Floating
The first thing I do when trying to float a difficult horse is lunge them. Now you may ask what lunging has to do with floating a horse? It’s a way of building an instant relationship and a little communication, especially if you‘ve never met before. All you need is a few laps in either direction so the horse is listening and understanding your commands. If you don’t have a lunge rope and/or yard then just walking the horse along and asking them to trot on then walk a few times with you is enough to build a little trust and understanding.
To float a horse it’s good to have a lead rope, halter and whip with you. A dressage whip is the best as it’s a good length. If you don’t have a whip and halter etc then a piece of rope tied around the horses neck, coming down their cheek and put around their muzzle and tied under their chin makes a great make shift halter and lead. A smooth branch approx one metre would do for a whip. A huge rule in this process is that the whip is only an extension of your arm and is only to be used as an annoyance to the horse, as I’ll explain. In no way is it to be used as a punishment etc.
So when you’ve finished lunging the horse walk them up to the side of the float where the wheel arch is and give them a good pat and maybe a treat, carrot etc. The reason behind this is that the horse is now standing right at the float without realizing it. From there walk the horse down the side of the float to the rear and turn them to face the opening. (For safety always check that the small door at the front of the float is open ready for you to exit and that the tow bar of the float is properly attached to the car).
Once at the rear of the float give the horse a good pat and let them have a look at the ramp etc. Then ask them to walk on. Use soft intermittent pulls on the lead rope and make a clicking sound. Tugging hard or continuously pulling on the lead rope will probably upset the horse. Once they move forward stop any pressure on the lead rope. If the horse stops give them a stroke as they have taken a few steps for you and they may want to further investigate the float. If they go backwards just go with them. Once they’ve stopped place your hand on their neck to reassure them and then ask for forward movement again.
The whip only comes in when the horse refuses to move forward. If your whip is long enough gently place it on the horses bum and slowly move it down their leg to their thigh and start tapping. If no response occurs increase the pressure of the tapping. Once the horse moves forward stop the whip. The philosophy behind this is that the whip is some annoying thing like a fly that the horse will want to move away from. Your standing there very calmly talking to the horse so your not the baddy! Depending on the horse they may start to kick and strike out at the whip. If they do, stop until the horse is calm again and repeat asking them to go forward with the gentle tugs. If they don’t respond start with tapping of the whip again. Soon the horse will get very fed up of this annoyance and will react. (The safest spot to stand near a horse is at the side near their shoulder. This gets you out of the way of striking, kicking, rearing etc).
Besides kicking out the horse may pull backwards, try to spin around etc. What ever the horse throws at you, ignore it. This is the most critical time where a lot of people get frustrated and loose their cool. DON‘T. If you do it right now, future floating will become much easier and quicker. So the horse may be getting a little upset but ignore everything. A great trick is that if the horse insists on going backwards, keep pushing them backwards and turn them around and push them backwards up the float. Most horses will stop as soon as their hooves hit the ramp. Place your hand on the horse’s neck to calm them and gently turn them around. Also if the horse tries to go off the side of the ramp turn them so their head is still over the ramp and tap them with the whip on the side you want straightened. Don’t lead them away from the float to turn them around, make them turn around where they are. A lot of people make the mistake of walking the horse away from the float to turn them, this is only teaching the horse it can get away. My rule is that no matter what they try, the horse can not escape being right back at the float where they started from.
Hopefully if you remain calm then the horse will but due to previous experiences the horse may react regardless. I’ve floated a horse that would rear sky high at any given moment but after no reaction from me and the same annoying tapping on her leg, she soon gave up playing games and no longer rears and carries on. This is why I can’t stress enough the importance of not reacting back ( even if you have to count to ten ha ha!).
The final rule and one of the biggest is this is between you and the horse and no one else. Don’t let a third party come up behind and try and help usher the horse on board. This is a trying enough time for the horse without any other distractions. The only time another person should come any where near is to help lift the tailgate once the horse is on board properly. (For safety you should stand to the side of the tail gate while lifting and lowering it just in case the horse decides to try and come off before you !). Also don’t use a tail, bum rope ( where a rope goes around the rump of the horse). Once again the horse has enough to deal with without this upset. If a horse reacts to the tapping of a whip you can just stop but it’s much harder to try and get a rope from around the horse and off.
I’ve met some horses who would just about kill the float and anyone around them! This includes my first horse. It took 5 so called horse people 7 hours to float her. It took me 10 minutes on my own. Why? …………Aggression …………and possibly no brains ha ha!!!
Cheers Elizabeth
