Oct 28, 2012 at 10:50 pm #313265

Clinton worked with Baby Doll, a 4-year-old mare, for the trailer loading demo ? always one of the most humorous demos of the weekend. Baby Doll’s owner, Joy, explained that it typically takes two hours to get the mare on a trailer. In fact, to get the horse to the facility for the tour, she started working with Baby Doll at 4 in the morning and had to call a local cowboy at 7 AM to help her get the mare loaded.

When Joy brought Baby Doll out to the arena, Clinton had her demonstrate how the mare usually behaves when she’s asked to stepped onto the trailer.

Clinton got the little bay to load on the trailer by first gaining control of her feet and earning her respect. When he could move her feet forwards, backwards, left and right away from the trailer, he worked her around the trailer to ensure he still had control of her.

Then he used the Approach and Retreat Method to load her on the trailer.

He used the concept of “make the right thing easy and the wrong thing difficult” to make her crave loading on the trailer. By the end of the demo, he could stand 20 feet away from the trailer, point and have Baby Doll run onto the trailer.

Our Lufkin crowd was not only a fun, enthusiastic bunch, but this was our last tour stop of the year. Thanks to all our No Worries Club members for making the entire 2012 tour schedule a blast. We hope to see you on the road next year!