Tally is in his 20s and has never been great to load.
Amy has taken him out for a couple of outings but he gets so stressed about the loading, sweats up in the trailer and it makes for an unpleasant experience for him and Amy.
Step one was to help Tally to confidently load. No panicking, no bolting off and no dramas which was very successful.
This beautiful duo haven't been together for very long.
The horse had a long travel to get to the human and, despite appearing to travel well and not being upset on arrival, she's clearly developed some negative association around loading.
The owner had tried but was met with some hesitancy, planting and a few instances of legs not staying on the ground so she contacted me for support.
We certainly addressed the issue and this sweet mare definitely found her confidence.
The owner now has a plan to continue this confidence through the rest of the process and as always I will be in touch with them for virtual or physical support if they need it.
The adorable Roo and Saffy had a loading session.
Since Saffy has been with Roo she's only travelled twice for going out adventures (other times have been for moves). Both times Saffy has been a little bit hesitant and Roo wanted to nip it in the bud before it becomes an issue.
We had a lovely session and discovered that Saffy wasn't actually confident about the trailer at all, she was just doing it to make Roo happy. Really great that Roo took action before it became a bigger issue as it easily could.
This pair are going to be ones to watch for sure 😀
Loading for Millie and Captain today.
A year or so ago it was discovered that Captain had some health issues. One of the red flags that alerted Millie to something not being quite right was that Captain was getting very stressed about loading and travelling.
The health issues brought up some unpleasant behaviours which were anxiety provoking for Millie.
It's taken a good 18 months to get Captain back to best health and they've been progressing really well.
Because of the previous issues around loading Millie has lost her confidence with doing it. Everytime they've been somewhere since they started going out again I've been the one to load him at either end as Millie was concerned that she would make Captain anxious because she's anxious.
And she's quite correct. I loaded him first to check he was OK and he was decent do the rest of the session was helping Millie to feel more confident in herself.
Captain is very connected to Millie and when she's anxious he feels it and at the start of her taking over we had some anxiety, refusals, getting half way in and backing out and trying to turn around on the ramp.
By the end of the session Millie was feeling far more confident, which Captain felt and not only did he load like a dream but she was able to shut the back bar without an issue.
This was a very important session for them both and will make it much easier for them to meet me out and about at venues without having to incorporate me loading into the session.
Very proud of you Millie, I know how hard this was for you ❤️
It's no secret that I love a little pony so imagine my delight when I was asked to help beautiful Penny to find confidence in the box.
Penny is on a month trial with Claire with a view to buy. She has loaded and travelled in the past in a variety of vehicles however, something about this box was off-putting to her and Claire doesn't want it to escalate.
Here is super star Penny after we took a little time to get her over her anxiety.
Isn't she CUTE!
Follow up session for Jen and Harry, working on Harry's panic about the back bar and being trapped.
After getting him super confident with going into the trailer in our last session, Jen has done some work in between progressing to shutting in.
Harry did have a panic during her practice sessions when both front and back bars were in. He started dancing around in there, leaning back and got his bum so low to the floor that he nearly sat down.
They ended their session in a good place and Jen found that Harry could tolerate the back bar and the back ramp being up if the front bar was off.
Not only does Harry have a claustrophobic issue and fear of being trapped, but he also has a huge lack of confidence around his back end. This means that if the front bar isn't in he can stand far enough away from it that he feels comfortable, but if the front bar is in, it's too close. If he steps back and touches the back bar with his bottom, panic sets in.
We worked a lot on this and by the end Harry could load confidently and have both bars up without having a meltdown.
We also started work on the back ramp but we ran out of time. Jen has some homework to do to finish the process off whilst maintaining Harry's confidence.
Helping horses overcome deep rooted anxiety is a process especially when there are multiple fears surrounding the situation. We have to make sure that we remain consistent and unemotional to help them build and maintain their trust in us.
Jen has done a fab job helping Harry so far and I look forward to hearing about how they get on 😊
Part of yesterday's away from home session with the golden boy worked on separation anxiety around the trailer.
The human sometimes takes her mare out with him and if she's taken away from him he starts stamping, kicking, calling and throwing himself around in there. He's a big horse and when he gets wound up he is tricky to console because it's all legs and body throwing around.
At the start if the mare even turned around in preparation to leave he would get extremely panicked but by the end she could very taken away both in sight and out of sight without a performance.
We also double checked his loading for home as he can get a little sticky sometimes but he was perfect.
I am being spoilt with the loading sessions this week!
Yesterday I met Jen and Harry.
