I have a 17 year old show horse that is a pretty stubborn loader. We never know quite what we’re going to get. Sometimes he’ll walk right onto the trailer with no issue whatsoever, other times he plants all 1300lbs of himself and says “Hell NO!”. I don’t own my own trailer, so I don’t have the luxury of being able to practice with him routinely. I’m planning on taking him to a show in a couple of weeks, and a friend is hauling him for me. She has a 3 horse slant load, which I’m hoping will be more inviting to my 16.3hh, stocky WB. I think part of his issue with smaller trailers is thinking that he can’t fit in that small a space.
I’m wondering - are there any groundwork exercises that might be useful to help “simulate” the trailer loading process so that the real thing might go more smoothly on the day of?
You really need a trailer to practice with as every loading situation seems different to a horse. You could practice clicker training in and out of a small, enclosed area if you have a place like that somewhere.
Nothing really substitutes for a trailer other than a trailer.
However, a horse that won’t load reliably, IME, is often one that hasn’t been taught how to ENTIRELY turn his feet loose and move off whenever and as quickly as the handler/rider has asked for. I’ve worked with quite a few hard to load horses whose owners insisted the horse understood “forward”, and yet when it came down to it, they really didn’t, not 100% of the time. Some times spent turning their feet loose pretty much solved the issue, but it’s not something you can teach easily over the interwebz.
There is the other type of hard to load horse, that one that goes in easily but won’t stay put and launches back out. That horse usually needs work in how to set up in one spot for however long is asked of them. But it doesn’t sound like your horse has this problem.
I’d be working this horse regularly on making sure he feels really comfortable turning his feet loose with however much energy you ask for, both under saddle and on the ground. That might mean abandoning pretty and correct for a few minutes each session.
I’ve had success with walking a horse over a platform that you can easily build with plywood and a reinforced pallet covered with a rubber mat. After the horse gets good at that you can add ‘sides’ by hanging a couple of tarps over raised poles. Make sure the horse knows how to go forward at the touch of a stick so that he self loads onto the platform. As AbbieS mentioned, make sure his feet are not sticky. In other words, when you ask him to go forward he needs to do it. Always release pressure as soon as the horse begins to move forward. Once he’s good at taking one step you can ask for more but always give a release. I’ve had some problems with my mare loading and unloading and this has helped immensely. For unloading I’ve backed her down an incline and backed her into her stall, which has a slight step down. She loads and unloads so much better now!
Ed Dabney has a DVD on Stress Free Trailer Loading that has a series of exercises starting with cones and a tarp on the ground and then a wooden platform, then one with a short wall. That gets them used to stepping on things that make noise, and going where you point them without you in front.
But the ‘going where you point them’ and moving any foot or any part of their body where you direct it is the important part… and that’s not easily explainable in text! Warwick Schiller and Ross Jacobs both have videos on YouTube that may be helpful with the groundwork, and there are lots of other trainers to choose from if those don’t suit. Pick one whose results you like, and give their ‘plan’ a try. (Which means all of it, in order, not picking and choosing and rearranging the exercises. They all have reasons for what they do, and when.)
I hear you on not having a trailer to practice with.
it’s helps my mare if I have her walk in a small circle around me and have to go between me and a wall. Gradually I make the space smaller. And yes definitely the go forward from just pointing.
Warwick Schuller does have excellent videos.
I also ‘send’ my horse through a people sized door. So she kind of gets that going through a small space without me being in front of her.
Teach him the verbal cue for walk. Use a dressage whip, say “walk”, tap his hock, and make sure he steps forward a split second before you move forward. Work on “whoa” too while you are at it. Make sure it is ingrained. Then you can add a tarp or other things that he will hesitate at before trying the trailer. Practice while riding as well.
Since it seems like he is not really afraid of the trailer, just being stubborn, I think this technique should work well. It worked for both of mine, who were “sometimes” self loaders. It also works for most “lack of forward” issues, like balking and even rearing. Good luck!
