I have recently started to take The Pony out on adventures. Although he is young, his confidence is growing, so I am trying to give him more world experience.
When I first got The Pony he loaded into a horse trailer fine. He paused, had a sniff, then walked on board.
He has, however, started to have opinions about getting into the trailer. And it starts in the stable when I get the travel boots out.
I rip open the velcro fastenings and The Pony stops eating his hay and stands meekly at the back of his stable.
“I don’t like boots.”
“I know Pony, but they are meant to keep you safe from yourself.”
“But I don’t like them. If I stand really still I won’t need them.”
“You can’t stand completely still in a box though, you need protection.”
I start with the tail protector, because he doesn’t mind that, followed by front boots, then the most hated back boots.
“Stand still Pony, if I can’t do the boots up tight enough they will fall off.”
“Good!” The Pony holds his leg higher in the air.
“Fine, I’ll put the other one on first.” I quickly attach the right hind boot before he can protest too much. “Shall we try the left hind again…?”
“You can try, but I won’t like it.”
I am pretty convinced that The Pony has had a bad experience relating to something wrapped around his left hind leg, prior to me owning him, as he is often sensitive about even high-vis straps, which are very light and unobstrusive.
Finally, we get all four boots on.
“Come on, Pony, let’s go.”
“I can’t move!”
“Yes you can, one leg at a time.” I pull harder on the lead rope.
“I can’t, my legs are stuck in these boots!”
“Come on, you can do it, walk on!” The Pony braves a massive, over-exaggerated step. “See, now move the rest.” Gradually The Pony starts with exaggerated steps, out of his stable, until he finally works out that he absolutely can walk normally, even in big boots. But now comes the trailer.
“Walk on, Pony!”
“Oh, a trailer.”
“Yes, walk on, you need to get in.”
The Pony slams one hoof onto the ramp. “I’m in!”
“No, Pony, all of you needs to go in.”
“I am! I am on the ramp.”
“Ok, can you get two feet on the ramp…?”
With a bit of toing and froing he gets a second foot on the ramp. “I’m in!”
“No, Pony. Not only are you not in, you are facing sideways.”
“But both my feet are on. I can also see farther from here. Look over there!”
“Stop getting distracted.” I sigh “Shall we try again.”
We go back and forth, feet on, feet off, feet on, feet off, until eventually “Oh, did you want me to get in…?”
“Yes, Pony.”
“Oh, ok.” And The Pony walks onto the trailer. The Pony gets lots of praises and treats, as though we hadn’t just wasted a load of time trying to achieve this from the start. Hopefully, next time will be a little bit easier.