Young horse is difficult (but not impossible) to load on our 2 horse trailer. I believe its the ramp that worries him. Does anyone have any ideas to make the ramp more inviting? When we got him, he arrived on a big side load shipping van and those ramps have quite an incline. Any ideas would be welcome. Thanks
All I know is horse’s dont like loading in 2 horse trailers. That’s why I own a 3 horse slat load horse’s walk right in.
That’s funny because I had a gelding who would NOT load in a 3-horse slant. He would only go in a 2-horse straight load.
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Why do you think it is the ramp and not just general unwillingness to load? Have you tried him on a step-up?
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Practice makes things perfect. You really have a forward problem, not a trailer loading problem.The horse is saying no to moving forward. Sometimes horses do prefer the ramps with sides that provide some support on the big transport trailers.
My pony and my old horses loaded just fine in any trailer I wanted them in.
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I have Featherlight with a ramp. Horses can sometimes slip on the ramp (why haven’t they come out with a better non-skid material for this??) or drop a hoof off the side, and subsequently be nervous about walking on it. I’m very careful to teach them to back out slow and straight. Remove any poo before backing out, and sprinkle some sand or shavings on the ramp if it’s wet or horse has poo in his feet, to help with any slippage.
When loading, just do 2 feet on the ramp, then back up, then fronts in the trailer, hinds on the ramp, and back up. Spend a few sessions on this before loading all the way, so he is comfortable with backing off the ramp. Use a stick or short whip to help him stay straight when backing up. If your divider swings, swing it over to one side and walk him up the center of the ramp at first to make the “target” bigger and make it harder to attempt to duck out the side. Don’t forget praise and treats when he’s successful, and he’ll get it soon enough.
While my blog talks about training for a step-up trailer, the fundamentals are the same: www.clickerchronicles.wordpress.com.
I am going to start with the assumption that the horse leads well. If the horse doesn’t lead well it makes loading much more difficult.
Make sure the ramp is as flat and stable as you can make it. Make sure it is not slippery. If you need to either get a big cocoa mat or replace the mat with something that does not get slippery. Teach loading when the farm is quiet- not when the horses are just turned out and running around in the field. Not right when the rest of the barn is getting dinner. The less distractions the better. .I prefer to teach loading on grass if it isn’t wet and slippery. I prefer to not do it on macadam. Gravel is okay. Only practice loading with the trailer attached to the truck. I also set the parking brake on the truck.
Give yourself plenty of time for practice so you are not rushed I find with teaching a horse to load you need to go in with the attitude that you have ALL the time in the world. Bring your patience hat and turn down your internal energy. Be Zen.
Do not look at the horse while you are walking forward onto the ramp or into the trailer. You shouldn’t look at the horse when you lead them anywhere else so don’t do it while loading. Look where you want them to go.
When you practice loading just get him to put his front feet on the ramp and let him stand there. I am not a big one to use treats/grain to load but in this case you may do well to give him a few treats while on the ramp. I would take him on and off the ramp a few times, letting him stand in between, before attemping to load. Maybe even the first couple of times just walk him across the ramp so he realizes the ramp is stable and not slippery. Get him comfortable with the ramp before moving on to loading.
When you go to actually load swing open the center divider if you can and make sure the front door is open so it is open and inviting. I keep the chest bar closed so they don’t try to go out the escape door. While you are practicing loading do not have hay nets, hay bag etc… in the trailer. You want it as open and inviting as it can be. You also don’t want anything in your way.
With some horses you may need to get him on partway in and ask them to back off before they start to go back. Work through getting on in increments. Get partway on the flat part of the trailer, stand, treat, unload. Repeat but go in a little further. Repeat. By partially loading, standing, unloading you are also getting them used to where the ramp is when they come back off. They should unload as quietly as they load. Teaching them to get on incrementally seems to teach them to no fly off when the go to unload. When I unload I normally have a hand on their butt or hold the tail. This seems to give them a little support, they know I am there and they then unload quieter.
You do not need to teach fully loading in one or two sessions. You do not want to mentally overload a horse that is anxious about loading. Only push his comfort zone a little bit at a time. You do not want to turn loading into a fight. Take the time it takes.
My suggestions are based on a horse that is anxious about loading. If the horse is just flipping you the bird and isn’t loading when they have been well trained to load my methods and insistance level are different.
I have been able to teach 3 different horses to load on a two horse trailer with a ramp in one session for each horse. I had no helper when I did the training. I can load all three by myself ever since then.They were three very different types: QH, Arabian X and an OTTB. The OTTB is still a little sticky. I still need to swing open the center divider and walk to the top of the ramp before he will walk the rest of the way by himself. My Arab X I just show him his half of the trailer and he hops right on by himself. The QH would do the same.
