Trailering issues, but he's still a saint

Sweetest boy I know

Kazi's owner and I are going to a Parelli clinic at the end of April, which should be fun and interesting (especially considering what a skeptic I am), which means taking Kazi on a little ride in the trailer. Sounds easy enough right? Most ex-racehorses I have encountered love getting on a trailer. They seem to associate it with going somewhere fun and gladly self load and munch on hay with or without a friend. Part of this has to do with how they are handled as yearlings where I think trailer imprinting is essential to their training. Working with L at the other farm I have first hand experience witnessing him with horses of all personality types. In his lifetime he has trained 500+ race horses, so watching him work with a difficult horse is really something else. After this weekend with Kazi, I am curious at to what kind of approach he would have to loading him. Here's the thing, he's not afraid of the trailer, or the ramp, or the sound the trailer makes when he steps on and off. He never panicked completely or lost total focus, but he IS claustrophobic. Period. The trailer we were working with is very small, a straight load 2 horse that's very narrow in the front. Here's where the issues begin and end though...we know what Kazi's problem is...he's fearful of tight spaces (ie, gates, barrels that are too close together etc) and he will panic if he thinks he's going to get stuck. A look at his race history shows us a glaring example of this claustrophobia, he once refused to leave the starting box...

But here's the thing. I don't think that just because a horse has had X,Y, Z issue in his life that he can't get over it and move forward. I really hate to make excuses for a particular horse vice, but it is good to know where the vice stems from. That said we made some headway on Saturday. His owner did some ground work with him and then tried loading him...it was hard for me to watch because I wanted to intervene (I didn't). Basically, he'd walk on the trailer, but back out when he felt like it (which wasn't always right away). It wasn't a panicked backing out either, sometimes he'd just back out on to the ramp. He wasn't unwilling to go on the trailer, but he wouldn't stay on either. He seemed happier once we got a VERY docile friend to stand in there with him, but he still wasn't convinced. He never actually got his whole body in enough to attempt closing the butt bar. It's a small enough trailer that he would really have to get ALL the way in for us to even try that. At one point he seemed to shut down and he started to ignore us, he just stood on the ramp and zoned out. My problem with the whole scenario is that this was all done with a rope halter and the Parelli lead line (which I think is 20 ft long)...while I understand that when he wearing those items he is more focused on his handler, etc...it still worried me. Trying to load a horse into an already cramped space with the lead rope dragging on the ground makes me nervous. While he understands if he steps on it someplace else and spooks he'll catch himself and calm down, if that happens while he's trying to load I think it would make him really nervous and scared (again, I don't know for sure) -- that, and I don't like the idea of the rope halter for loading...but this is just my silly opinion. We spent about 2 hours working with him and tried to make the whole event a positive experience. I think D was disappointed that he didn't make substantial progress, but I think with OTTBs it's important to see the small successes. My recommendation for next time is for her to be a little firmer in regards to him backing out of the trailer. Much like a horse that won't tie, I think that horses will pull back if they think or know they CAN. She is hesitant to use any of the sort of standard methods of loading due to his starting box issues...so we'll have to see how this goes. Personally, I wish we had a bigger trailer to get him comfortable in first.

After all of this hard work, we let him free lunge for awhile in the arena which he was soooo happy about. He apparently considers me a friend and despite my best effort to stand next to D in the middle of the arena, he kept trying to get me to play with him. At one point I was trying to get him to switch direction and I blocked his path and flailed a lead rope at him, he spun around galloped a few strides and then tried to get me to play tag with him. I couldn't stop laughing and either could our little audience at the barn! It was really so cute. We practiced a little ground work without a lead rope, which he was awesome for and then got him tacked up for a little ride. It was the first time D rode him in spurs and although she was a little nervous about it, she did great! He was forward and happy. I hopped on and did a little lateral work with him and just put him through his paces in each direction...his feet are really overdue so I didn't want to do too much (his toes are crazy long!). He was completely happy after spending the whole afternoon doted over. He truly is a horse that loves nothing more than to have human attention!

Makes me REALLY wish I could jump him:(

 

 

Oh yea, one more thing...there are foxes that live on the property! One of them just had a litter of 4-5 babies! I tried to get a photo of them! So cute!

tiny little blobs of grey next to her are the babies!