{"id":648,"date":"2000-03-13T17:21:38","date_gmt":"2000-03-13T23:21:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mofoxtrot.com\/viewpoint\/?p=648"},"modified":"2010-09-30T17:22:13","modified_gmt":"2010-09-30T22:22:13","slug":"jrs-journal-trailer-loading-101","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mofoxtrot.com\/viewpoint\/jrs-journal-trailer-loading-101\/","title":{"rendered":"JR’s Journal – Trailer Loading 101"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
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\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The goal is to send JR into the trailer and back him out.\u00a0 JR\u2019s is a normal claustrophobic horse whose goal is to do anything to avoid getting in an enclosed hole. \u00a0 I opened all the windows so it is as light as it can be inside.<\/p>\n

JR is small enough right now, that I could put a rope on his rear end and pull him in using the halter rope and the rear rope.\u00a0 Think about how much fun this would be for me when he attains the thousand pound weight!\u00a0 First, I would be in the trailer where he could leap on me.\u00a0 That isn\u2019t an exciting thought.\u00a0 I want to be able to send JR into the trailer, and I want to be outside of the trailer when I do it! \u00a0 It\u2019s much safer.<\/p>\n

Take what is needed and break it down into little steps.\u00a0 JR needs to follow the feel of the rope. I need to use tension on the rope and point it to the trailer door. \u00a0 JR needs to follow the rope and jump in the trailer.\u00a0 JR needs to find comfort.\u00a0 Comfort for JR is getting to stand quietly or having Susan stand quietly and not hassle JR.<\/p>\n

Comfort is:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Standing at the trailer door<\/li>\n
  2. Standing at the trailer door with head inside the trailer<\/li>\n
  3. Pawing the trailer floor<\/li>\n
  4. Stepping up with one or two into the trailer<\/li>\n
  5. Getting all four feet in the trailer.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    We start following the feel of the rope anywhere else but at the trailer door.\u00a0 JR learns to move his feet and follow the rope, which leads him into a circle game. \u00a0 Once he starts to go where the rope leads him, the rope goes slack.\u00a0 The release is what teaches.<\/p>\n

    I face JR. One foot steps to 10:00.\u00a0 My hand lifts and puts tension on the rope. \u00a0 I swish the rope behind his back end.\u00a0 I keep taking these steps until he moves forward.\u00a0 My hands instantly release the tension of the rope.\u00a0 If JR slows down or stops, I take the same action.\u00a0 He soon learns that it is much easier just to keep going.<\/p>\n

    When I want him to go the other way, I take my step towards 1:00.\u00a0 I am also looking at where I want him to go\u2026not glaring at him.<\/p>\n

    When we have gotten this concept, with lots of rubbing in between, we start the squeeze game. This is JR looking for the hole and going through it.\u00a0 I send JR through tight spaces\u2026like between the car and the trash can\u2026between my body and the fence\u2026between the tree and the trash can\u2026anywhere there is small spaces. \u00a0 JR learns that he can go through small spaces and that is the answer.<\/p>\n

    When we are through with all this, the trailer is the next step.\u00a0 I do everything I can to make trailer loading seem like a good deal. I put food in the trailer. \u00a0 First, I let him eat the food at the trailer door.\u00a0 Then I move it in. \u00a0 He knows it\u2019s there.<\/p>\n

    I stand by the door and tell him to follow the feel of the rope into the trailer. \u00a0 HA!\u00a0 JR is having none of this.\u00a0 He wants nothing to do with the trailer door. OK, I tell him. Go circle away from the trailer.\u00a0 Whoops, the trailer is in the way.\u00a0 I now require him to circle back and end up at the trailer door.\u00a0 JR is having none of this, he keeps the feel on the rope while he backs away.\u00a0 I back with him, until he goes forward.\u00a0 I let the rope go slack.\u00a0 We walk back over to the trailer and I send him to the door.<\/p>\n

