Years ago I was at the boarding barn and some people were trying valiantly to get their horse on the trailer. Silly me, I asked them if they needed help. Sure, what would you suggest? After I perused the situation I asked them to get in the truck and turn the trailer 180 degrees. Horse walked right on. Love that horse and I didn’t even know his name but he made me look good and all horse whispery. I figured his problem was that he didn’t want to leave his peeps. As the trailer was originally oriented, all his buddies were behind him.and he wasn’t leaving them. Turn the trailer around and he was going toward them albiet into the trailer.
I had a mare who was the claustrophobic type. Boy howdy, training her to self load took me about 2 years with fairly regular loading sessions. It finally happened though then one day I hooked up the trailer and she wasn’t getting in. I could tell she was trying as she even went down to her knees as her body said yes and her head said no. Finally I looked inside the trailer and saw the problem. Another lady asked if she could help and I said sure, please hold my horse. I moved the trailer a bit and she walked right on. The issue? I had a Brenderup. They have the little bubble windows and the inside partition is a curtain of heavy clear vinyl. The sun shining on the floor through that bubble window and the partition wiggling in the wind made the spot of sun look like a gaping hole in the floor of the trailer. As soon as I moved the trailer so the sun was behind it, the black hole disappeared and all was well with her world and she walked right on.
Sometimes you just have to get in their little pea brains. When you do, you can look sooo good.
Susan
