Gevonden
in Australië:
www.horseproblems.com.au.
(sorry, enkel in het Engels....) en met toestemming gepubliseerd
Horse
Problems Australia, Post Office Box 89, Surrey Downs, SA. 5126. PH. (61)
0882515250
LOADING & FLOATING OF HORSES, (laden
en vervoeren per trailer)
By
John O'Leary Horseman © 2002
The loading and floating
of horses is the stuff that divorces are made of. If you are a horse
husband and the wife’s horse isn't wanting
to go in the float, get out of there fast!! Kids and dogs have been known
to get into major drama if within range when things go wrong.
If this happens whilst you are at a Show, you will quickly inherit a dozen
other experts as well as onlookers. The experts will be all trying their
pet system out on your horse and the onlookers will all be hoping like
hell that the horse doesn't go in and that the embarrassment goes on for
as long as possible.
Each year, horses all over Australia get severely injured and killed by
floating accidents of varying degrees. From Float rollovers to horses getting
down because they have lost their footing from either slippery surfaces,
too much speed around bends by the driver, over braking because of a lack
of concentration or horses with psychological disorders caused by all of
the above and other reasons. Climbers or scramblers being the most common.
Then there are the injuries caused outside the float.
Since the invention of the rope halter and the Parelli lead rope in this
country, 13 years ago, and due to the fact that they are not sold with
instructions, many severe accidents happen during the dangerous tying up
procedures coupled with the ill designed horse floats in this country.
Each combine to make the outside of horse floats as well as the inside,
death traps waiting to happen. Here are just a few examples that I see
in my everyday work as a horseman and re-educator (SEE: GOOD AND BAD DESIGN
OF HORSE FLOATS.)
I have never seen a float with a tie up point that is set at the correct
height. This causes horses to get a front leg over the lead rope, lift
its head and flip over on the ground still tied up with the front leg over
the rope.
It also causes lead ropes to get hooked beneath the mudguard, causing
horse to reef its head up violently, bending the mudguard and often cutting
horses legs.
Horse getting hooked around the spare wheel with the resultant “all
hell breaking loose”
Horse getting rope halter caught around the incredibly dangerous and poorly
designed back ramp handle and hook and hanging the horse during violent pulling
back with resultant head cuts or neck injuries.
THE TEACHING OF HORSE OWNERS
So, who teaches all
of the existing horse owners and those born into or entering the Industry
Well the answer is basically, no-one!! Pony Club
doesn’t. T.A.F.E College doesn’t. The parents have never been
taught. So is it any wonder why horses are hurt and terrorized Australia
wide on a day-to-day basis?
HORSE FLOATS
It is a mystery to most people; just what it takes to put a horse on the
float, every time, regardless of the drama. The answer is simple.
Horses go on to horse floats because they are made to and if you know
how to make them, they will go on every time. Mind you, you cannot blame
them for not wanting to go on. The horse float is the most frightening,
unnatural environment for a horse to enter that man has devised. The only
thing that is comparable is Racing Barriers.
In Australia, a high percentage of horse floats manufactured are of a
substandard design in so far as horses are concerned. This is because mostly
engineer's design horse floats not HORSEMEN!
Lots of horse floats
manufactured in Australia, used for horses over 15.2hh, are too low.
During the last 20 years in this country, horses have
been bred far higher than ever before, except back in the old days of the
heavy horse, but they weren’t floated much then. Virtually every
Warm blood Horse Float manufactured in Australia is made too low. Fact!!
That is why I spend half my working life re-educating psychologically
distressed horses. There are also floats with stability problems, a lack
of room for the horses head and neck up front, too short in the stall and
in particular, the view.
I have not found one Manufacturer who sells a float with the view being
as horses want it. I am not going to tell why this is so for commercial
reasons.
SINGLE FLOATS
These should and will be in the future, banned from the road for safety
reasons. Anyone who inflicts one of these upon there horse is irresponsible.
FLOATS WITH POINTED FRONTS
These are not preferable for two reasons.
The horse's head is jammed up in the front of the float because of a
lack of Room.
The window is about two feet too low for the horse.
The window is two feet too low for horses.
