Initial plan - Part 1
Woke up this morning (my day off) with a head cold which will slow me down a bit :( I have been thinking about my initial training plan with Sunny. He gave us a bit of difficulty loading into my trailer on the way home, even though he has loaded and hauled many times on Wendy’s and other trailers. We ended up bullying him a little to get him loaded successfully, not my ideal and ultimate goal for trailer loading! I found it very interesting that increased pressure/bullying worked so well to load Sunny initially. We basically just increased the tapping/pressure on his hind end until he decided he was more bothered by the pressure behind than the horse trailer and loaded. We needed to get home!! I used to use this technique routinely with horses, ie increasing the pressure until they did what I desired, then immediately releasing. Then I adopted Poptart ;) When you increased pressure with Poptart much beyond a polite but firm insistence it backfired. Instead of a horse that did the task, you had an exploding fireball that absolutely was not going to go in/over/through the desired task, to the point even approaching the obstacle was an issue. Poptart would just get more and more reactive and fearful with more pressure; increased pressure did not work with him. It took over 2 hours to trap Poptart in the horse trailer when I initially brought him home... he taught me so much. What actually worked for Poptart was essentially asking by adding polite pressure and then just waiting with the same pressure until he offered the slightest try, and releasing immediately so he knew he answered the ‘question’ correctly. Within a few minutes of this he generally would eagerly choose to try the task. Not to say it didn’t take lots of repetition, but we all stayed relaxed and happy and ultimately Poptart sent into the horse trailer or attempted other obstacles nicely. I just find the personality of the individual horses and breeds fascinating, maybe the hotter breeds demand more sensitivity and consideration and the more level headed breeds just figure it is easier to do whatever task the human is asking. However, I firmly believe (and will be experimenting) that any horse will appreciate and respond better ultimately (ie have a better partnership) to patiently waiting and maintaining the question (ie polite pressure) until the horse gives the slightest try in the right direction then releasing and letting him know he got the ‘correct answer’. However, having a horse that does respond to bullying pressure is convenient because should we ever get into a tight bind I have a tool that may save us both, but that doesn’t mean it is the best tool to use routinely for teaching and partnership.
So, back to Sunny. I know he is quite accustomed to horse trailers in general, has hauled to many rides and even across the country, but my horse trailer is new/different and it has a ramp instead of a step. Sunny has excellent basic groundwork/manners but I don’t think he has ever had a lot of obstacle play, 7 games, or extensive groundwork.
I am going to prioritize teaching him to confidently and easily load in my trailer (now his trailer) with a simple send-in (not lead-in). Trailer loading is my first priority for several reasons:
1. In case of emergency such as injury or evacuation due to fire, etc. he needs to be able to load quickly
2. I am signed up to drag ride at Fort Valley and we need to be able to get to the ride
3. I would like to haul out this weekend to ride
4. And while I want to play with dressage to improve both of us, I know he rides fine already so trailer loading is much more important
After some thought I have decided to start our trailer loading by playing games with obstacles. This will allow us to develop a language and practice communication and understanding while building confidence squeezing over, around, through various obstacles. This will grow our relationship and partnership as well. Depending on how it goes I may play with the horse trailer as an obstacle today, but do not want to send him on until I am fairly confident the answer will be yes.
Reality - Part 2:
Ok, I was completely wrong. Apparently some horses just do things, I did not know horses like this existed! Even Rogan, who is an excellent horse, never just does things; he is an excellent horse because we have spent many hours together teaching him how to respond appropriately and to be confident with obstacles and situations. Even with all this he can still have claustrophobic moments about tying or girthing. Sunny has no problem just doing the obstacles which took Rogan at least a few sessions to conquer, and that Poptart was never able to go over confidently. I am very, very glad I have had challenging horses that have taught me so much and now I can greatly appreciate a willing partner. How much can you train the reaction out of a horse (or build confidence into the horse) and how much is just the innate horse personality??
Once again, I did not know there were horses like this, I have never played with such a docile, willing partner before, ever! Not to say he didn't try some small things like pushing his shoulder into my personal space a few times or thought about demanding treats (the treat dispenser has now broken, LOL!) but these issues were easily corrected. When I approached the mattress, Sunny bit it once then walked over it like he has walked over one every day of his life; most horses are a least a little hesitant about the odd squishy feeling when they step. Since we whizzed through sending over all the obstacles I decided to go ahead and play with loading. I gave the horses a grazing break in the yard while I hooked up the trailer and pre-loaded the manager with a pan of feed.
Sunny definitely had more brace about the trailer than any of the obstacles. He clearly knew what the trailer was and was prepared to object. So I gave him nothing to object. I checked to make sure he could back up to the edge of the ramp to evaluate his confidence in backing and obstacles behind him (100% okay, I expect it will be easy to teach him to back all the way in). Then I just lifted the lead and asked him to step on the ramp, the same as the obstacles in the arena. Then I praised, waited for relaxation and asked him to back off. We repeated this and after a few repetitions he started to become curious and explore the trailer, sniffing the divider, ramp, wall, etc. Each time he offered a little more and I never pushed and always kept a loose lead (nothing to brace or pull against). We practiced lateral disenagements and yielding the shoulder between repetitions to keep things fresh. Then one time he decided to walk all the way in and found the delicious feed surprise in the manager. He ate the feed, relaxed, then slowly backed off. We loaded 3 more times, each time relaxing and munching on yummy feed, and on the last try he demanded to go back in halfway through backing out! I will repeat this for the next few sessions so he falls in love with the trailer, but I think we will be all set for riding out!
Things I found he needs to learn or to have more practice:
1. Yielding the shoulder, I believe most of this is body stiffness but we could have a little pushiness as well.
2. Backing by the tail. I use this cue for backing out of the trailer.
I actually have a whole mental list of things I want to confirm that he is comfortable with and can do, but now I expect that may go a whole lot quicker than originally thought.
Some of the eventual tasks to check and/or become comfortable with and learn:
-hobbling
-saddle slipping under belly
-sidepassing over obstacles
-walk/trot/canter online
-develop great draw at liberty (and other liberty play)
-driving/pulling the arena drag
Luckily winter is coming and it is a great time to play with your horse!
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