Hey everybody! I know its been awhile since I've been on here, but hectic work schedule and beautiful weather have been keeping me away from the computer
So Scars has been doing fantastic with me and I've been extremely proud of her. But we went to trailer her from one place to another the other day and it raised a bit of a concern for me- should I have someone else work with her more often so she gets used to other people and not just me?
Heres what happened that made me wonder:
We needed to trailer the two horses across town. Working against was the fact that neither horse had never been in a straight load before, it was almost dark, and I two non-horsey men with me. Getting Scars in the trailer was easy (which surprised for never being loaded into a straight load before). With the front window open, she followed me in slowly only trying to back out a couple times, but after a few soft words and gentle tugging in the line she hopped right in. And my bf instantly shut the door behind her so she couldn't back out. I tied her loosely then got out.
Then things started going not so smooth Since the trailer had no divider we couldn't keep Scars from standing in the middle of trailer, so I went around and held her line thru the open window at the front of the trailer and kept her straight so the 2nd horse could load. The guys were having a little bit of hard time getting the 2nd horse in (not enough room in the trailer for someone to walk him in so he pretty much needed to walk himself in). Since Scars was happily munching on her hay I didn't think anything of asking my bf to stand at the window and keep her head from swinging around. While I was walking around the trailer, Scars looked up and saw someone else other then me she exploded. She tried to back up, but hit the door so she tried rearing and tossing her head around and smashed it into the side of the trailer, tried sidestepping but the other horse was halfway in so she really didn't have a lot room, but she still cut herself up really bad.
Soon as I heard the first thump followed by the squeal, I realized I'd made the mistake of having my bf hold the line, so I told him to get out her line of sight and I hoped up and yanked her line so she was facing me and could see me. She was still rolling her eyes and breathing hard, but she calmed down after a few minutes and went back to her hay and we loaded the 2nd horse with no hiccups.
The whole thing just got me wondering if I should let someone else handle her for a few weeks so she gets comfortable with other people when I'm not around. She fine with other people handling her now, but I realized I'm always in sight for her. So should I just let the trainer work with her one on one for a few weeks without me around? Cause I can't ALWAYS be there if something goes wrong.
Hope this ramble make sense! Let me know if anything was fuzzy or unclear
So Scars has been doing fantastic with me and I've been extremely proud of her. But we went to trailer her from one place to another the other day and it raised a bit of a concern for me- should I have someone else work with her more often so she gets used to other people and not just me?
Heres what happened that made me wonder:
We needed to trailer the two horses across town. Working against was the fact that neither horse had never been in a straight load before, it was almost dark, and I two non-horsey men with me. Getting Scars in the trailer was easy (which surprised for never being loaded into a straight load before). With the front window open, she followed me in slowly only trying to back out a couple times, but after a few soft words and gentle tugging in the line she hopped right in. And my bf instantly shut the door behind her so she couldn't back out. I tied her loosely then got out.
Then things started going not so smooth Since the trailer had no divider we couldn't keep Scars from standing in the middle of trailer, so I went around and held her line thru the open window at the front of the trailer and kept her straight so the 2nd horse could load. The guys were having a little bit of hard time getting the 2nd horse in (not enough room in the trailer for someone to walk him in so he pretty much needed to walk himself in). Since Scars was happily munching on her hay I didn't think anything of asking my bf to stand at the window and keep her head from swinging around. While I was walking around the trailer, Scars looked up and saw someone else other then me she exploded. She tried to back up, but hit the door so she tried rearing and tossing her head around and smashed it into the side of the trailer, tried sidestepping but the other horse was halfway in so she really didn't have a lot room, but she still cut herself up really bad.
Soon as I heard the first thump followed by the squeal, I realized I'd made the mistake of having my bf hold the line, so I told him to get out her line of sight and I hoped up and yanked her line so she was facing me and could see me. She was still rolling her eyes and breathing hard, but she calmed down after a few minutes and went back to her hay and we loaded the 2nd horse with no hiccups.
The whole thing just got me wondering if I should let someone else handle her for a few weeks so she gets comfortable with other people when I'm not around. She fine with other people handling her now, but I realized I'm always in sight for her. So should I just let the trainer work with her one on one for a few weeks without me around? Cause I can't ALWAYS be there if something goes wrong.
Hope this ramble make sense! Let me know if anything was fuzzy or unclear