Post by Elaine on Dec 31, 2007 19:05:35 GMT
Right, loading into a horsebox, something which can cause a lot of grief for both human & horse if it all starts to go pear-shaped, or as Cathy out in New Zealand says, when it all turns to custard!
If you've got a curious relaxed horse, these are probably the quickest to train.
If you've got a nervous horse who has had a few bad experiences with a box (bad at travelling, hit head on top of box, too many people scaring him as he went in, ropes, sticks, bolts out of box, etc) it'll take a bit longer to undo that unwanted stuff he's learnt, and put in place a new training system.
If you've got a very upset horse who starts rearing / freaking out even when he just sees the box, and it'll take a longer time again.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
But everything is doable
The aim of whats below is to train your horse, after a bit of time (days / weeks) it all depends on the horse, to be a good loader, and not only, that but to WANT to load into the horsebox.
Its not the quickest way (tho you do see improvements quite quickly) - a quicker way is to do a bit of pressure with a stick / etc but if you've got an actual problem, rather than a 'blip' usually its the slightly longer but more straightforward way (for the horse) which will help you out in the long term.
This is a good and effective fairly relaxed way to train your horse to WANT to go into the box, whcih is really all it boils down to at the end of the day.
Like most horses things, its one thing reading about it, and its another thing watching someone actually do it. This method below is fairly straightforward once you've got your head around it, but its always a good idea to get someone who can do it to show you in person, then once you've got the hang of it you can go and try it out yourself. Yep seriously.
Like everything in horses, SAFETY is the main priority, and if you don't feel comfortable doing something, don't do it. Your first job is to keep you & your horses safe.
What follows isnt something for everyone to try at home. Its just for those who already have the necessary experience, confidence, surroundings and backup to complete it successfully. Anyway, I hope its useful
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Preparation:
Before you go near a box, you should be in control of your hroses feet - can you lead horse ion loose lead rope, back him up lightly, turn him easily, do fore and hindq yields. OR!! Does your horse drag you about, head butt you, walok into you, etc. First you need to sort out your horses manners & politeness before you get anywhere near the horsebox.
Right, next up, you've got a nice quiet well behaved horse by your side, next up you need to prepare the training session. Make sure you've got at least ONE WHOLE WEEK to go before you actually need to load your horses. Yep, seriously. This training cannot be rushed. Next, tow your trailer into an enclosed safe field or paddock or arena, and leave it attached to the jeep or car. Then make sure everything is safe, close all jeep doors, put down back ramp, make sure no catches are protroding from back of ramp, make sure horsebox floor in good condition, and everything is in place to make this as easy as possible for everyone. For your horse, put on some travel boots, and for yourself, good shoes, good gloves (REALLY, DO), a halter for your horse and a 12 foot lead rope or a lunge rope as a lead rope (this is really important, those short lead ropes aren't much good). Your horsebox should be bright and inviting (you could open front top window).. if wood on floor its to be in good firm condition, fix a wobbley ramp before your horse gets to it, etc, etc, if a horse wont go into a DIY disaster area of a horsebox (in the nicest possile way) i wouldn't blame him.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Now you're ready to start our first (of many) short training sessions. Look on having a horse who isnt great at loading as something really useful... it will help you to become a better horse trainer, and its in situations like these where we learn so much, so its actually a bonus having a horse who needs training, as you'll improve your horsemanship. If you had a perfect horse, there'd be no fun or challenge or achievement in that!!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I'd do as many short lessons (5 - 10 mins) as possible.
Each lesson I'd look for a small improvement, and I'd finish the lesson the second that improvement happens.
On a practical level, when your horse is outside the box, keep her/his feet moving, and the split second he TRIES, (looks at box, sniffs box, etc) wait till he's done, then lead him COMPLETELY AWAY from the horsebox. You are giving him a reward for doing what you asked him to do. This means a lot to a horse.
Never ask a trying horse to try so if you can see your horse is thinking 'maybe I'll think about going a little way into this box' - whether its a physical foot move, or just a head turn, a softening, relaxation, etc, leave your horse alone (dont talk to him, dont jingle rope, dont pull lead rope, nothing) as he's thinking what you are thinking, which is what its all about
Just stand there and let your horse 'try'.
Each lesson's aim is to just get them 'this much' (tiny distance between your finger & thumb) better.
