Trailer: Who can best help with this?

[Changingdisincase]

Hey all - looking for some ideas….

One of my horses has always been a bit reluctant to load. I managed a few trips in the trailer but loading to go home started taking longer and longer and finally, I had help shutting him in, the (full width no partition) breech bar wasn’t secured properly and someone pulled out in front of me without looking and I had to brake hard, bar fell and horse hasn’t been travelled since. I lost any shred of confidence I had, sold trailer and just ignored it for two years.

I am now trying to reset and desperate to start taking him out for some adventures. I’ve paid for about 15/20 loading lessons, practised with a friend’s trailer, tried a 3.5T and a 5.5T instead and I feel no further on. He’ll go in but then feels sketchy and pulls back out. No pressure or force works or is right for this horse.

He’ll stay with me for treats but the minute I go to close ramps etc he worries and wants to get out and he’s 18hh and 750kg so it isn’t very safe.

I now have a trailer long term again and was tempted to get Michael Peace out but trying to sort this is proving a bit yuck as there’s no personalised answers, just copy and paste and immediate ask for money (£1000) and seemingly no chance of dates I can plan ahead for and get time off work.

What can I do to get past this block? Don’t mind spending money but feeling so down not being able to get past this getting him in stage.

There will be other people like Peace in your local area who can help you, facebook can be good for this but try to check out recommendations in person as well, for instance in my area there are 2 or 3 whose names always come up but only 1 of them is really good, the others work for some horses but not others. Richard Maxwell is also very good and travels around a lot.

Ahh OP I feel for you - one of our ponies had loading issues and it was absolutely soul-destroying and true torture to get her on the lorry. She was a competition pony, so needed to travel a lot and it absolutely took all the fun out of it. It could take hours to load her. We tried absolutely everything and had very experienced people helping us and it still took hours and was absolute hit and miss. On the way back from a training day I literally cried and wanted to call some emergency help as I honestly thought we would never get her back on the lorry.

The odd thing was that she was totally fine once on and traveled very well. She just didn't want to go on. We tried all the gentle techniques with treats and food and absolutely nothing helped. She would get on the ramp then get back off. I will get absolutely crucified for this but the only thing that ever worked was waiving a tennis racket behind her (obviously not hitting her with it - just waiving it in the air behind her bum). I accidentally found this method when in complete desperation and having a tennis racket in the lorry. That was literally the only way to get her to walk up the ramp.

Thanks both. I’m really struggling to know the kind of trainer to find. I can get him in the trailer on my own now. It’s closing the doors and shutting him in and moving that I have no idea where to start with! I have a session with someone a friend recommended coming up soon.

We’re wondering if I start practising with him having had Sedalin as that might help him keep his cool when I go to shut him in and then gradually reduce it.

Last practice session I stood by his head and my instructor was able to get the partition to touch his back and and just stroke him a bit with the end of a lunge whip to get him ready for the bar to go across. I’m so worried he’ll flip out and hurt himself or wreck the trailer!

Have you tried loading him on a lorry? He might be better on a lorry than on a trailer.

Went in a 7.5T ok a few months after I got him but have tried a 3.5T and a 5.5T since and he was terrified. I don’t have access to a 7.5T for hire and not legal to drive one and nowhere to keep it so even if he would go in it isn’t an option. We decided after the few lorry practice sessions actually the biggest space I could probs give him was a trailer with no partition!

Where in the country are you? Someone may be able to recommend someone to help.

South West - Bristol-ish.

It might be it’s just practice. I don’t really want to confuse him with different groundwork cues but I’m also open to more professional help.