing him to go on of his own free will with no pressure. We only used lunge line behind him (not touching him) once he was on to encourage him to turn the last bit and it worked but of course all horses are different and it might just be panicking yours.

Here's how we did it in car you're interested:

Long line as lead rope so he had free movement. Led him up to ramp confidently then I would go up it, with him at bottom.

Each time my horse put a foot up on ramp then hesitated we then made him back up off it (not turning him round, just backing up)

I found the more we made him go back when he came up it a bit the more he was curious to come up it so he would come up a bit further each time. Eventually he walked all the way up of own accord, so it was totally his idea. It took such a long time though to do - we put hours of training into it.

Once he was up he didn't seem to care at all that he was on. We put lunge line behind and encouraged his butt round. If we tried to touch his bum/force him he panicked, so we just let him do it.

He now loads fine

It did take a long time though! A behaviourist could do it much faster

[feezap]

Thank you Lalalaaa - I hadn't even thought about going backwards to go forwards as such but I think it could definitely work for her.

We will see how we go tomorrow and I'll give it a go. I'm also going to try and get some practice time booked with her sharers as they haven't wanted to do it (I think due to nerves) so we always end up trying when they have something on.

Thanks again

[couldhavebeenme]

Feezap - new owners had no problem with loading after they bought her, as long as the front ramp was down. She was always a good loader so I think just tried it on a bit with new people.

[Booboostoo]

There are loads of things they can try, but the key is that they have to work at this. They should consider it a training issue and not a travelling issue, i.e. they need to work on loading for its own sake and not just when they want to go somewhere. Ideally they should work on it every day for a while.

Choose a nice relaxed moment, e.g. after she has been out in the field, ideally when she is expecting her dinner. Use treats to reward each positive development, ignore regressions. Some horses respond to being asked to walk in a circle in front of the ramp, then subtly turn towards the ramp. Some respond to being allowed to take their time up the ramp, with rewards for each little step forward. Some will rush up for their dinner if you rattle a bucket. Backwards, forwards movements work for other ponies. It's a bit of trial and error but I think it would help if you could show them some ideas. They should also pop her in, tie her up, close partition, pop her out again or pop her in, etc start engine, pop her out again, etc. anything to avoid a pattern.

[LaLaLaaaa]

I agree booboo - it did annoy me when I loaned my pony out and loaner expected to put in none of the work but get same results as me. I explained to her laboriously all the training I'd done with him and she was a bit :( that he wouldn't just do everything she asked. Thankfully now she's bought him she woke up a bit and has started doing training.

Things like loading can totally ruin things if pony won't load on the day, but it's the persons own fault if they've not put the effort into getting pony trained to do it beforehand and not just expecting them to be fine whenever they decide to go somewhere.

I made same point with my old sharer who wanted to do x country but wasn't putting in the time doing any jump practice or fitness training. I said I wasn't prepared to allow my horse to be used unless she prepared him for it properly, to prevent him getting injured.

[feezap]

Thanks both, I agree, the sharers do need to put in some work themselves but they do need a hand to get started so I will do as much as I can to get them to that point.

At least I'm feeling confident now with some good ideas

[feezap]

Hi All,

Well thank you so much, with a bit of confidence and some new ideas to try I got her loaded in two minutes this morning.

The sharers parked where I asked and we had the trailer as open as possible then I loaded her by staying calm and giving nuts when she moved forward, after the first couple of very hesitant steps she went in no problem! Bloody ponies.

I'm hoping this will give my sharers a bit of a confidence boost and have offered to help them practice until they feel happy with it again. (We're very lucky I have plenty if babysitters on hand).

Phew!

[Booboostoo]

Great news! If you can repeat as often as possible and then try to hand the head collar to the sharer without too much fuss so she can copy your movements exactly.

[LaLaLaaaa]

Brilliant! Great result!