FLOATS WITH CENTRE DIVISIONS TO THE FLOOR
There are horse floats around that have the center division that extends
all the way to the floor.
These floats are largely responsible for the ruination of large numbers
of horses as they turn horses into wall climbers or scramblers. Even the
perfect floating horse can be turned into an unloadable horse by a center
division that extends to the floor, in one trip.
I doubt if there would be one float with such a division or divider in
Australia that hasn't got major climbing marks and dents in it. Take a
look. I bet you!!
REASONS WHY HORSES WON'T FLOAT
Incompetence of the owners.
Drivers driving too fast.
Drivers that brake too fast.
Roof too low.
Just a rough float.
Center divisions to the floor.
Floats too narrow.
Single floats.
No headroom.
Dark dingy interior.
. Rattle Trap.
Horses were in float accidents.
Lack of view.
Ramp too steep
Psychological problems
Horse with knowledge
that Mum or Dad drives too fast.
Why should a horse go into a horse float? The answer is they shouldn't.
They are most frightening and unnatural things for a horse to enter.
So you can understand why you have to make horses go into horse floats
and you can equally understand why they don't want to go into one.
So it all gets back to how good you are at putting them in somewhere they
do not want to be.
THE FLOATING PRINCIPAL THAT WORKS
To make a horse do something or go somewhere that they don't want you
must do two things.
APPLY PRESSURE
GIVE THEM REWARD & RELIEF FOR TRYING & GIVING
TO THAT PRESSURE.
TYPES OF PRESSURE THAT WORKS
Tapping a horse on the butt with a whip. (Kel Jeffrey's Method)
Tapping a horse behind the forearm with a whip. (Tom Roberts Method)
Flicking a horse under the belly or around the bottom of the back legs
with a stock whip. (Jim Wilton Method)
Swinging at or flicking the front or back end of a horse with a lead rope
with a flicker on the end. ((Pat Parelli Method)
Halter break the horse so well that it will never say no and will lead
over a Gorilla if asked. (John O'Leary Method)
Using a "War Bridle" to ask a horse forward and tune them up.
(Highly dangerous but does work. Only to be used by professionals. Almost
always makes horses rear over backwards. Good for the real tough ones,
in the right hands only. (They even rear over with Monty Roberts and his
halter)
THE FLOATING PRINCIPALS THAT DON'T WORK (most of the time)
They may work sometimes, but never on going. None follow the principals
of proper and accepted training methods.
Bribery and corruption. (The bucket full of oats.) OK, it may work sometimes
but this article is about the total and proper training of horses, not
hit and miss or success on a good day and disaster on others.)
Picking up a horse's foot and putting it on the float ramp. This has
got to be the most futile act by horse handlers imaginable. You are begging
the horse. You are electing yourself No.2. They don't leave their hooves
there anyway.
Putting a tail rope on a horse. (OK it works sometimes but will run out
of Puff over time and then you will be pulling the horse into the float
with the tail rope and you will run out of puff.)
Tying the lunge rope to one side of the float and running around the
back of Horse until you are on the other side and then pulling. (Force
meets force-they are stronger- we are weaker-we are becoming the beggar-
they are becoming the boss- we are doing all the work- they are doing
nothing. They are not moving and giving to pressure. It is a struggle
of strengths.
Getting behind the horse and pushing. (You push they push back- they
are stronger-we are weaker-they become the boss-plus we can get a kick
in the head.
Feeding or watering the horse in the float left in their yard. This one
works. Sometimes to get a frightened horse familiar with the interior
of a float but I can assure you, nothing beats correct training and I
have never failed to float several thousand horses with the proper training
methods and I have never taken, on average, more than 10 minutes to load
them. I am talking about the unbroken and problem horses as well here.
THE SYSTEMS THAT WORK
KEL JEFFREYS METHOD
The "Kel Jeffrey's" method
is probably the most user friendly. Especially for amateurs. It involves
two handlers, one holding the lead
rope and the other at the back end with a long whip so you can't get kicked.
This gives the most control over a horse and the most success for casual
horse owners.
