Good point. When I was working with Juma, my first baby, I did all of his groundwork, had him standing tied, picking up his feet, lunging etc and I was planning to be the first on his back but chickened out and sent him to a professional trainer. I really hate pain and I don't heal up as fast as I used to.
The one thing I didn't do that turned into a problem later was loading him in a trailer. I was wishing I would have done that training when he was little...
The echo is still around:)
Becky
Trailer loading is something alot of people neglect with foals. I guess until you have to work a full grown reluctant one into a trailer, you don't realize the importance of doing it when they are small.
I've had horses that took me 6-8 hours to get them in. Not fun.
Becky
Yeahbuddy! Tell me about it. I've got a 16yr old 17 hand TWH that will only get in ONE trailer and you have to have HIS rope run up to the front tie ring and back out and around his butt. You don't have to use it, you just have to have it. He was 26mths old when I got him and had never been loaded. I bought him from from a trader and didn't know enough to ask about that stuff when I agreed to buy him. I didn't know anything about the proper way to trailer load then and needless to say, I did some VERY bad things to him and it's a wonder that he and I both aren't dead. The next horse I got as a 2yr old, the mare I trained myself, I made SURE she knew how to get in a trailer right off the bat. It took lots of time and patience but it payed off. You point her at a trailer, any trailer, and she'll get on. When I started raising babies, I teach them to get in the trailer when I'm teaching them to lead at 1 wk old, coz if I'm rebreeding the mare, they need to be able to go visit the stallion with her. It's MUCH easier this way!