One of our latest training horses in is a big impressive 17hh+ show jumping “Warmblood“(Germanic bloodlines) gelding called Maverik. He is supposed to be a very talented jumping horse and his whole career has been centred round that particular sport. However talented a competition horse may be and in whatever sphere that talent may lie, they are worthless if the owner cannot load them up in the wagon and take them to a show.

Most professional Show-jumping yards will take a minimum of 3 or 4 horses at a time to a show and the loading /travelling must work like clockwork. Apparently Maverik has never loaded easily in his entire life and he has never accepted a towed horse trailer. His whole transit life has had to be in wagons. I guessed that the confines of a trailer had always been too claustrophobic for him or he had been panicked inside. Even in a wagon he would instantly turn round and leap back out before the partition could be closed on him. This is a huge towering horse weighing 700 kg….

He was on loan to a top class junior rider down in Suffolk from his owners in North Yorkshire. Their yard was one of perfect facilities with a huge 70m by 70m ménage, hot water horse showers and heat lamp drying rooms for their residents! (More than my lot get! “Nowt” wrong with a cold hose! J)

However, for all the aesthetic charms of a yard, their inability to load him up to go to a show was proving far too time consuming and incredibly frustrating. I heard how it was always 2 hours there and at least 3 to get home. They tried loading with an old pony alongside, tempting him with his favourite food, cajoling, shouting, pleading! …..however they did promise that they had never hurt him. It took 3 ½ hours to load him to come to me! I think that they were, understandably, very glad to see the back of him despite his jumping talent.

When I start to work with any new horse, there are certain things I do which will give me a good idea of what has happened in its past and why they do what they do. One thing is for sure, HORSES NEVER LIE.

This was one seriously, dangerously, angry horse who’s issues were brought to the fore by attempting to load. His general attitude to Humans was one of dominance. His height and his weight gave him a power to move us about and out of his way at will. He had perfected his set of nasty tricks over years and years. He spat his dummy out with me massively the very first time I went to work him. Without any warning whatsoever he went in to attack me the very second I lead him into my school to start his ground training. He leapt at me with all his force and ears laid back and fury in his eyes. This forced me to instantly back off in order to avoid his attack. This perfected move on his part then gave him the power to rear up to full height, spin on the spot and let drive with both hind legs straight at my head. Nice! It worked because I moved! J

More by luck than good judgement I managed to avoid being touched, it would have broken me in two. The trigger for this horrendous violence I later realised was because I had picked up the lunge whip on my way in to the school.

There can be only one conclusion to this reaction to the whip, he knew all about the feel and pain of its bite when used in temper in a human’s hands. I don’t blame the owners, the loaners or any other past owner. He must have learned to fight the loading by fear in a trailer a very long time ago. His first owners had a trailer but he was sold on with the rules of a wagon only….that in its own right poses the question why? Each and every person in his life since had failed to realise that force will simply never work long term and that horses with a predilection to aggression will learn anger so deep, it will consume them and will then appear in so many other directions. Resentment builds into hate… Self protection builds into defence…..a violent downward spiral develops.

Maverik had learned to control people on the ground when something did not suit him. My method of training him was to reclaim control of his feet…forward, backward, left , right and to ground tie (to stay where I put him through my body language command.) I had an interesting few days! I use a whip as an essential extension of my arm for control and drive…not for punishment. The whip needed to give him pleasure from scratching motion. By reverse pressure training I now have him relaxing while I throw the whip all over him, he moves forward, backward, left and right by certain subtle moves of my body and the whip. He has learned to trust it in my hands and no longer shies away or gets angry when I ask him to yield his body and go where I ask. It has been hairy 2 weeks to say the least.

When we first reintroduced the trailer he immediately reverted back to anger.  He came at me, he reared , he spun round , he lashed out with those hugely long hind legs but because I did not get cross with him and rewarded every tiny correct move on his part, he calmed down. He slowly started to follow me in but could not bear to stay inside for any length of time. Again through reward he started to stay in it and relax for slightly longer periods of time. When we first tried to fix the bar behind him he instantly panicked and collapsed to the floor while reversing in pure panic. That was so horrible. It upset me greatly to witness his complete instant fear. I at least had my answer as to why he had never been travelled in a trailer. He was terrified of being shut in. It also answered as to why he always tries to turn round and leap back out of the wagon the instant anyone actually got him in.

My next aim was to give him the confidence to load himself inside. If I could get him to want to go in all by himself then this would change everything. Following me in was a really fantastic result but not good enough for him to accept staying in it through his own calm acceptance. This is done through drive….by working him in trot left, right, left, right…..always moving and controlling his feet and direction. He finds that the trailer is where he gets to rest. He reverted back to fury as he fought my control over him and I had 2 near misses again. However the desired change happened. He found rest if he took himself up at ramp. He found relaxation and praise and reward every time he entered that space…..to the point of not even wanting to walk out of the front. All his anger disappeared. His ears pricked and he started to enjoy that space.

He is relaxed, happy, calm, enjoying praise and has let go of all that fear. We can now just show him the trailer and he puts himself in before we are that fear…..a lifetimes worth. We can shut him in from behind now and he is allowed out of the front door…where I might add, he is no longer in a hurry to walk out. He stood on that open ramp yesterday and decide that the hay inside was too nice to leave so he stepped back inside for another few mouthfuls! We all had the biggest smiles on our faces! What a result and what a huge change in this angry horse. His life in everyday terms now will be such a nice life. To no longer feel the need to fight and fear will be heaven on earth for this horse.

He goes home this weekend. The real test will be a short journey first. Fingers crossed he will be able to cope. He has taken such a huge leap forward in trust of humans. His acceptance of that claustrophobic space where there was fear is now soft and willing.  Stationary is one thing but motion in transit is another.

