As you know Gilly has his own ideas about how things should be so at first he didn't think he needed to go in. After all, we weren't going anywhere so why bother, he said?
Well, I said, you need to practice so you will be very good at it.
He thought about it for awhile (wheels turning and eyes deep in thought) well, he said what's in it for me if I do?
Then I said, well, only good horses get peppermint treats when they preform well. He nodded his head, sighed and walked in the trailer. Then he got his treat.
We did this a few more times and he did really well and got several treats for being a good horse. We have quite a few discussions like this, Gilly doesn't like all the running around like Clinton and other trainers do, he gets pretty agitated and well....pissed off. And if pushed far enough will jerk the rope out of your hands and run off. So now we discuss things of such importance.
When I trailer Gilly I use my knotted rope halter and 14 foot lead rope and use the Blocker Tie Ring or the Safe Clip so if he needs to pull back the rope will slide some to release pressure. Gilly rides really well, he never moves from where you put him, he doesn't paw, move around, just stands and rides very smooth. I have a stock type slant load but have taken the divider out, Gilly is a big boy and doesn't like to be squeezed. I have heard that some people like to just let their horse loose in the trailer but since this trailer has a front dressing room, I want Gilly tied. The papers that came with the trailer said not to let a horse loose because of putting too much weight in the back. But if you have two horses in the trailer, that would be more weight in the back end....interesting. Well, anyway I prefer to have Gilly tied and really the only room left would be for a Pokey sized animal.
Gilly has no problem with being tied, anywhere. One time when he was not wanting to play let's load in the trailer, I tied him up for several hours. He didn't care, he just stood there. Heck, he was probably napping the whole time!
So the rope halter isn't an issue with Gilly. I have heard a lot of people say that their horses don't like the rope halter, Gilly is one of those horses that is pretty laid back, so much so at time one of his nicknames is "Laid Back Lenny".
But what I really posted this for was to ask all of you what kind of trailer you have, what kind of halter you use when trailering your horse and do you tie or not. Just curious how others do things.
Thanks,
Jane and Laid Back Lenny