Start out in the car park to pre-programmed the horse that tapping on
the rump means go forward and that for going forward, it will be given
immediate 'reward and relief'. You will find that the horse does this very
easily out in the open so the leading handler may have to stop it now and
again and make it stand, so that the back handler can place the whip on
it's rump.
You must be using a whip that is made by cutting the tail off a lunging
whip. Any shorter is dangerous. The whip person must stand side on, like
the fencing competitor, with arm full outstretched. This then gives the
appropriate distance away from the hooves of the horse, should it kick.
You must never take your eyes off the horse, should it go to kick and if
it does, you should have read it first. Most don't however but there is
always that chance.
Here are the steps:
The handler up front has one responsibility. To keep the horses head looking
into the hole into the float at all times, meaning every split second.
If this can be achieved and the handler at the bum end can generate the
horse to go somewhere, it must go into the float. If the horse moves backwards,
just increase the intensity of the tapping.
The handler up front must not try to pull the horse into the float and
they must never attempt to stop the horse from walking backwards out
of the float
All they must do is to jerk the halter laterally left or right with check
release from slightly loose rope to snap and back to slightly loose at
the 1/100th of a second, whenever the horse attempts to look sideways
for the escape route. Cancel the escape route and it is only a matter
of time.
The handler out back has the responsibility to rhythmically tap, tap,
tap the horse on the top of the rump, dead center and a couple of inches
above the dock .They must continue to do this until the horse makes any
movement forward and then with a split second, stop tapping, give the
horse reward and relief. Both by ceasing tapping and also by stepping
backwards out of the space of the horse.
Any movement means even the movement of one hoof forwards. After a 15 second
delay; re-commence the tapping and so on. The rear handler must be directly
behind the horse at all times, in a direct line up the backbone and as the
horse may swing from left to right, the handler must remain directly behind.
If they caught off to the side they will immediately drive the rear end of
the horse sideways and around the side of the float. They must dance like a
'fencer'
The front handler can and should, gently take up the slack of the rope now
and again, and just gently ask the horse forward but release immediately. That
is all they can do from the front point of view.
Once a horse has learnt this system, it will always load and it will never
forget it.
When you are learning, all you have to do in order to give you maximum
chance of success is to place the float alongside a fence to cover one
side and if you want a complete sporting chance, just position the float
in a raceway. You will still be doing better than Monty because he builds
a yard around the horse and attaches it to the float. Blind Freddy can
even do that.
This is the best system of all for the learner people.
TOM ROBERTS METHOD
The "Tom Roberts" method, is and has been very successful and
encompasses the same principals as all of the good methods, that of reward
and relief. It involves only one handler and a dressage whip which is used
to tap, tap, tap behind the forearm of the horse until it makes any move
forward and the tapping ceases. This procedure continues until the horse
learns and gives to pressure of the tapping, understands it's "reward & relief" and
gives to it. The one downfall of this system is that there is very little
control of the back end of the horse that really wants to evade and I have
seen one win over a Mounted Police Officer for 5 hours to the point of
total embarrassment and failure. I learnt that day that this system does
not have control over the back end of the horse. The front yes, but not
the back. It wasn't until I had a flick through the Tom Roberts book recently,
that I saw ladies hiding around the sides of the float in the photo's of
horse float loading. Small world, I happen to know the ladies and I know
what they were doing. Flicking the horses with a whip to attempt to force
the back end back where it should be. Proof that the system falls down
against other ones. It is indeed ironic that the name appearing above this
paragraph and the one appearing below it are the two gentlemen who taught
Mr. Roberts.
JIM WILTON METHOD
The "Jim Wilton" method
works on every horse and is so good it works on the tough ones as well.
He is dead now but was Australia's
most famous master horseman back in the 1940's and 50's. He challenged
all horseman of the world to a horse breaking competition with his own
500 pounds put up, but the only taker he got, happened to be Kel Jeffrey's,
but Kel pulled out in the end as well.
This system entails the ownership of a stock whip and the technique to
be able to lay it along the ground so it remains always near the back near
side leg and to be able to get the whip just to jump up and flick the back
legs like a snake. Only a flick,flick,flick. No hitting.