WATCH THIS SPACE!!!!!

I want to add something here for all the car drivers who think that we horse trailer drivers are going slow to simply annoy you in your hurry to get from A to B. Horses find it very hard to balance in transit so we have to drive slowly and carefully especially when the horse inside is a baby learning or a damaged one like Maverik. Please don’t hassle us or be cross and impatient. Simply understand that we ask a big ask from the occupant when we travel horses and we want them to learn to cope and relax. When you cut us up, blast on the horn while passing or stuck behind and worst of all force us to brake hard, you cause collateral damage to the horse and frighten us owners to death. We cannot be in a hurry and apologise to you for any inconvenience caused to temporarily hinder your progress. It’s our world too.

Mine & Guinness story is a very long one. I bought him as a 7yr old confidence giver as I had lost my confidence being bronced off an ex-racer and breaking my back 16 months ago (Feb 2009). I did everything right when going to try him I took 2 people to ride him before me and got the owners seller to ride him too before I got on him. He went really well and was so good that we decided to buy him, had him vetted and took him home no problems. Borrowed a mate’s saddle & bridle and rode him out on a hack and in the school in his 2nd week with us (gave him a week to settle in).

Then had to give the tack back to friend and waited for the saddler to come. 2 weeks later the saddler came and we put a saddle on him. I got on him and as soon as my bum hit the saddle he freaked and went broncing round the field. I ended up in hospital so couldn’t get back on him that day and tbh was too scared to try. Hubby got on him the next day and he tried to do the exact same thing, we tried for a few weeks with little results so we decided that he could be turned away for the winter to learn to trust us and then try again later when he had relaxed. Meanwhile I did a lot of loose schooling, join up, in-hand walking out etc and in the spring started to take him to shows and do in-hand with him very successfully! Unfortunately I had lost so much confidence that I decided never to ride again!

Well that didn’t work as we all know once a horse rider always a horse rider so I started getting on a lovely Shire X called Dougie who used to be a riding school horse and didn’t care if I had a panic attack whilst getting on he would just stand there but he wasn’t challenging enough so I started riding my husband’s mare and having dressage lessons & even jumping lessons! I even took her to a couple of shows and did well on her! I have now got my confidence back & decided that the time was right to get Guinness re-backed as I was in the right place for it. Guinness has been going from strength to strength in-hand but I now wanted to ride him so I went on the internet and found Melanie Watson. Got in touch with her as she seemed to be exactly what we were after. At first she said he should go to her for 6 weeks which I said no to as I had done so much work with him and didn’t want him going somewhere without me. I would definitely recommend it tho, as now I can see all the advantages. Also the problem was at home so wanted someone to do the work here.

She then said she could come to us for a day and teach me how to get through to Guinness and she also said that by the end of the day I would be riding. So we got her to come to us and she has helped me to learn all the techniques that I need to keep him sane, happy and rideable. The freaky thing about all this is that a friend of mine looked at her video on youtube and noticed a coloured cob at the start of the video. It was Guinness!!!!! He had already been to her for 3 weeks in the April before I got him (30th June 2009). Which is why he was so good today as he recognised her and recognised the techniques!

The reason she didn’t recognise him was that he looked totally different then, he just looked a bit of a mess tbh. I love him to bits and he will be with me for life now no matter what happens! He will continue to do his in-hand shows this year and nxt year he will do county level in-hand and novice level ridden showing then the following year he will do county level ridden & national level in-hand, we are just going to go up and up until we can go no further as I feel he is a very special boy and deserves to get the recognition he deserves! I do think that I needed to in the right place before we started this as if I hadn’t got my confidence back then I wouldn’t have been able to do everything I have done in 1 day! I will forever be grateful to Melani

Spud with the Rope Halter

Spud is awkward to load. He always takes an hour to get in a truck or a trailer and always requires a team of people on hand to help!!

The photos show me gaining his attention and trust using ‘pressure on’ and ‘pressure off’ techniques with the rope halter.

	Working with Spud on the ground to gain his full attention, trust and obedience.
	Note his ear position – it shows he is thinking about me and not what is going on around him
	Spud in complete attention
	This is Spuds habitual response to being loaded. He stops on the ramp, his head in the air – he’s going nowhere!!!
	Reapplying pressure NOT PAIN
	Spuds attitude starts to change
	Spuds head is down, he is relaxed and happily following me
	A happy, soft, forward thinking horse that is actually IN THE TRAILER!!!

The partnership between Raydar and myself.


Loading quietly and happily.

Raydar had been in training with me for several weeks. He is an 18+ hand Hanovarian who used his size and weight to intimidate everyone. He hadn’t been ridden for a year. Raydar was a very unhappy and very stressed out horse – both in the stable and in the field and this displayed itself through his rude and bargy behaviour, he had no attention span and zero trust.

He was almost impossible to load into a trailer or a wagon. He would drag his devoted Mum all over and she would end up with rope burns and bruises from being pulled and pushed around. He would reverse, head in the air, shooting down the side of the trailer. His Mum was amazed to see how quickly he came into attention with me, how soft and relaxed he was. The loading was never an issue with me as the horse would follow me to the ends of the earth, happily and respectfully.

Bebe

Anne brought Bebe to a demonstration to get some advice and help – mainly with the mare’s attitude. She was VERY aggressive – to handle, in the field, in the stable and particularly to feed. She was also incredibly tense and very dangerous to ride. She was bad to saddle, when the girth was done up she would fly round and bite the handler and she NEVER stood still.

You will see from the photos what happened during the demonstration and Anne also got some help after the demo with Bebe’s stable manners and a specific training programme to help the mare lay down her defences and trust people.