Loading with Richard Maxwell

By Rebecca Gibson

General news

12 March 2010 13:09

Everybody knows someone with a problem loader. If you’re lucky enough not to own one yourself, it’s probably the lady three stables down. Some reluctant loaders have been involved in a nasty road traffic accident and have a very good reason to be fearful, whilst others just get up one day and decide they don’t want to do it anymore.

For Richard Maxwell, who has worked with tricky loaders for almost twenty years, the reason why a horse doesn’t want to load isn’t important. Instead he focuses on changing the horse’s posture and earning his respect, and by doing so is able to load any horse in a matter of minutes.

In the next issue of Your Horse Magazine, on sale March 25th, Richard works with two Your Horse readers and their ‘problem’ loaders, and reveals how simple resolving your horse’s travelling issues could be.

The first of our guinea pigs Lucy Holt was desperate for help with her 16.2hh show jumper Jack. “Out of John Whitaker’s Puissance horse, Exploit du Roulade, Jack has the potential to go far, but at the moment it’s a battle to get him to leave the yard,” Lucky explains. “Generally Jack is a dream to handle, but one day he decided he wasn’t going to leave the yard.”

Find out how Richard gets on with Jack and Emma Roe’s eight-year-old dressage horse Spring in issue 333 of the magazine. And if your horse finds loading traumatic, you can’t afford to miss Richard five simple steps to stress-free loading.