Well, this has the greatest
effect on horses than anything else I have tried. It gets a reaction
and that is what you want. These horses that "Dog
it" are tougher to load than the ones who are willing to react.
This is a one-person
system and the handler simply holds the horse with the reins of a bridle
with an FM bit fitted. As in all of these good systems,
horses react and normally run backwards worse than they normally do when
putting it over their owner in a casual way. This is what makes the proper
training systems good. It means that the horse gives it his best shot,
looses and therefore suffers a bigger defeat that he thought ever possible.
This has the lasting effect and puts trainability into a horse and removes
the words, "I can't, won't"
Anyhow, in no time, this system will put the worst horses in. It doesn't
matter if the whip jumps up and hits them behind the back leg, in front
of it or up on their gut.
I have had the totally unloadable horse that has beaten people for years,
put pressure on this system, only by extending the length of time by dancing
and careering too far away from the float but there is a very simple method
to fix this in conjunction with the Jim Wilton Method. He used a set of
stockman's hobbles, put on over float boots and around the back cannon
bone of the back legs. This is a professional's job, but is completely
safe and stops the fun and games of the highly trained evader.
Once a horse has been trained or re-educated with this system, they will
never say no to a float again.
This system is more difficult for the learner people
THE PAT PARELLI METHOD
The Pat Parelli method is also a fantastic one and works every time. It
is a one-handler system that has the added bonus of being able to stand
outside the float and just driving the horse in.
The main reason why a lot of people don't use this system is that they
don't know how and with this system, it is a matter of the handler learning
the system before the horse can be trained it. It is a sophisticated system
that everyone should learn. The world would be a much better place if everyone
did. It's downfall is found in the difficulty for the human to learn it.
You must learn the system properly and that means adapting to a different
World for most people as it is a radical shift away from holding horses
up by the jaw with a lead rope.
Go to Pat's accredited trainers or get the books and videos at the Saddlery
shop. http://parelli.parellinet.net/
The horses that are trained properly with the Parelli system, will not
say 'No' to anything, let alone the float and you can send them in from
10 metres away.
MONTY ROBERTS
I cannot recommend this system as I saw Monty fail with it and have seen
the video. Substandard imho
THE JOHN O'LEARY METHOD
Well, why shouldn't I have a method? Everyone else has got one!.
But seriously, I am not claiming this as my method, but I don't think
anyone else has.
I have found that if
you can halter break a horse so well and so lightly, that they will go
where ever you ask and never say no, they will go into
a float every time. That is the meaning of true halter breaking and true
lightness and it is achievable on every horse. The young horses are the
easiest ones to achieve this with as they are not set in their ways and
haven't developed the ignorant heads that a lot of older horses do. You
know, all the ones in the Racing Industry. The ones that are used to handlers
swinging off their heads like “Christmas decorations.” It works
on older horses as well but there is effort and strength required. Have
your horse equipped with the rope halter and 3.6m Parelli type rope.
Lead your horse to the float, to the point where it will balk. Take up
the slack and take a hold against the head of the horse. Hold, hold, hold.
The strength that you hold does not matter and with the older horses, the
heavier the better. The amount of strength will only have an effect upon
the time taken to success.
Even if the horse starts to drag you backwards away from the float, keep
constant on the hold. The rope halter will begin to create dis-comfort
to the head of the horse and you can get differing reaction. Some will
drag you backwards faster in which case you will stay holding. Some will
then stop but you still stay holding because the horse did not take a
step forward. Remember, you are re-educating the problem horse here and
so the battle will always have to be fraught the hard way first, before
success later. You may have the horse rear, in which case you must immediately
release the rope (throw a loop in it) until the horse lands back on the
ground but you will be immediately back hanging off the head again. As
if you hadn't left.
At some point, the horse will take a step forward and you must totally
release the rope on the millionth of a second. Go to the horse, 'goooood
booooy' and stroke. Little rest and then start again.
You will get back to the float eventually. Same treatment. At some point,
the horse will pick up one front leg and begin pawing the ramp. This
is the turning point and you know right there and then (providing you
don't make any timing, feel and position mistakes) that the battle is
already won.
