George takes a lorry in his stride

A while back I wrote about George's trailer training. For various complicated reasons I found myself faced with loading him into a lorry at 5am on Christmas Eve. I never believed we'd do it. I'd even pre-briefed the vet about coming to sedate him if necessary. Having assisted with a previous loading the vet didn't reckon we could do it either. But there he is, the big lad on the left in the CCTV picture.

For the trailer training, in the intial stages we had used a natural, no drugs, no drama, sedation technique. My first step for this natural sedation was to put a roller on him - comfy fit, not tight. This I think became a 'cue' because it now makes him calm even without the rest of the technique being invoked (long may this last).

Loading Madam, his best friend, into the lorry first was a huge mistake - she loaded beautifully, but in her excitement she made the lorry shake so much it wasn't safe to load anything else, let alone George.

So we unload Madam, I put George's roller on, and he walks straight in. I've never seen anything like it - not with a horse that has such a history of loading problems. I hope the 'cue' doesn't wear off while he is away. George is currently at Rockley Farm for some specialist foot rehabiliation.

Trailer training

Well after yesterday's dramatic breakthrough with George we thought we'd better follow it up today. Bless him, he walked onto the trailer like an old pro. Still shook a bit when he was actually in it, but he did stand still and when asked unloaded quietly. Rinse and repeat x3 lets hope we can do it again tomorrow!

We walked The Grey through, just to keep her tuned up. As she doesn't do a huge amount of work her regular trailering is limited. So we load her every now and again just to remind everyone of the drill. We didn't bother with Madam - she goes in a trailer regularly and is very chilled about the whole thing.

Many thanks to LOC Trailer Hire which supplied the trailer at very reasonable rates.

Georgeous George takes a dramatic step

It can be somewhat frustrating trying to train horses (in this case to load) with less than perfect facilities. But Gorgeous George has proved that even with limitations it is possible to train a nervous (terrified?) traveller to load. It took several weeks of on/off work. Off when the weather was bad, the ground too muddy, no helpers or just the 9-5 grind getting in the way.

Today George took a deep breath, and with much shaking and trepidation entered the horse eating trailer. There was the minimum of fuss, no fancy headcollars, bridles, bits, parelli carrot sticks, lunge lines, ropes or other devices. We did take measures to stop him leaping off the sides of the ramp (brave helpers) and we did use a natural sedation technique to take the sting out of his fear.

The first time he stood in the trailer today he shook so hard he made the trailer wobble. But he stood, no stomping or thrashing around. The second and third times he shook a little less. The fourth time he dared take a bit of hay (but was too nervous to chew it). By the tenth time he was standing quietly munching.

Many many thanks to my magnificent OH, Madam's owner and Endospinks Half Tap. Not entirely convinced Madam's shrieking from the other part of the field really helped though....

Hands together for the support team!

MOH quite rightly has demanded a post of his own. And oh boy does he deserve it. Much of the work we do with the horses wouldn't be possible without his almost* freely given support.

I thought I was pushing the limits when I asked him to fix the roof of the field shelter, but even though it was tipping down he soldiered on for two days until it was done. And he dug a ditch to keep runoff from flooding the stable.

On days when work means I can't make a feed time he is happy to stand in. He has even been known to poo pick (although I did get way too much feedback on that one.)

He has learnt how to lead a horse safely down a road and is brilliant at the quiet, gentle handling they all need and benefit so much from. To the extent that our vet rates him as good for a horseman, let alone a horse novice.

And lately he has been helping with George's trailer training. MOH's patience is the stuff of legend. OK I admit, he is helped along with copious fags, but George seems almost as addicted to nicotine as MOH. So the death sticks help twice over in this circumstance.

MOH has also adopted '4 wheel drive' and heaved the trailer about bodily when it has been blocked in both ends by inconsiderate parking. (Urbanites, don't you just love them....)

So let's here it for the support team - most of us have them and we all need them. God bless them all!

*Payment terms do not form part of the public record and are not subject to the Freedom of Information Act. However a bacon buttie and strong coffee are included in the package.

George grows wings........

Sorry no pictures today. George went to the vets to have his dodgy feet x-rayed. He has had trailer trauma in the past and at some stage rather rough handling, so is not keen on the wheels. We have been practising for a while, letting him get familiar with the trailer, leading his girl friends through etc.

Until Monday the training was not moving along terribly quickly. We found he would rather starve than step into the trailer for food/water/hay. We also found that his passion for his girlfriends doesn't extend to following their cute little behinds through the trailer.

Then out of the blue on Monday he takes a deep breath and steps in - and at the exact same moment a lorry goes past and lets off its air brakes, not once but about a dozen times. So of course he backs out in a blind panic and all his fears about trailers eating horses are confirmed.

So as the visit to the vet couldn't be delayed any longer we decided to have him sedated. We had tried Sedalin, but it doesn't have any impact on him. The vet found that he had to max out the dose on the injectable stuff too.

Anyway, drugged to the eyeballs and one hoof at a time we got him loaded. Previous training had shown that no partition was best for George, so he travelled cross tied.

We repeated the process for the trip home and I drove very slowly. So slowly that the mug which I hadn't realised was on the running board of the trailer stayed there without falling off for the whole 45 minute journey. I'll take it back to the vets the next time we visit.