Horse & Rider Mail Call Online
Trailer Loading>
I know this letter is a bit late in coming, but I wanted to thank you for Lynn Palm’s article on how to trailer load your horse by yourself (“Loading Solo,” Ask Team H&R, August ’08). I have a 5-year-old Quarter Horse who can be a little too smart for his britches!
Recently, he decided he no longer wanted to load. The only reason I could think of for his reluctance was the 15 miles of windy, twisty roads we’d often traveled on this past summer. He’s never been scared of the trailer, and I’ve had him since he was 6 months old, so I know he hasn’t experienced any trailer mishaps.
One day, he just decided he didn’t want to load. After putting up a fight, he finally stepped halfway into the trailer and then looked at me as if to say, “You can't make me!” I tried a number of fixes, such getting his feet moving, trying to make the right thing easy, and so on. Unfortunately, these techniques didn’t work on him.
Lynn’s article explained how to use a cotton longe line around a horse’s rear end to coax him into the trailer. After everything I’d tried, this solution seemed a little too easy. But, wow! This worked like a charm on my horse. At first, he tried to sit back on the rope, but I held tight and the little light bulb in his brain clicked on. He walked right into the trailer without a second thought. Since then, I’ve had to use the longe line a few other times, but now he’s back to loading without any hesitation--and no line! (But I still keep a longe line in my trailer, just in case.)
article continues below|
|
Thank you, Horse & Rider, for partnering with great horsemen and women, like Lynn Palm, to help us better understand and train our horses!
Pamela Suttles
Tennessee
Emotional Horsemanship
I just finished reading “Bucked Off,” by Juli Thorson (Just Between Us, September ’09). I read it several times, as a matter of fact.
I think Juli is right on the money concerning emotional horsemanship skills. My case of being dumped by bad luck was not so much being tossed or having a difficult horse, but having a medical situation. I had to give up riding for almost two years due to a bone-marrow transplant. My good news is that everything turned out OK, and I’ve been back in the saddle for about three months.
Juli’s comment about putting your foot back in the stirrup to give it another go was right on target. My riding instructors are very patient and told me repeatedly to be patient, relax, and it will all come back--and surprise, surprise--it has. Thanks for a great article, and I can't wait for the next issue.
Norm Johns
Illinois
More Emotional Horsemanship
“Bucked Off” helped me find the nerve I was sure was long gone with the passing of my gelding Pete. He was taken from me by a freak pasture accident that forced me to have him euthanized, and I wasn’t sure I was up to starting over with another horse. But after reading about the importance of “getting back on” and just moving forward, I’m getting another horse!
Kerri Baker
Virginia
Fury over ‘Fear Factor’
As a trainer, instructor and equine-therapy specialist, I was absolutely horrified when I read the article “Fear Factor” (H&R Interview, August ’09). I planned to include it in one of our therapy sessions, but couldn’t believe my eyes when I read what clinician Karen Scholl had to say about women.
Her comments suggested women are mentally and physically weak when it comes to horses and life. As an instructor for more than 10 years, it’s been my experience that men are often far more affected by a fall than women are. Many men who fall never ride again. I’ve also experienced many more women who jump up [after a fall] and say, “Did you see that?” than women who lay sobbing in the dirt or retreat to their houses to “scream and cry,” as Scholl suggests.
I feel this article was absolutely insulting to horsewomen, and just plain women everywhere. This was not the message I wanted to send to the folks in our group (male or female) who are trying to rebuild their self-esteem!
Amy Jacobs
Texas
To Breed or Not
In response to recent discussion in Horse & Rider about breeding: Everyone must make his own decision on whether or not to breed. Certainly, there is a surplus of horses, but I don’t think there are too many good horses.
Horses also have a limited lifetime, and delaying breeding could mean you may not get to breed. I recently acquired a 23-year-old Tennessee Walking Horse stallion who’s a proven producer of quality pleasure horses and who has bloodlines worth preserving. I would like to see him produce more foals before he gets too old to breed.
Debbie Zaktansky
Pennsylvania
  |