If lesson 1 is to get your horse relaxed while he stands beside the ramp (this might be a big achievement for your horse), lesson two (maybe a day later, maybe half an hour later) might be to get him to stand beside ramp and sniff floor. Lesson three might be to put one foot on ramp. Lesson four might be to put 2 feet on ramp - see what I mean about small but ever increasing steps? This is a brilliant foundation.
I think loading training nomally goes wrong at the point where the horse is 'trying' (looking at box, has one foot on it, etc) and instead of humans 'rewarding the try' (ie give horse rest or take him away from the box) they increase pressure on the horse, and horses thinks "bugger it" and backs out quickly.
I have a theory about trust (it might be a bit far fetched but anyway!)
Its based on the horse who is generally quite good at being handled, lead, etc, but who's had a bit of a scare going into horseboxes perviously and doesn't like them that much.
Trust is using the knowledge gained from previous similiar situations to predict what is likely to happen in the future.
So for a horse, if he remember that the last 10 times (even if it was years ago) he went near a box, it wasn't nice (too much pressure, didnt travel well, hit head, people pulled him into box or pushed him into box, whatever), then when you bring him near a box today, he'll remember all those incidences, and think.....
"well I can remember 10 times things went wrong when I was near this thing, and I can't remember any nice times near this horsebox, so I predict if I go near or into this horsebox, it's not going to be nice. I think I'll do my best to stay well away from it."
So, to change this you've got to start to build up a bank of good expereinces for him to remember, to balance up, and then cancel out the bad experiences. for 10 bad experiences, your horse might need 15 short good experiences to get him comfortable to forget some of those bad experiences.
You're not training his body, your training his mind and creating a bank of positvie horsebox experiences for him to refer to, and base his future behaviour upon.
Thats why I like doing small short easy lessons, looking for only a small improvement in each (but you can still do a fair few of these lessons in a day if you need to).
One really important rule once you get started - ALWAYS let your horse come back of the box whenever he wants to. Seriously. If you horse has two feet in the box, then decides to reverse back out, let him (on a loose rope) when he's fully out of the box, then just ask him to come back the whole way in again. The quickest way to teach a horse to bolt out of a box backwards is to pull on rope when horse is trying to go backwards.
If you've got a curious relaxed horse, these are probably the quickest to train.
If you've got a nervous horse who has had a few bad experiences with a box (bad at travelling, hit head on top of box, too many people scaring him as he went in, ropes, sticks, bolts out of box, etc) it'll take a bit longer to undo that unwanted stuff he's learnt, and put in place a new training system.
If you've got a very upset horse who starts rearing / freaking out even when he just sees the box, and it'll take a longer time again.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
But everything is doable
The aim of whats below is to train your horse, after a bit of time (days / weeks) it all depends on the horse, to be a good loader, and not only, that but to WANT to load into the horsebox.
Its not the quickest way (tho you do see improvements quite quickly) - a quicker way is to do a bit of pressure with a stick / etc but if you've got an actual problem, rather than a 'blip' usually its the slightly longer but more straightforward way (for the horse) which will help you out in the long term.
This is a good and effective fairly relaxed way to train your horse to WANT to go into the box, whcih is really all it boils down to at the end of the day.
Like most horses things, its one thing reading about it, and its another thing watching someone actually do it. This method below is fairly straightforward once you've got your head around it, but its always a good idea to get someone who can do it to show you in person, then once you've got the hang of it you can go and try it out yourself. Yep seriously.
Like everything in horses, SAFETY is the main priority, and if you don't feel comfortable doing something, don't do it. Your first job is to keep you & your horses safe.
What follows isnt something for everyone to try at home. Its just for those who already have the necessary experience, confidence, surroundings and backup to complete it successfully. Anyway, I hope its useful
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Preparation:
Before you go near a box, you should be in control of your hroses feet - can you lead horse ion loose lead rope, back him up lightly, turn him easily, do fore and hindq yields. OR!! Does your horse drag you about, head butt you, walok into you, etc. First you need to sort out your horses manners & politeness before you get anywhere near the horsebox.