Give relief when the horse has pawed the back ramp, even if it didn't
leave the leg upon it. Just for the first couple of times. Then, pawing
the back ramp will not be enough and you will not release. You will be
demanding that the horse leave the hoof on the ramp before release takes
place.
Now you are looking for two feet to be placed upon the back ramp and
left there. Relief the moment that happens. Rest, pat, etc.
Now we are going to play an important psychological game with the horse.
You are going to back the horse off the ramp, pat, relief, pause. Now
ask it back up.
Repeat, step by step, back it off again. Up 2 steps, off. Up 3 steps
and off. Neck into float and off.
You will have succeeded with your float training, vastly improved the
lightness at the halter of your horse, gained more respect than you had
previously and be feeling very good as a Horse Trainer. Well done.!
The fact that you have backed your horse off, just when it thought that
it had given in to you, cements your position two fold.
GO TO THE SECTION ON HALTER BREAKING FOR MORE
COMMON MISTAKES AND THEIR RESULTS
How many people have you seen walk the horse away from a float as soon
as the horse "jacks up"? The moment you do that, you have given
the horse "Reward & Relief" for being naughty. You have
trained the horse there and then, not to go onto a float and that if
they say "No", you will give in.
Once you present a horse
to the back of a float, that’s it. They
load or else. If they want to be smart about it, and walk around to the
side of the ramp, then they can load from there too. NEVER TAKE THEM AWAY
TO STRAIGHTEN THEM. Unless you may be using a whip to move them with correct
systems.
If you take your eye
off a problem horse floater you will get "Stuff
Ups" I would like a dollar for every time I have seen the horse commit
itself and the horse go to walk in, wander off the side of the float only
to see the owner loaded up nicely and the horse around near the mudguard.
Don't ever take your eye off them.
Asking the horse to load onto a float---not telling it!
How many times have you seen the unwanted helper come and stand at the
side of the ramp and the horse? Sometimes they even put their hand on the
horse. This causes all horses to either walk sideways or backwards depending
at what angle to the shoulder the problem person is.
Trying to drag a horse into the float by hanging off its head. This causes
them to pull back against the force but even stronger than we can.
Bribery and corruption. Carrots, sugar lumps etc. This represents the complete
selling of your sole and giving in to the horse.
Trying to walk into the left bay whilst leading the horse into the right one.
This causes confusion in the horse
Pulling on a horse's head when it has committed itself and is half way in.
This Invariably makes the horse suddenly balk and then run backwards. On so
many occasions, the two-hour effort and fight to put a horse on the float and
the frustration it causes, originally is caused during the first attempt that
a horse may make to go into the float. Accidentally pull on its head when it
is half way in and you will make it run backwards. Especially the badly halter
broken horses.
Pulling on a horse's head if it starts to leave the float without permission.
If you pull on a horse that is moving backwards out of a float, it will do
two things every time.
Throw its head up and possibly hit its head on the roof.
Run backwards faster against the force that you pull on its head.
THE REASON HORSES ROCKET OUT OF FLOATS
You can bet, that if you inherit a horse that ejects itself out of a float
like a rocket when the back goes down, one of two things have happened
to it prior.
The handler has forgotten to untie the horse before undoing the back
and the horse has had the big "pull back" as they will do on
99.9% of occasions.
The horse has hit its head whilst walking out of a float. Both things
become psychological afflictions that are very hard to fix. They compound
into a more serious problem as time goes on. I meet about 30 of these
horses per year.
Tying the horse up before putting the back up. Don't trust the bum bars.
Tying a horse too long when you have a head division which allows the
horse to get it's head jammed around the wrong side of the division.
Standing behind the back ramp whilst lifting it up to lock it. Highly
dangerous and large numbers of people get seriously injured every year
by making this mistake.
Tying dominant horses too long while traveling with other horses and
allowing them to attack and bite their mate.
The back leg of the division extending to the floor.
WARNING
Not having the triangle in between the A-Frame of the draw bar of the
float covered in with mesh or steal plate. Every year, horses all over
the world have their legs broken in such a situation. (I have seen the
hoof pulled completely off a horse with the bone sticking out) They catch
their hoof in the V and that is the end.
