Toby and the Trailer...Update!

Last month, I shared the story of Toby on my facebook page. The gorgeous (and VERY photogenic) chestnut gelding, who had become reluctant to load, and injured his owner during their previous loading attempt.

According to his owner... "Historically, Toby would load with other horses but had issues on his own. He would go partway in the trailer but then back out at speed. Toby got progressively worse with his loading, culminating in me spending over an hour trying to load him with no success, and me getting hurt in the process. Leanne came to work with us and help us with his loading. Toby started off very reluctant and nervous but by the end of the session, we had him walking calmly in and straight out of the trailer, halting on the unloading ramp."

"Following on from this session last month, I have done lots of practice with Toby following the steps Leanne gave us. We started standing in the trailer before exiting; always calmly and under control. Leanne showed me how to recognise Toby’s body language. It was amazing to see how nervous he was as we introduced new steps, but by practicing the steps and progressing slowly, he has now totally relaxed. People watching him load now are amazed he ever had an issue with loading, and most importantly Toby is calm and happy in the trailer."

Over the last few weeks, Tobys' owner has introduced a short journey into the training sessions too.

Imagine how proud I am after receiving this update yesterday...

"Today we went out to a showjumping clinic and it was just lovely to have a happy horse walk calmly into the trailer first time; both to go and come home again. Its so lovely to take him out stress free! Thank you again so much for your help."

Well done to Tobys owner who has dedicated SO much time to practice the techniques and exercises I advised; making progress incrementally when Toby was calm, before moving onto the next stage/exercise. Keeping their practice sessions short, always ending on a good note, and remaining calm are key points for their success! Well done to Toby and his human - I hope they have many more successful (and stess free) journeys!