Right, next up, you've got a nice quiet well behaved horse by your side, next up you need to prepare the training session. Make sure you've got at least ONE WHOLE WEEK to go before you actually need to load your horses. Yep, seriously. This training cannot be rushed. Next, tow your trailer into an enclosed safe field or paddock or arena, and leave it attached to the jeep or car. Then make sure everything is safe, close all jeep doors, put down back ramp, make sure no catches are protroding from back of ramp, make sure horsebox floor in good condition, and everything is in place to make this as easy as possible for everyone. For your horse, put on some travel boots, and for yourself, good shoes, good gloves (REALLY, DO), a halter for your horse and a 12 foot lead rope or a lunge rope as a lead rope (this is really important, those short lead ropes aren't much good). Your horsebox should be bright and inviting (you could open front top window).. if wood on floor its to be in good firm condition, fix a wobbley ramp before your horse gets to it, etc, etc, if a horse wont go into a DIY disaster area of a horsebox (in the nicest possile way) i wouldn't blame him.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Now you're ready to start our first (of many) short training sessions. Look on having a horse who isnt great at loading as something really useful... it will help you to become a better horse trainer, and its in situations like these where we learn so much, so its actually a bonus having a horse who needs training, as you'll improve your horsemanship. If you had a perfect horse, there'd be no fun or challenge or achievement in that!!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I'd do as many short lessons (5 - 10 mins) as possible.
Each lesson I'd look for a small improvement, and I'd finish the lesson the second that improvement happens.
On a practical level, when your horse is outside the box, keep her/his feet moving, and the split second he TRIES, (looks at box, sniffs box, etc) wait till he's done, then lead him COMPLETELY AWAY from the horsebox. You are giving him a reward for doing what you asked him to do. This means a lot to a horse.
Never ask a trying horse to try so if you can see your horse is thinking 'maybe I'll think about going a little way into this box' - whether its a physical foot move, or just a head turn, a softening, relaxation, etc, leave your horse alone (dont talk to him, dont jingle rope, dont pull lead rope, nothing) as he's thinking what you are thinking, which is what its all about
Just stand there and let your horse 'try'. Each lesson's aim is to just get them 'this much' (tiny distance between your finger & thumb) better.
If lesson 1 is to get your horse relaxed while he stands beside the ramp (this might be a big achievement for your horse), lesson two (maybe a day later, maybe half an hour later) might be to get him to stand beside ramp and sniff floor. Lesson three might be to put one foot on ramp. Lesson four might be to put 2 feet on ramp - see what I mean about small but ever increasing steps? This is a brilliant foundation.
I think loading training nomally goes wrong at the point where the horse is 'trying' (looking at box, has one foot on it, etc) and instead of humans 'rewarding the try' (ie give horse rest or take him away from the box) they increase pressure on the horse, and horses thinks "bugger it" and backs out quickly.
I have a theory about trust (it might be a bit far fetched but anyway!)
Its based on the horse who is generally quite good at being handled, lead, etc, but who's had a bit of a scare going into horseboxes perviously and doesn't like them that much.
Trust is using the knowledge gained from previous similiar situations to predict what is likely to happen in the future.
So for a horse, if he remember that the last 10 times (even if it was years ago) he went near a box, it wasn't nice (too much pressure, didnt travel well, hit head, people pulled him into box or pushed him into box, whatever), then when you bring him near a box today, he'll remember all those incidences, and think.....
"well I can remember 10 times things went wrong when I was near this thing, and I can't remember any nice times near this horsebox, so I predict if I go near or into this horsebox, it's not going to be nice. I think I'll do my best to stay well away from it."
So, to change this you've got to start to build up a bank of good expereinces for him to remember, to balance up, and then cancel out the bad experiences. for 10 bad experiences, your horse might need 15 short good experiences to get him comfortable to forget some of those bad experiences.
You're not training his body, your training his mind and creating a bank of positvie horsebox experiences for him to refer to, and base his future behaviour upon.
Thats why I like doing small short easy lessons, looking for only a small improvement in each (but you can still do a fair few of these lessons in a day if you need to).
One really important rule once you get started - ALWAYS let your horse come back of the box whenever he wants to. Seriously. If you horse has two feet in the box, then decides to reverse back out, let him (on a loose rope) when he's fully out of the box, then just ask him to come back the whole way in again. The quickest way to teach a horse to bolt out of a box backwards is to pull on rope when horse is trying to go backwards.