A friend’s OTTB we would always team load- one person would lead him in and the other would do up the butt bar. There were always 2 of us available anyway since he was loading on my trailer to go somewhere with me. One night she had to run back into the barn for something and I had her horse. I asked him to self load, did up the butt bar and off we went. He has self loaded ever since. Point and shoot. We used the slow method with him and didn’t try to teach self loading in one session since we didn’t need to. At some point he was comfortable enough with the whole thing that we introduced it when it was right for him.
As far as the type of trailer horses like to load into I find the more open and inviting the more likely they are to load. My previous Cotner DH and I painted the inside of the trailer white. It was black. Plus some horses just have personal preferences- straight, ramp, step-up, stock, slant etc… I have a personal preference for a ramp. I have always had a 2 horse straight load. I have loaded into a 2 + 1 a number of times and would love to eventually get one of those. Many horse seem to like those and there are multiple loading/unloading options.
Easy to train. Take your TIME, do not ever be in a hurry and work on it daily.
Run a lunge line down the interior of the trailer, around.out the escape door hinge and down the side of the trailer to where you are standing, facing the ramp. Connect the other end to the halter.
Since they will usually just put two front hooves on the ramp, start there. Put just enough tension on the lunge line to be annoying and started firmly tapping at the point of the hip with a butt end of a dressage whip…slow steady beat.
At even the slightest hint of forward motion (up to and including dropping their head, even a whisker), instantly release the lunge line pressure and stopped tapping. Praise voraciously, offer treat if you’d like. Pause 15 seconds and ask again for another inch of forward motion with pressure & tapping.
Any backing up is met with a LOUD Giiiiit Up and more head tension! Forward was the only direction that gives release and praise/treat.
You need to have no real desire for the horse to actually get in the trailer–It’s just a lesson on FORWARD. The loading is the icing on the cake!
Once they’re in, I let the horse stand a while, happily eating whatever I leave in the manger as a reward. I don’t do up the butt bar that first time. If the horse turns their head around to see where I am, I’ll tug on the tail and say BACK. As they back, they should look to you for leading. With lotsa scritches and GOOD BOY/MARE, let the horse out and go for a walk.
Repeat daily until they’ll load nicely. Usually on the third day, I leave them in to chill and do up the butt bar.
You have to be UBER patient and patient, not demanding or pushy.
Definitely practice some times when you are not going anywhere. I too agree that my big open 3 horse slant with a ramp, was the easiest thing ever to get horses to load onto. It didn’t have a rear take so presented like a big open stall. I now have a 2+1 and the center divider does not swing but is easily removed. If your’s swings, that makes it a little more open and inviting to move it to the side and create a wider opening. For mine, it’s not the ramp that bothers them, it’s going into that smallish, confined straight stall.
My first suggestion is to back the trailer into a small paddock or round pen if you can and feed your horse on it. Feed is a great motivator, especially for some. You can start by placing his feed tub at the top of the ramp on the floor of the trailer so that he has has to stand on the ramp to get his food. As you feel you can get away with it, move the feed tub further into the trailer and see if you can get him to voluntarily get on. If you can put the trailer in an enclosure, put the feed in the manger or hang a buck and just give him ample time to figure it out. This method actually works really great for young horses as there is no pressure. It’s just them.
I much prefer ramps as there is no barking of shins and no terrifying moments for the horse of seemingly stepping off into the nothing. I’ve had youngsters in the past get up onto a 2 horse step up and then refuse to step back off - for hours!!! - because they were afraid of stepping off into nothing. NEVER had that problem with a ramp.
I now have a 2+1, again with ramp and while my guys are a little less willing to load onto it than the more open 3 horse slant, they do fine. I keep a buggy whip in my tack room on it and if they hesitate too much, I get it out and have them self load. The first part of teaching that is longeing the horse around you then directing/sending them to load, but they need to be respectful and good citizens by this point and not ones who are just going to run over you in the process.
If it were me, I’d start feeding him on the trailer and make it a game with food reward. Or you can try the longe line and then butt rope method if he won’t freak out and just needs the encouragement.
I obviously don’t have anything useful to add, because my horses have trained me to hate ramps.
(useless post added purely for the joke factor, but it really is true)
I just got a trailer with a ramp and transitioned my mare who was used to a step up.
Lots of good advice here.
It really helps to do ground work on tarps and circus boxes so you have a fallback modus operandi for facing scary stuff.
Slow and easy. Short sessions. End when you have a good step forward to quit on. Don’t let horse get into habit of rushing off backwards. Needs some attention to timing on handlers part.
