Post by duckles on Oct 4, 2008 15:25:19 GMT
As some of you may know, Cori has been difficult to load for some time. He is not afraid of the box, nor is he a bad traveller but he is quite insecure and unfortunatly he does not completely see me as his herd leader 
So he got into terrible habits of refusing to load, rearing, taking off, kicking out, the works. I had a friend who kindly used to help me, ie putting the box in a place that minimised his ability to take off, having long lunge line to minimise him getting away from leader, having a load of determination and patience and having assistant with whip walking behind. It worked although he fought hard! After a while he got better and eventually I could load him on my own. ANyway, some time passed and I hadn't been taking him anywhere so he had got back into his old habits. I am trying to get him fit at the moment and want to box him once a week over to a friend to go hacking with her. So the first 2 times, loading was awful, he got very wound up and totally bolshy and while all the old techniques worked, i felt so awful about the state he was in, I thought I would give up. So then I thought of Fimag and her tips in another loading thread and for a 4 days in a row, I hitched up the box and (on my own) led Cori in with his evening feed. ALthough he was a bit jumpy the first 2 times, he never tried to pull away, he just followed me in, it was like magic- I was there prepared to sit in the box for hours and he just walked in. A few times I drove off after he had eaten and the other times just led him out. Today, I did the same thing and brought him over to my friend to hack out. It was all calm and quiet and stress free. I don't know if it will always work, I hope so and I mean to keep up the feeds in the box as much as I can (its a bit awkward because of where the box is kept). So all of you with problem loaders, there is light at the end of the tunnel ;D
So he got into terrible habits of refusing to load, rearing, taking off, kicking out, the works. I had a friend who kindly used to help me, ie putting the box in a place that minimised his ability to take off, having long lunge line to minimise him getting away from leader, having a load of determination and patience and having assistant with whip walking behind. It worked although he fought hard! After a while he got better and eventually I could load him on my own. ANyway, some time passed and I hadn't been taking him anywhere so he had got back into his old habits. I am trying to get him fit at the moment and want to box him once a week over to a friend to go hacking with her. So the first 2 times, loading was awful, he got very wound up and totally bolshy and while all the old techniques worked, i felt so awful about the state he was in, I thought I would give up. So then I thought of Fimag and her tips in another loading thread and for a 4 days in a row, I hitched up the box and (on my own) led Cori in with his evening feed. ALthough he was a bit jumpy the first 2 times, he never tried to pull away, he just followed me in, it was like magic- I was there prepared to sit in the box for hours and he just walked in. A few times I drove off after he had eaten and the other times just led him out. Today, I did the same thing and brought him over to my friend to hack out. It was all calm and quiet and stress free. I don't know if it will always work, I hope so and I mean to keep up the feeds in the box as much as I can (its a bit awkward because of where the box is kept). So all of you with problem loaders, there is light at the end of the tunnel ;D
for so much hard work we thank ye!!
