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helen greenhill
Junior Member
 England
45 Posts |
 Posted - 17 Feb 2007 : 8:52:40 PM
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just had a nightmare day today with my youngster, was planning on traveling him to a friends so i could start some lunging him (she has an arena, i have mud!) and he hasn't had the best of experiances with traveling so was letting him take it all really slow in loading him, all was going great after 30mins he was up the ramp, just as he got up, he put his head down to sniff the ground, not realising, my friend put the ramp up, he shot foward with fright and wedged himself under the breast bar, not to sure what happened next as it is a bit of a blur but ended with me and him in the front section of the tralier, the trailer trashed, him with a sore back, me with a sore foot and bad back!!  wasn't his fault at all really just one of those freak accidents i guess, don't know if i'll eva get it back on again tho. worst thing is everyone is puttin pressure on me to get rid of him cos they think hes to much trouble (they don't really understand arabs so don't get on with him neway.) im on a real downer now and wondering what to do next!
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zara
Gold Member
United Kingdom
1066 Posts |
Posted - 17 Feb 2007 : 8:56:50 PM
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| so sorry to hear of this accident. what a great pity the ramp was closed quickly like that. your boy was just checking out his surroundings to see if they were safe............ |
"to his virtues ever kind, and to his faults a little blind". |
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Fee
Platinum Member
2601 Posts |
Posted - 17 Feb 2007 : 9:04:10 PM
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Aww...poor both of you
My advice is to start again as soon as you're both over your soreness.
Take the central partition out (if not already out) and lower the side door and remove the breast bar too. Just get him walking through. Maybe a friend can go first? Do this lots till he is confident and then start adding in a stops where the breast bar would be. All the time let him be around the side and back ramps being open and shut so that he gets used to the noise. Gradually build everything up...you'll be there in no time 
Hope this helps some...oh and the people who want you to get rid of him...I think this is most appropriate for you right now...http://motxam.interfree.it/frog.html
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Big Mover
Gold Member
United Kingdom
999 Posts |
Posted - 17 Feb 2007 : 9:05:46 PM
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Hi Helen
You poor thing, I had a nasty experience with a trailer many years ago, I was only 15 at the time and my Arab cross welsh ended up coming over the breast bar and into the "little section" at the front (bearing in mind it wasnt a front unloader, it was flat fronted) He was on the point of balance...front legs over and back legs dangling behind in horsey section......nightmare, I tried to lift him back/push him back but he lunged forwards bless and came out through the little jockey door. He was shaken but ok minor scratches etc.
The next time we loaded we took the central partition out and let him have his evening feed in there, then turned him around in the trailer and led him out (He loved his food). Did this for a few weeks and he was just fine.
Sarah |
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linda
Platinum Member
United Kingdom
1772 Posts |
Posted - 17 Feb 2007 : 9:21:21 PM
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Hi Helen,
I can sympathize with you I know just how you feel,
It happened to me with one of our stallions,
He is really good at loading and never thinks twice, but I loaded him and I couldn't tied him short enough, because he got under the brest bar and it was over his back, the whole trailer was rocking, I shouted for help (this was at the Nationals) the people that came to help were really great!, one man climbed in and pulled the bar off him and we decided to back him out the rear door, expecting him to come out really quickly, but he came out very calmly, but his back was very bruised and swollen, needless to say I felt so awful,
We didn't think he would go into the trailer again to go home, but he never even hesitated, and still loads and travels perfectly,
You could try packing the trailer out with straw and take out the partitions until he gets his confidence with loading,
Good luck
Lx |
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helen greenhill
Junior Member
England
45 Posts |
Posted - 18 Feb 2007 : 09:15:24 AM
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| thank you all so much u've made me feel so much better, i feel alot more positive about the whole thing!have borrowed the trailer of my friend and have removed all the inside of the trailer (most of it was trashed neway!) so i'll slowly start again! thanks for the support x |
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madmare
Platinum Member
England
2129 Posts |
Posted - 18 Feb 2007 : 10:20:20 AM
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Crystal had accident in a double trailer and even now with loads of coaxing and gentle persuasion she won't travel in one. The breast bar pins sheared one day as we were cominghome from a show, we never heard the thud as we always useed to put plenty of straw on the floor.............. her little feet were cut so much I still feel guilty about it. She will travel in a horse box and a single trailer, but not in a double again!