Harry is a very sweet buy a naturally anxious horse. Jen has done a great job of helping him so far and he would walk onto the trailer and stand but if the breast bar was in he'd panic and shoot backwards.
Helping Harry to find his confidence was such a pleasurable experience. He tries really hard and it was wonderful to watch his confidence grow.
His body language can be incredibly subtle so I helped Jen to spot the signs of unconfidence at the smallest thing so we could monitor for genuine confidence and not just fawning.
We ended with Harry self loading and being very comfortable in the trailer. I'll be seeing them again soon to progress to the rest of the shutting in.
I've seen Charlotte and Finn before to help Finn get comfortable with going in the trailer. Yesterday we had a follow up session for progressing to shutting in.
Something has happened to Finn with this process at some point in his life but we don't know what. It is always more tricky to help a horse that has had a bad experience but even trickier when you don't know what the experience was.
However, I firmly believe that all horses can be helped it's just a matter of time and patience giving them what they need to get there.
Finn did brilliantly yesterday. When Charlotte has tried to shut him in before he's had a panic and he did show us some of that yesterday. Finding the best way to help him was trial and error but we did find a way.
By the end of the session Finn could load and stand quietly whilst he was shut in which was huge progress. The only thing left to do is to remove Charlotte from the trailer, which again will be a trial and error process, but I've left them with lots of options for how to progress to that.
Charlotte will keep in touch and I'll coach her through the next steps virtually. They're so close to their goal and to see the big progress in Finn was lovely.
Behold! A tiny unicorn 🦄
Sugar had been having some issues with rearing on the box.
She will go on but if the partition is shut she will go up.
Her human, Annika is concerned about taking her out especially to camps where she might have to stand on the box between classes.
What I found from working with her was that the closing of the partition towards her bottom was having a pushing effect on her. She'd move forwards to get away from it but if that forwards is restricted then there's only one way for the energy to go and that's up.
I really broke the process down for her and made sure that I didn't progress until she was confident at each level. Sugar's anxiety signs are very subtle so you have to really know what you're looking for to keep her under threshold. Keeping her under threshold is key to avoiding the rear and we didn't even have a threat of it during the session.
By the end of the session we could close the partition on her and she was lovely and calm about it.
Annika has some homework to do to keep this confidence going through the rest of the shutting in process.
I first met Claire and Ghost back in 2020 for loading help.
Things had been going well but Ghost has pretty much had a year off and coupled with a yard move he's become very anxious just in general.
This has affected his loading and although he will load if there's another horse on the box a) it's not always convenient to take another horse everywhere you go and b) we want him to trust Claire as much as he trusts another horse.
Previously he was planting or putting himself round the side of the ramp to avoid loading and if Claire tried to move him he'd drag her away from the box.
Today we rebuilt his confidence which was particularly tricky as he's feeling anxious in himself in general and not just about the box. But we got him there and he was loading confidently and relaxed by the end 😀
Despite it being 20° in Oldham today the wind was blowing like it was the end of the world.
Nevertheless we put on our big coats to help Sid through the next step in his loading, shutting in.
Alison and Sid have been doing really well with their loading however, Alison was anxious to take the next step alone in case she got anything wrong or Sid had a panic.
Things were progressing really well in the session but we did have a little wobble part way through which caused both of them to lose confidence.
We spent the rest of the session not only getting both of them back to confident but progressed beautifully to the partition closing on him without him panicking.
I will be seeing them again for the next steps.
Refresher loading session for Sarah and Revi today.
I saw them last year and things had been going really well.
Following a little break Revi lost some confidence again and had a couple of sticky loading moments so Sarah asked me to come back out to nip it in the bud.
Revi is an extrovert horse and he legs sometimes get carried away with her. I felt the issue was negotiating the ramp both in and out and it is possible that she could have slipped or stumbled doing one or the other and it knocked her confidence.
It didn't take much to get her back and Sarah has some strategies to help her if it happens again.
Loading and travelling refresher for Captain as he hasn't been out in around 18 months.
He did have some health issues going on which was causing him discomfort traveling and there was a lot of box banging.
Today it was clear that the memory of uncomfortable travel was triggered by the trailer but I was able to help him through it easily and we took him for a short drive out to show him that it's no longer uncomfortable for him.
When he got back he was in absolutely no rush to leave the trailer which was a huge relief for Millie.
Looking forward to getting them out for an arena hire later this week 😀
This gorgeous boy will load and travel but every once in a while he gets sticky about it. His owner has never not been able to load him but she wanted to nip it in the bud before it becomes a bigger problem.
I love this attitude as it stops a problem before it's created which is much better for both horse and human.