CHECK THE FLOOR
Check the floor of your float every year. Get under the float and have
a good close look. Horse urine rots the hell out of them and many stories
are told of the horse traveling down the road with its leg been worn off
as it drags on the road surface.
OTHER DANGERS ON HORSE FLOATS
I have been looking at horse floats all over Australia and I doubt if
there is one manufactured that has the tie-up points high enough. Tying
horse low is dangerous, high is safe. Further, the location of tie-up points
are often in dangerous places. i.e.
Too close to the rear of float and horse gets hooked around back ramp
closing latch.
Too close to front and horse gets hooked around braking system or the
door handle of the personnel door, thus causing a pull back drama.
Horse getting rope hooked around the spare wheel and massive pull back occurring.
Horse being caught with rope hooked under mudguard, pulling back violently
bending mudguard double and usually cutting legs severely.
Bum bars not substantial enough.
Chains, which are inadequate. They break and they lift allowing horses to run
underneath them.
Bum bars too high for the sized horse in the float. Horse rushes out beneath
bar and scalps the whole centre of the back on the way out, or is still tied
up, thrashing like a shark and smashing it’s head on the side of the
float or on the head division.
Centre division back upright bar extending down to floor. Horse smacks hind
legs on way out and learns to rocket out expecting pain each exit. There should
not be one of those; they should be suspended from roof of float.
The horse begins to come out, the back leg gets hooked on the back leg
of the centre division and the horse panics. That can lead to all sorts
of problems from rocketing out to a fear of floats.
GETTING THE PUNCTURE
If you get a puncture or other type of breakdown, whilst on or near the
edge of a road, do not unload the horses. You should also not attempt to
jack the float up with any type of jack. This is because floats fall off
jacks when horses move in the float, especially a fractious one.
You should not remove
them because of the dangers of them getting hit by traffic, escaping
from you, where do you tie them. If they don’t
tie up solid and they haven’t got rope halters on and Parelli lead
ropes, they will most probably break away and run into the traffic. Do
not tie to twine under this situation. Solution?
Go and buy a “Bushmans Jack” or
make one. Get two feet long piece of railway sleeper and cut one end
down into a ramp of a slight angle.
Merely back the float onto it if the puncture is in the front tyre or drive
the float onto it if the puncture is in the back tyre. Loosen nuts first.
This then is your jack and your float is off the ground. Change wheel,
tighten nuts reasonably, drive car off jack and tighten nuts totally. You
can buy an aluminum one of these fabulous products in the shops now.
DRIVING
The golden rule is, you can technically go as fast as you like in a straight
line and crawl around bends. Specifically though, here is how you should
drive a car towing a float:
Accelerate slowly.
Brake slowly and over 200 metres.
Always be 30 metres behind the next car in traffic and every time a car
from another lane takes your space, back off again from that car to 30
metres.
Read traffic, road conditions and traffic lights 200 metres ahead all
of the time.
Above all, go slowly around corners. The good rule that I have tested
is that if you halve the recommended speed around corners that you see
on signs, you will be spot on.
It makes no difference how fast you travel in a straight line. Horses
have no feel for speed, only instability.
If on open roads, straighten out corners.
If on open road with plenty of view, drive near the white line, not the
edge of the road, thus countering the camber of the road, which horses
don’t like.
If turning at a junction, 90 degree bend, maximum 5k per hour and do
not, I repeat, do not accelerate away until the float is in a direct
line with the car otherwise you will get a whiplash effect like the water
skier when the boat turns. This frightens horses and I see at least 90%
of drivers do it.
Over 50% of drivers' that I have watched, do not drive as they should.
This would probably be because hardly anyone ever gets taught how to
drive a horse around. No-one teaches it. There should be a license procedure
imho.
WHERE TO PUT THE HORSES
If floating one horse, that horse should be on the right hand side of
the float to counteract the camber of the road and to equalize the slope
of the floor of the float.
If traveling two horses, the heaviest horse should be on the right hand
side to balance the float.
If a horse has psychological problems and will only float safely on a
particular side, you will have to do that.
