6th March, 2010 Basil!

Crikey! I was glad I'd got my Dually today as there was no way I could have stopped B-horse from leaving in his ordinary headcollar even when we were just walking around the yard well away from the field with the trailer in it. B-horse is a big black and white show cob in fabulous condition and good in every way except about loading. As far as I could ascertain there have been no significant problems when he has travelled and he is calm when he arrives at his destination. Nothing odd has happened at home either - no change in regime or diet. Today I worked with his owner to ask him to load again so that we could see if there were any particular triggers for any anxiety, but nothing. We left the session having loaded him a good number of times and told him how he is the very best black and white cob in the universe. I have left the owner with a set of groundwork exercises she can use to ask him to move forwards and backwards and to stand still as he needs to in the trailer and we have also used the positive reinforcement of a click and a treat to thank him for moving his back legs - his front legs were happy to move around. This is better than a bucket in the trailer which acts like a magnet, putting his head down on the floor; not a good idea if you want to put up the front bar and avoid the risk of him putting his head underneath it.