Loading Gem - a shorter tale"You can have her for a good price ... if you can load her!"
Gem had been owned by a couple who'd sold us our Quarter Horse stallion. We had always liked Gem, and my husband had indicated that we'd be interested in buying her if she ever came up for sale. One day we got a phone call from the gentleman I'll call Noel, asking if we still wanted her. Noel and his girlfriend had split up, and everything had to go. Well, sure, we wanted her. I listened while he told me there was just one problem with Gem. Nobody could load her. He said he'd already sold her twice before, but there she still was, and he cited his two broken fingers as proof of his efforts to load her. "I know it's a long way for you to come, if you can't load her," he said, "but I thought I'd ask. You can have her for a very reasonable price, if you can get her home." I thought of all the things they must have already tried, and shook my head. This wasn't going to be like Elton, because it was somebody else's yard, and folks have a limited patience with loading horses. I was going to have to get as much cooperation as I could from Noel, and hope for the best. At least, my husband could be counted upon to back me up. We knew Gem had suffered an accident as a three year old, which had left her right shoulder badly scarred, and had left dents in both her sides. She had walked through a gateway the wrong way, so as she'd walked forward the gate had tightened against her sides. From what I understand, the gate had been attached to a barn, and in her panic she'd reared, catching her shoulder on the corner of a steel roofing sheet, and tearing her shoulder badly.This was a horse with good reason to fear tight spaces. Our trailer was a simple mare and foal trailer, and it wasn't wide enough for Gem to feel comfortable turning around in. I wanted her to be loose and free, as she would be in a stable. So we rented a trailer for the day, asked the rental attendants to remove the divider before we got there. We set out on the ninety-six mile journey to collect her. I had asked Noel to put her into a stable we could back right up to, three hours before our arrival, and to give her only water, and no food. I asked him to have gates ready to put alongside the ramp, and possibly bales of straw ... to create a visual barrier across the obvious escape route. When I got there, with my divider-less trailer, filled with bedding and a hay net, Gem was in the stable, as planned. She hadn't been fed that morning, and she was glad to see some company coming. I went over and acquainted myself with her, trying to make a friend of her as quickly as I could. I cheated ... giving her a handful of grain from my hand. Again, I don't ordinarily hand feed, but I needed her to like me pretty quick. I petted her, and she was sweet and affectionate. She didn't seem overly concerned about the trailer that was backing up to her stall, and that was heartening. Noel began to talk about his fingers, and told me all the things they'd already tried. I assured him we weren't going to be trying any of those things. I noticed there were no gates, or straw bales handy. I asked about that, and Noel dismissed these as unnecessary, so I persisted. The barriers are very important because they remove, from the horse's mind, any idea of going anywhere but into the trailer. When you completely, completely,remove all other escape routes, the only remaining escape route is into the trailer. I told him I had traveled a fair distance to collect the mare, and that I would like to feel that I had tried everything I thought would work, before I giving up and going back empty. I explained that it would be much easier to load her the first time, than to try half-measures, then try to load her a second time, when she'd already refused once. A horse that is refusing is likely to go on refusing, so we don't want to set that up in the first place. Noel relented, although I felt he thought my idea was frivolous. He was humoring me, and nothing more. While Noel collected some barriers, I took the time to talk to Gem, and to let her watch me put a bucket of grain into the front corner of the trailer. Now it really looked like a stable, and she was looking like she would love to devour that bucket! After we set the barriers up along the ramp, so there was simply nowhere else for her to go, I opened the front jockey door of the trailer, walked through the trailer, and stepped into Gem's stall. I haltered her, and led her into the faux stable on a slack lead rope, just as I would lead her into any stable. Once inside, she munched her grain happily as the men closed up the ramp. I removed the leadline, dumped the bucket of grain onto the clean bedding, and stepped out, closing the jockey door. We had used a hay net with very small holes, which was up quite high, so that was safe enough. Noel opened and closed his mouth a few times, and looked at his fingers, ruefully. "Well!" he exclaimed at last, "I've never seen anything like that in my life!" Noel began to speculate about the myriad things that might have been different today. The weather was better, the lorry they'd used last time had been too high, the horse had been in a temper. I had already learned to keep my dumb mouth shut, so I just paid the man and said it sure was a beautiful day. Gem was so content in the trailer that we had time to sit down on the bench under a tree and eat a sandwich before hitting the road. It was about a two hour trip home, and Gem was dry and calm when we unloaded her. Today, Gem loads onto lorries and trailers, always without dividers - due to her prior injuries, with or without leg wraps. She happily travels tied. Personally, I still like that mare and foal trailer with the front end loading ramp. I feel comfortable when a horse can just load from the front, and look out the back. The mare and foal type of trailer allows more room for a horse to spread his feet than a divider does, so he can balance himself properly. But it's also small enough so the horse has some sides to bumper up against on turns. You see, I've always secretly suspected that Upside Down Joe's real problem happened when he found he couldn't spread and brace his feet comfortably and securely in that strange, small place. Upside Down Joe haunts me some. It's all I can do sometimes, to think about what I can to do, to make sure it never happens to a horse who's been loaded on my watch. ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• | Coming Soon:Loading Thomas Junior - the first time. "We can't get the divider out."  Uskvalley Showgirl - Gem  Gem's Injuries    Done deal! |
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