(You may have to go back and reinforce every once in a while if you have a particularly self-willed horse. Mine was up to his “balk and spin because I’'m ready to go home” antics the other day, so he had to go to “reform school”:).)
You teach the horse that when you say “walk” they walk. Doesn’t matter what’s in front, behind, or to the side. When you say “walk” they walk.
The round pen is a good place to start this. You can teach the horse that what you say goes and they do it when YOU say not when THEY want to. This is a simple lesson but the foundation of all that comes later. With a young horse this is not too hard; with an older horse that has some experience it can be much more difficult. But it is the beginning.
Once the lesson is learned in the round pen you can apply it in other places. Just be consistent and never take “no” for an answer.
Just how you do this can vary depending on what philosophy of training you follow or what practices work best with your personality. But whatever you do be consistent and insistent.
This ^^^^^ …Whoa and Go and non-negotiable…and may end up saving you from an injury.
If you can establish reliable obedience to Whoa and Go over any and all obstacles…at any time…and in front of any distractions…you will be 99.9% of the way to good trailer loading.
A horse that sometimes gets worried about loading into a trailer is likely going to get worried going through any small space. Like mentioned above get your horses feet moving in any direction you desire with minimal ask, once that’s solid you can start simply by having him pass through you and the arena wall. Keep getting closer and closer to the wall to make the space smaller and smaller. I would be surprised if your horse doesn’t get visibly worried as you make that space smaller. Keep quietly asking him to pass through between yourself and the wall until he passes several times quietly / without a fuss or anxiety/rushing, before you decrease the size of the space.
I know my older gelding who will load and stand on the trailer quietly for hours, not move a foot while in transit, and will back off any set up with just a tug on his tail, had a hard time with this one.
If I’m in a pinch to load I go with the tried and true release to pressure. I put pressure on the halter and release as soon as I get forward. Horse can go backwards 20 feet and then forward an inch and I will still release. Also remember to not ever put “more” pressure on… so if they rear, pull back, etc… do not try to pull them forward (because you cant, and that will make them resist even more) but keep the pressure the same throughout the tactics they are trying out and when feet are on the ground / whatever… and you get an inch of forward, release. Act like you have all day and you’ll be surprised how many hard to load horses will trust you quickly.
Remember absolutely no emotion, and if you do (or start to) get emotional… hand off the lead because nothing good will likely come of the situation.
I had a client come with a horse that hated to load into her tiny trailer. Fortunately I had a clinician out that taught “Equitation Science” and she gave us exercises to completely fix the issue.
It was quite simple really: we simply taught the horse to lead off of pressure (rather than just following the leader). So the onwer would stand in one place and get the horse to back up or go forward just off contact, with a dressage whip to reinforce as needed. Once the horse reliably led off halter pressure, we then tested the cues by leading over a platform, and by leading through a shoot I made by leading him between the arena wall and a sheet hanging on a tall jump.
Next she brought out her trailer. No issues.
And this was a horse that previously was worked into a sweat to get into the trailer by an NH “trainer”.
Now I make sure all my horses will lead forward and back off halter pressure, even if I stand in one place.
I am having trouble understanding you. I get halter pressure but I don’t understand the handler standing in one place and getting the horse to back up or go forward “just off contact”. Do you have a video or can you explain again using other words? Thanks.
Stand beside the horse’s head/neck, facing the head/neck (You can also stay looking ahead, but I find that awkward, and it doesn’t really matter). Don’t move your feet. Pull the horse forward a couple steps with the halter/lead and then ask them to stop. Then pull back to ask them to back a couple steps, again without moving your feet. This makes sure the horse is moving because of PRESSURE rather than picking up any unintended cues (your moving).
If the horse doesn’t move simply off of pressure, then use a dressage whip either to tap the horse forward, or to back it up.
