For some reason Montana refused to load in the trailer today. I should say that he loaded fine the first time, then decided not to load any more. Elizabeth says it’s because I don’t give him treats, but I say he has to load when I ask him to, treats or no treats. Perhaps it’s because yesterday we trailered him off the property and away from his buddy, Cedar.
As always when something like this happens, I viewed it as a great opportunity for some training. I have tried Clinton Anderson’s approach to trailer loading quite a bit over the past couple years and with two different horses. I’ve finally concluded that his approach doesn’t work well for me, as it is a lot of work for both me and the horses, and it tends to get flighty horses worked up even more.
Previously when I had trailer loading issues with Montana, the Dually halter worked very well. The Dually halter essentially has a soft rope piece over the nose which tightens when there is pressure on the lead rope. Today, strangely, it didn’t work so well. Even with the Dually halter, Montana continually reared up while outside of or even halfway in the trailer, regardless of the amount of pressure. Several times he bumped his head on the roof of the Brenderup. I used the “You give, I give” approach of Dennis Reis, and kept constant pressure on the Dually while waiting for even the slightest try by Montana. Montana was quick to figure out he could stretch out his neck and get a give from me, but he refused to move his feet, even after I ignored his head/neck gives.
A couple times he finally gave in to the Dually, but it took over 5-10 minutes of me holding constant pressure each time. And he would quickly revert to refusing to enter the trailer, typically by marching backwards and a rear for effect. Montana also would walk around to the side of the trailer and just have his head peeking in around the side. I used to fall for this trick and walk him around to line him up on the ramp, but discovered he can load just fine when he’s off the side of the ramp and around to the side of the trailer, if he wants to, that is.
After working on this for over an hour, I finally threw in the towel and got the stud chain. It wasn’t so much the time it was taking, but the fact that he was getting away with the rearing (which is not a good thing at all). I used to think the chain over the nose was barbaric, but discovered that Linda Tellington-Jones uses it. Linda is about the softest handling trainer I know, and if she’s OK with the chain, then I could give it a try.
So I put the chain on his nose. When Montana reared, I simply gave a couple good jerks on the lead rope which was attached to the chain. Big change! Within seconds, he walked up on the trailer like a good boy. I couldn’t believe it! I then took him in and out of the trailer half a dozen times, usually letting him stand in the trailer for several minutes at a time. He may have challenged the chain twice at most, but he quickly reformed his ways. This was nothing like the previous hour and a half. No more rearing, marching backwards, or hiding behind the side of the trailer. He was an absolute gentleman.
After we finished, I gave him lots of treats and let him go back to his pasture buddy.
I’m continually amazed that I keep finding my horses take advantage of me, because I always feel like I’m being tough on them. And I keep getting tougher and tougher with them, only to find I should be even tougher. Boy, I must really have been a pushover when I first got into horses.
