> > So how did you do it? > > > Yes, how?
Well, there was just this little sidebar in a horse mag, and it said if you have a horse that balks at getting in a trailer, just get a sack full of small rocks, like gravel, or pebbles. I have even used wood chips. Get a lawn chair or stool and a beer or a glass of tea and have a seat and relax. Have someone lead the horse up to the trailer entry and just stand there and let him balk, relax, take a nap, whatever. Then when everything is calm and he is just relaxing there, take a pebble and just very lightly toss it and pelt him in the rear. Make sure you are positioned so he doesnt see you toss the pebble. What will happen is he will very quickly whip his head around to see WHAT touched him and seeing nothing, turn back and just stand there. You wait til he relaxes again. Then toss another pebble. After doing this two or three times he will begin to wonder if he is imagining things, but after about five or six times he will begin to think "something is touching me and I don't know WHAT because when I look nothing is there". It will begin to concern him to the point where he would rather step up into a scarey trailer than stay out there with an unknown, unseen, mysterious thing that touches his rear. It works! I am telling you it works. Now true, there's lots better ways. But if you are in a pinch and need a horse loaded and he just won't, its way better than the usual hurry up loading jobs to get a horse to a vet or move him for some other important reason! I mean, you could do the rope behind the rear method or the winch him in method or the whip method but all that makes a horse more phobic of a trailer whereas the times I have done the pelting method in a pinch with other peoples horses it did not seem to make them more fearful. Janice-- yipie tie yie yo