    After about 15 minutes, JR learns that comfort is at the trailer door.\u00a0 He stands there with his head in the trailer.\u00a0 He gets rewarded.\u00a0 I do nothing. \u00a0 After a nice long while (two minutes), I back him and send him around to the trailer body again.\u00a0 We turn and go to the trailer door.\u00a0 He has now figured out that sticking his head in the trailer door is the answer.<\/p>\n

    The next step is to get him to put a foot on the trailer floor.\u00a0 He finds out that sticking his head in the trailer door is not the answer.\u00a0 About 10 minutes later, he paws the trailer floor.\u00a0 Instantly, I stop urging him in with the feel of the rope. \u00a0 Everything stops and he gets comfort.\u00a0 We repeat this a couple more times.<\/p>\n

    Now he must find that the answer is putting one of his feet in the trailer and stepping up.\u00a0 We do the same thing.\u00a0 He looks at me, saying, “I\u2019m getting tired of running back and forth between the trailer door and the body.\u00a0 I know what you want, but I\u2019m just not ready yet. Fine!\u00a0 I\u2019ll just put one foot up there and step up!\u00a0 Wow!\u00a0 That must have been what Mom wanted! She\u2019s letting me rest again!”<\/p>\n

    JR is catching on to the game now.\u00a0 The next step is two feet in the trailer. \u00a0 He does one foot and gets comfort.\u00a0 After a couple of more circles, he puts two feet in the trailer and stands there.\u00a0 He decides the trailer isn\u2019t that scary.<\/p>\n

    BIG SUCCESS! JR puts all four feet in the trailer!\u00a0 He stays.\u00a0 He gets to rest.\u00a0 I have him back out.\u00a0 Not only must he learn to get into the trailer, he must learn to get out!\u00a0 This worked really well.\u00a0 He managed to back out of the trailer without scaring himself.\u00a0 The next time he goes in, he gets in far enough that he eats about half of his food.\u00a0 I have him back out again and we have a rubbing session.\u00a0 He\u2019s proud of himself.<\/p>\n

    I decide to quit while the going was good. Hmmm, he still has food in there. \u00a0 I\u2019ll just hop in and get it. WAIT! He\u2019s following me in!\u00a0 I scramble back and he goes to the food pan.\u00a0 I decide just to hang out in the trailer with JR. \u00a0 I sit on the bale of hay in the first stall.\u00a0 JR turns around to look out the trailer door while he is munching.\u00a0 It\u2019s very pleasant inside the trailer.<\/p>\n

    He\u2019s done now.\u00a0 He has turned around and is looking at the trailer door and drop off.\u00a0 I\u2019m looking at his hind end.\u00a0 JR is nervous about going out of the trailer headfirst.\u00a0 I decide that he won\u2019t kick me, so I get behind him and tap his rear.\u00a0 JR gulps and jumps out.\u00a0 What a brave boy he is!\u00a0 He gets lots more rubs and then he gets to go back to the pasture and find his “other”herd.<\/p>\n

    JR is all ready to arrive at Pine Dell in the trailer next Saturday for his first workshop. Unfortunately, Velvet and I fell during a group lesson.\u00a0 I break the small non-weight bearing bone (fibula) in my leg.\u00a0 JR\u2019s clinic goes on without him, while I cope with crutches, cane and currently, just the soft removable cast!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    \u00a0 The goal is to send JR into the trailer and back him out.\u00a0 JR\u2019s is a normal claustrophobic horse whose goal is to do anything to avoid getting in an enclosed hole. \u00a0 I opened all the windows so it is as light as it can be inside. JR is small enough right now, that I could put a rope on his rear end and pull him in using the halter rope and the rear rope.\u00a0 Think about how much fun this would be for me when he attains…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-jr"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mofoxtrot.com\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mofoxtrot.com\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mofoxtrot.com\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mofoxtrot.com\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mofoxtrot.com\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=648"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mofoxtrot.com\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":651,"href":"https:\/\/mofoxtrot.com\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648\/revisions\/651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mofoxtrot.com\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mofoxtrot.com\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mofoxtrot.com\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}