Newly broken in horses or unbroken ones in fact, do not have any floating
hang-ups ever. These come later when taught by us humans.
ANGLE FLOATS
Almost all in Australia are angled to the left with the horse standing
down hill. We copy America and we cannot get our mind around leading from
the right. Why would you want the horse facing down hill. Why would you
want the majority of the weight down hill? What do you think happens when
your left hand float tyre slides off the bitumen and into the holes or
gravel? You swerve right and the horse swerves left, throwing it's weight
through it's left shoulder, thus causing the float to spin out. Not good
for safety. I am not a fan of these floats anyhow, because of the lack
of neck room and the lack of view for the horse.
WHAT IS A SCRAMBLER?
This is a horse that has been involved in a floating accident but more
often than not, just traveled too fast around corners by an incompetent
driver. The horse, when it feels the float move sideways etc, thinks it
is tipping over and literally climbs the walls of the float with all four
hooves, normally cutting itself to ribbons in the process. Or falling down
when the center divider gives way under the stain of the weight of the
horse leaning on it in order to climb up the wall parallel with the ground.
WHAT TO DO WITH A CLIMBER?
Here are varying options
Remove the center division, do not tie it across.
Travel the horse in a three-horse float in the center bay so it cannot
climb on walls.
Install bulkheads on left and right side of float to keep horses legs
off wall. Out off the wall about 150mm so that you get the same effect
as the JR Easy Traveller float which is made for climbers. Have them
installed about shoulder height so that the horse can lean on them instead
of the wall.
Travel the horse in an open roofed float regularly, with proper driving
and a successful trip. This works on fixing their mind. No division
Buy a 3/4 float, with no division and with bulkheads installed.
Always heavily boot the horse up.
Drive like a snail.
Don't try this but I will tell you a story about how I fixed a horse
that was off to his death. He was a very bad scrambler and would end
up down in the float every time. I first trained him to hobbles over
a number of weeks. Front and back and then four at once. Then I took
him to a cement floor in a shed and painted around his 4 hooves. I then
installed 4 rings into the concrete, just outside where his feet would
be. I then hobbled him to the floor, clipped to the rings. He gave to
this well too because of the prior preparation. I then walked him into
the centre of a double float and painted his hooves on the floor. I then
installed rings in the floor of the float. I then clipped him to the
rings and drove off. He could not scramble. He tried but he could not.
When he had gained his confidence and belief that he could not scramble,
I put the hobble straps on and only clipped his fronts. No problems.
Then the next trip, hobble straps on all 4 legs but not clipped at all.
No problems. He found his comfort zone in the wearing of the straps.
I saved his life and I felt good.
Happy floating
STOPPING THE HORSE THAT RUNS OUT OF A FLOAT.
The problem regarding running out of the float is caused by one of three
things. All people problems. The horse hitting itself on the roof of the
float at some stage (caused by someone hanging off it's head whilst it
was walking out) being left tied up when the bum bar was removed (the number
one dumb thing in the Horse Industry) which always causes a massive pull
back fight with the horse smashing it's head side to side or just a bad
float or driver. Easily fixed but needing two people. One on the head end
( WHO MUST NEVER PULL AGAINST THE ROPE IN AN EFFORT TO SLOW THE HORSE)
and the second handler at the back, DEAD CENTRE behind the horse, NOT OFF
AT AN ANGLE. The rear person has the whip (LONG and preferably the handle
of a lunge whip with the thong cut off) standing side on in the stance
of an Olympic Fencer so as to be out of reach of a kicking horse and to
remain dead centre behind the horse to the degree, regardless of whether
or not the horse comes out straight or crooked. Ask the horse out. The
whip tapping is used vigorously to stop the horse's backward movement and
bring it to a halt. Re-load from that point. Back it out, using the training
scale of pressure from the whip, improve upon the ceasing movement each
time and back off each time to look for proof of improvement. The horse
will be looking for the rear handler so allow improvement to happen. Up
and down the scale of pressure with the whip and following the principals
of reward and relief, ON THE MILLI-SECOND. End of problem. 5 minutes work
on every one I have ever met. Cheers
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