Like everyone else says start slowly and he be right soon |
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Phil J
Junior Member
United Kingdom
31 Posts |
Posted - 24 Feb 2007 : 7:47:52 PM
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Hi Helen.
I started trailing back in the 1980's and in my time have done many thousands of miles. In that time I only had onw problem, coming back from Newmarket with 2 arab racehorses the trailer was hit by an artic lorry. He wasn't using his mirrors when overtaking. The horses were ok but the trailer, by the time I got home had lost the entire wheel and hub assembly. Thank got for Rice Beaufort Treble. Even my local Rice agent was impressed by how well it had stood up.
Anyway, the one things trailers suffer from is lack of ramp wings to guide horses in. So while training I made these out of straw bales. In effect making a loading shute. The other thing I found that helped was to level of the ramp usually by using raised ground. A flat ramp is far less of an interest especially if cover by straw. My old Rice has fillet chains in rubber tubes that you up before putting up the ramp. As youngersters are smaller than adults using a straw barrier infront will help to stop them going under the breast bar.
Time is the best healer and little and often will get the job done. There is someing very amuzing when you see the Notables of the AHS completely flumaxed by a horse that refuses to go home, because it has enjoyed itself. But then it has happened to all of us.
Phil |
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LIV
Gold Member
England
705 Posts |
Posted - 24 Feb 2007 : 8:50:10 PM
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My mare Pandora won't travel in our lorry so I have to trailer her instead. When I first started to compete her and I was getting her used to travelling, she finally loaded and had her head down. When she brought it back up, she wacked it on the breast bar and shot out backwards in shock. When I load her now I always have the breast bar down, preferring to lock it in place once I have got her tied up. Also, they are a pain if your horse has been messing around loading as when they finally do decide to go in, you have to duck underneath in an emergency incase they decide to start reversing back out.
With regard to loading, like Phil I use a pallet. If I lower the ramp and then place a pallet at the side where she always plays up and twists round, she can't work out what else to do so she just goes in. I hadn't loaded her for a year and a half until the other day, and was dreading it, but with the pallet there to stop her going off that side, she just went in. It's the same principle as Kelly Marks uses, but I find a pallet easier than a metal grill. If the horse can't do anything but go forward because you've blocked it from coming off the ramp either side, then they just seem to load.
We get some really weird looks from people at loading time, but I don't care aslong as they go on quietly and with as little stress as possible. If you see a woman at a show with a pallet or two at the side of the ramp, you'll know it's me!!!
Good luck with your loading, and don't give up just because other people wouldn't be prepared to put the work in. |
     
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brockle
Bronze Member
United Kingdom
166 Posts |
Posted - 24 Feb 2007 : 9:27:01 PM
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Thank you so much for bringing up this topic! Luckily I read it two days before taking our colt to the vet for his tet. He had been in the trailer before when he was smaller and had travelled loose with his mum but he hadn't been in with the divider in place which he needs now. I had a chat with my OH and we decided to feed him in it without the breast bar in place on his side. Well he was amazed and dug away at the ramp with his feet and stood goggling at the different interior, of course his mum was disturbed as she was in and he wasn't. Greedy horses are such a blessing, she calmed down the minute her bowl appeared (maybe it wasn't maternal love but the fact she could hear her friends already eating). As soon as he saw his bowl he shot in too and the unloading went well, great relief. We repeated that the following morning and put the breast bar in with his bowl held on it and that went ok. The loading for the trip though ground to a halt at the top of the ramp until his dim humans produced the bowl!! Anyway in the end it went well, even the scary needle bit, the vet was brilliant! and we all came home very pleased with ourselves so thank you all. |
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