It came up that the boys needed all the pens in the feedlot to sort cattle on Thursday so I could either move her to a pen with a lot of junk in it that she could hurt herself on or I could take her over to Travis'. I figured I'd try and load her, if she got in and was confident I'd move her out of the feedlot, if she wouldn't get in or was nervous than I'd figure out the pen thing later.
I backed my trailer up to one of the pens and tied the door open on one side and the pen gate to the trailer on the other side. She had plenty of room to leave if she didn't want to be near the trailer, but she couldn't squirt out around the trailer. When I brought her home from Hamilton it took four hours to get her in the trailer and we wound up loading her at liberty, creating pressure when she was thinking away from the trailer and release when she thought toward/in the trailer. She did go in on her own twice but when we got to Dillon she wouldn't get out. It was getting dark so we did have to encourage her out with a butt rope...not ideal but that's the best we could do given the situation (you can go back to my trailer loading post to read about it). She'd gone in okay, but the ride to Dillon was long and the unloading wasn't so great. I was a little worried that she would see the trailer and think, "no way, I'm not going back in there!". But, very much to my surprise, after I got everything all set up I let her into the area I'd set up with the trailer and she walked right up, smelled it, and put her two front feet in! I had to go to the bathroom, I hadn't expected her to get half way in, so I just left her there to sniff around and get in or out - whatever she wanted. When I came back she was outside the trailer, looking at it and looking at me, casually nibbling on some hay around the trailer.
I walked up and rubbed her with my stick, pet her, sat with her for a minute - more for me than her. I wanted to keep myself from getting too goal oriented and just immediately trying to send her in. When I did ask her to step in, I pointed at the trailer just like I do when I send on a circle and gently tapped her hindquarters with the stick. To my shock and amazement she just hopped right in - CALMLY! She got all four feet in, stood for a minute, then walked all the way up to the front of the trailer to eat the hay in the manger. I left her in there, doors open, while I began packing up all my tack and other stuff I had around the place, just letting her hang out inside. She turned around and walked to the door, looked around, and just stepped out! Again - shock! I mean, that was huge for her given last time we had to make her come out essentially. I rubbed her and continued packing up stuff, after a few minutes I resent her in. Same thing, ate some hay, hung out for a couple minutes, came out. I did this about 5 times to really cement in her that she could go in and out, understand the step, and make sure she could handle the noise of the trailer rattling upon loading and unloading as well as me tapping it all over with her inside.
Finally I shut the door and off we went! I got to Travis' and pulled into the arena (which is adjacent to the pasture). I penned up all the horses except Rosie since they know each other and tied the door open so she could come out as she pleased. There wouldn't be any forcing her out today. I brought a snack just in case it took a while to get her out! But she hopped out in a matter of minutes and went off exploring!
I really, firmly, truly know and believe that the only reason all this happened the way it did is because of the relationship we had built. Granted we did develop more communication and language between us, so we had tools to use to facilitate a conversation about loading... but if she didn't trust me and have a relationship with me where I'd never betrayed that trust I doubt she would have loaded herself the way she did. This experience really speaks to the value of Natural Horsemanship and how important and necessary it is to make sure all the foundation building blocks are in place so you can build on it and have continued success.
We turned her loose in the pasture yesterday afternoon after leaving her in a pen overnight to get adjusted to the new place and she LOVES it. It's the first opportunity she's had to really stretch her legs and be a horse, let alone a colt, in a long time! I can't wait to build our relationship in a much healthier and happier environment for her.
I will get more pictures of her soon but here are some from the trailer loading!
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