If horse loads ok but is uneasybabout trailer leave him locked in with food for a while to chill.
Opening up center bar to go on and off is a huge help for some horses.
Depends what part of it worries him. Stepping into ramp? Standing in trailer? Thevdrive,? Getting off backwards? Is he just nervous about the hollow sounding ramp or is he nervous about the whole trailer idea?
Put some alfalfa and a little grain in the trailer. Let him watch an experienced horse aelf load and enjoy himself gorging on the food. Slowly encourage your guy to load and enjoy his snack. Repeat the process daily. Always make sure the ramp is dry and not slick. Park facing downhill so the ramp is not steep.
My horse taught himself to self load after 2 sessions of watching the experienced guy get on with eager anticipation of his snack.
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I’ve found it easiest to load another horse first. Most of mine that started out as hard loaders would walk right up to join a buddy. I had (RIP old man) an old QH ho would load himself. You just opened the trailer door, patted him on the neck and said load and up he’d go. Acquired a nutty saddlebred that would rather flip over backward than load. OMG, the hours and hours and hours of trying to train that dingy horse to get on a trailer. An oversized two horse slant and we had the dividers opened so there was plenty of room. Finally (and I am not making this up), during a training session the old horse was up in the yard for his feeding while we were working with the mare. He saw the door open and when he got done eating, just politely cut in front of her and walked on to the trailer. She walked right up behind him with barely a hint of hesitation. He turned his head to look at us and you could just hear him thinking “amateurs!” We worked with her with him helping for a few more times, took a couple short rides and then she would load fine. No fuss, no injuries to horses or handlers.
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Since he arrived fine on a commercial van- are you sure it’s the ramp or could it be the lack of light? Horses’ eyes adjust more slowly than ours, and in my experience the darkness of most trailers vs the commercial vans tends to be the biggest adjustment factor for them. If it is the ramp, I’d bet you it’s because he either feels like he’s slipping or that it’s giving slightly under him and that’s making him nervous. Spend some time keeping him engaged at the entrance to the trailer, but don’t pressure him to load. Check him back into reality if he tries to disengage. Let him paw it, bite it and let his eyes adjust. Leave his lead long and crouch on the ramp or in the trailer, inviting him into your space. I helped load an OTTB who’d recently lost an eye in a trailer accident using this method, and the horse only had a cavason on and not a halter LOL it was no big deal once the pressure was off. Even a bystander standing and looking can overwhelm some of the sensitive types.
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My horse as a 3 year old was a holy nightmare. I sent him for professional training. He was not abused or traumatized at all and has never again hesitated to load. He gets on anything, all by himself. There is nothing more annoying than a horse that does not load and personally I won’t stand for it. I’m happy to train a horse to do anything but don’t want to f’ up trailer loading so that is the one thing I get a pro to do. Make sure the front door is open and that there is absolutely no way he/she thinks he could get out of it. I find most horse’s who are inexperienced loaders do not like loading into a trailer w/o the front window or door open. Mine could careless. Best money I have ever spent on a horse.
Having bred and raised a lot of youngsters I’ve had more than my fair share of teach/getting them to load. I have found that youngsters, wealings, short yearlings are generally easier than older horses. I stopped “pre-schooling” years ago. Just take them by surprise with a helper or two. March them right up and on, quickly. Push them on if we have to. We do it when they are hungry so they get some feed once on. Take them for ride and unload. There are pretty much willing the next time.
IMO and experience horses by nature do not like to step, walk on “squishy-soft” things, Especially if it makes some sort of noise. Light weight trailers have have light weight ramps that flex. IMO and experience it is their instinct to back off when they feel the ramp flexing, get “soft”. Especially if the ramp edge is not sitting firmly on a level surface.
I have used an older heavy trailer and ramp that has NO flex, very stout. They are by nature reluctant to get on any trailer but IMO I have had a much easier time of getting them used to loading this sort of ramp. I usually take the divider out also. Makes the inside much more inviting IME.
I generally always tie a 12’ porta-paddock panel to each side of the trailer. In such a way they do not interfere with closing the ramp. Keeps them from swinging sideways approaching or as they step on the ramp. I also like to school them hungry and feed once on. For difficult horses this will be their feeding routine for a couple of days, morning and afternoon feedings.
Every horse can be a bit different so their body language can and does say a lot of what’s going on in their mind.
John Lyons has a video tutorial on trailer loading that is awesome. I teach all of my horses to self load - I do not ever want to have to walk in a trailer with them. John Lyons method is trauma and drama free. Works like a charm.