To correct not moving forward, put the pressure on the halter (crown piece) with one hand on the lead, and tap the hip or hind legs with the dressage whip with the other. TO correct not moving back, but the pressure on the halter (noseband), and tap the horse’s front legs or chest to get it to move back.
we used Load for the term for them to step into the trailer… but we never had one that was difficult… . those that were questioning getting into a trailer we loaded after a proven horse was loaded… used the monkey see, monkey do method… once the questioning horses saw Old Bucky self load it then realized that they can also
You do not have to have a trailer to get your horse to load better.
Trailer loading problems aren’t trailer loading problems. It’s a ground work problem. Your horse is refusing to go where you have asked him. It just so happens it’s the trailer.
What if your horse refused to go into a stall?
What if he refused to go into the barn?
What if he refused to walk through the gate to the turnout pasture?
If you think of it that way, it makes it much more clear why it’s a ground work problem. If your horses trusts and respects you, then you should have control of his feet. If you have control of his feet, you can put those feet anywhere at anytime - including onto a trailer.
Personally, I really like Clinton Anderson’s trailer loading DVD. Now, I will say he progresses more aggressively and too quickly for my tastes, BUT he explains things well and his “method” is also to have control of the feet.
Gain control of the horse’s hindquarters, rib cage , shoulders. I do like to use a lunge whip to “make my arm longer”. But use your body language. Practice 15 min a day on moving the horse’s body.
When you can move the feet and body, then put an object on the ground. Tarp, cardboard, or whatever you have. Ask the horse to put one foot on the object, then take that foot off. Repeat 1,000 times.
When he’s solid on that, then ask for 2 feet on the object, and 2 feet off. Repeat. (Never let the horse make the decision. It always has to be what you have asked. He should wait on you. )
Then progress to 3 feet. And you don’t progress to all 4 feet until he has everything else perfected.
Then chsnge your object and do it all over again.
You can even even build a platform to simulate the “stepping up” into a trailer.
Use your imagination. Use a stall to send and retreat him, one foot at a time. The barn entrance. Any and everything. Like I said, this is NOT a trailer loading problem. The trailer is just an object and no different than anything else.
When the day comes that your friend shows up with the trailer, treat it as another object. No big deal.
I built a squeeze chute against a wall of a solid arena using jump poles, standards, and tarps. Then I sent the horse through it from further and further away and finally asked the horse to stop in it by making it closed on one end. It helps if you eventually put sometime under that makes noise, like a solid piece of wood that will hold a horse’s weight.
Obviously this won’t help unless you have a trailer, but FWIW I use the following method for loading my reluctant loader into a slant load. If you trust your horse not to run you over, and if he’s not going to freak out over a flag, you might try this:
Get on trailer and turn so that you are sort of facing horse - not in his way, and turned a little so that he can tell you want him to move past you.
Put a little pressure on lead rope. If he even shifts his weight forward, you lighten up on the pressure a little bit. Repeat this move until you get him in the trailer.
If he backs up, or decides to just wear the pressure rather than step up, I take my flag (in my right hand, lead in left hand) and flutter it a little just behind his shoulder. The instant he moves forward, stop fluttering.
I know you don’t have a trailer to practice with, but just in case the driving method you’re practicing doesn’t work on the day, you might try this.
Just be sure your horse isn’t going to freak out over the flag. Try fluttering it around him while you’re outside the trailer first. It’s a small, subtle motion - don’t wave it around. And don’t flip it over his back. Keep it down by his side where he can see it in his peripheral vision. If it disappears over his back he may get alarmed.
If you don’t have a flag you can tie a plastic grocery bag to the end of a lunge whip. Good luck!
We just moved 7 horses into two slant loads.:eek: 5 of them were saints. One of them was sure he wouldn’t fit until we rearranged horses so that he “saw” there really was enough room for him. The worst horse wasn’t going to budge. Period.
We took turns tapping her butt until she got tired of the taps, after about 45 minutes, and finally got in. Whew. The moral, if there is one, is have patience.
