Monday, April 18, 2011

IMPORTANT Horse Trailer Loading advice from Palomino

Dear Readers,
Palomino just sent an update & though HoneyBandit is doing well, one of his wild cousins isn't.

Please READ and LEARN about horse trailer psychology from Palomino:
We need some prayers for a very special horse that belongs to a friend of mine. Her horse was severely injured when a neighbor used a "butt rope to try and force her into a trailer".
There is a very good chance that her withers are broken. She was in severe pain after she flipped over backwards onto unforgiving ground. We are grateful that she wasn't killed, but this is so unnecessary and every one out there can learn from this.
It isn't worth it to try and force a scared horse into a trailer.
Many times they end up with broken necks. Take the time (or have someone who knows how) to train your horse to safely load.
There are many ways to let the horses find out that trailers are not that scary. But it can take time. If they put two front feet in, let them "settle and think about it".
So what if they back out a couple of times?
Most of the time if you give horses a few minutes to think about what they are afraid of, they will figure out the trailer isn't going to eat them.

* * *

It is kind of interesting that when we brought that wild mare back to California, we did not "force her" into a trailer. We simply showed her that there was less pressure if she went towards the trailer. Pressure in this case = a moved arm or hand -- NOT yelling or screaming or hitting, simply giving her an "out" in the direction we wanted her to go.
You can move a wild horse (or any horse for that matter) just by your body language and the tiniest movements of your hands. If we had tried to "force" her into the trailer, all heck would have broken loose and she would have been injured, and so, most likely, would we. There is not a horsey person in the world that has not made a mistake, me included, but let's all remember not to try and force any horse into a trailer.
So please, ya'll say a prayer for this beautiful mare. She needs all of them, and so does her "mommy". I actually think her "mommy" is suffering worse than the horse, because it is so hard to see our beloved animals in pain.
Good news:
Honey Bandit now has about twice the room to play off of his "nursery". He, Patches and DaBubbles had a blast. They love to play "ring around the tree", and now they have another one to play around. They're having galloping good times!

Labels: Honeybandit, horse trailers, loading advice, Palomino Armstrong

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Posted by Terri Farley @ 11:52 AM

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