I found that although he will go on he's not totally ok with it. His body language is incredibly subtle and so very easy to miss. If he's not 100% about it then when his anxiety it heightened either by a new environment or the emotions of his human if her mind is on other things (like making sure she's packed everything, leaving on time, possible traffic delays) then he plants.
We had a great session and each time im with them we both learn a little bit more about how he operates and how best to help him which I find fascinating.
By the end he was fully confident in the work we'd done and his human has a plan to progress this to traveling whilst maintaining that confidence.
I got to help with something a little different today
Deni asked if I would support her in moving yards for her session and I was more than happy to oblige.
Moving yards can be stressful for all involved so having some moral and loading support can just make it feel a bit more relaxed.
We did a little loading refresher with Leeloo prior to setting off and both she and Olly loaded perfectly for travel.
Once at the new yard they settled into their stables instantly and we got them some hay and water.
I'll be seeing them again on Thursday for a settling into the new environment session.
Refresher loading session for Anna and Sunny yesterday.
After our initial session they had had zero issues with loading right up until Sunny had to go to the vet for a treatment.
Since then he has flat refused to load and Anna was unable to help him through it which she found really upsetting.
Yesterday's session was mostly about me coaching Anna through how to help Sunny when he gets worried and they both did brilliantly.
By the end Sunny was self loading again and Anna had the biggest smile. Armed with more understanding and skills she's now in a better place to help him if things do go a bit wonky at times.
Happy travels team Sunny!
Loading session for sweet Lilian this morning.
Lilian's loading has been getting progressively worse to the point where she gets heightened anxiety at the sight of it and Mel struggles to get her anywhere near it.
She started this morning session in exactly that way. Backing up, dancing around and just generally not being in control of her legs. This was even before it was suggested that she go anywhere near it.
Anyway, this is how it ended with a beautifully self loading, calm, relaxed and confident Lilian. All ready for camp next week 😀
Yesterday I met Charlotte and Finn who have a loading away from home issue.
When the person can get the horse to load at home but not away I'm often asked if I can meet them at a venue for the first session and the answer is always no.
There are a few reasons for this.
1) There are 3 things that affect a horses confidence. The person, the task and the environment. If you change one of those things it causes the horse to lose confidence. If there's an issue with two of those things then that effect is more severe and if there is 3 out of 3 affecting the horse then its a heightened state of anxiety and it's not fair to ask the horse to learn whilst they're in that state. If they're away from home, not truly confident about the trailer and with a new person (me) that's 3 out of 3.
2.Just because the horse loads at home doesn't mean they're OK about it. It can mean that they can do it because the environment is safe and the person is safe so essentially only the trailer is affecting them. We have to look for the sometimes really subtle signs of a horse not being ok to be able to help them and get them to show us how they really feel so we can understand where their issue is.
3. If it transpires that the horses big fear is being trapped or travelling and we do the session away from home, I can get the horse really confident with the process then it will have to end with the very thing that they were scared about happening (ie, being shut in and the box moving). This will undo any confidence that I've built and the loading could get worse afterwards. Plus it'll make it harder for them to trust me again as the last time they did they ended up shut in and moving.
What I generally find is that even though the horse can load at home, they're not as confident about it as the person thinks. Quiet anxiety can be hard to pick up on so of we can do the session at home, work on that and then build up to going out then it means that by the time they get to a venue they're
Last year I met Natalie and Bertie.
They both had extreme anxiety over loading as the one and only time Bertie had travelled with Natalie was when she brought him home after purchase. He was great for a short part of the journey and then somehow in a panic ended up upside down in it 😮
In our previous session I rebuilt Bertie's confidence with the trailer and he was self loading with the breast bar in by the end.
Natalie has been continuing with the shutting in process and Bertie has been doing well but Natalie is still holding anxiety about it. Bertie is a pathological people pleaser and although he's been shut in and not refused to load at all he has been quietly concerned about some of the process and he's also been picking up on Natalie's anxiety.
I went over the shutting in and got Bertie super confident (not just confident looking) before handing over to Natalie.
We had to work out exactly at what point Natalie's anxiety started to spike and work with that to help her feel better about it. When a horse and human are very connected the horse often tells me how the person is feeling even if it's not registering with the person that they've changed in their emotions. Bertie did exactly that as he started to get anxious in the trailer at one point so I checked in with Natalie and yep, she was holding her breath with tension.
Once we got Natalie feeling more comfortable all of Bertie's tension left again and both ended the session feeling much better than when they started.
They're going to continue with this step until it's the most boring, uneventful, anxiety free event all round and then I may be back to assist with the first travel if they need me too.
