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Reluctant loading only after hauling

Off Course
#1

As many of you know at this point, I have a 6 year old fjord gelding I got as a 3 year old in 2020. He was hauled about 8 hours to me in a step up stock trailer. Between then and March of 2022, we hitched rides a few times with friends, and also had a friend haul us solo a couple times. All with relative infrequency and with all different kinds of trailers; straight and slant, ramp and step up. I got a used trailer last March and we traveled a couple times a month locally for trails and this spring I decided to sell it for a new 4 Star two horse slant.

I did a few days of loading practice with the new trailer at home, loaded in pretty willingly, happy to be groomed and eat hay. On and off a few times.

IMG_2450

This weekend, we actually hauled out about 40 mins to a clinic Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, he hopped right in! Coming home Saturday took a little more time and today, took about 30 to load him to leave and 25 to load him to come home with second cutting hay incentives and then his dinner. All “in the trailer is a happy place” moments. Turned down several offers to “help” get him in. He full well knows what I’m asking and there is NO forcing a fjord to do anything. He is also already not a fan of whips or objects resembling them so that’s a hard NO. I’ve noticed this over the last year, but with our back to back trips this weekend, it was very pronounced.

Given that he is relatively willing to load but gets more reluctant after trips, what would be a good approach to help him overcome this?

#2

Figure out what’s wrong with the feel of the trailer that makes him not want to get back in.

12 Likes
#3

He was like it with the previous trailer too :woman_shrugging:t2:. Previous was a straight load with a ramp, new one is a slant (he’s tied without the partition) step up.

He’s also had no bad traveling experiences to my knowledge; no hard stops/starts or turns. This weekends driving was all extremely easy. He doesn’t fuss while he’s riding in it, just eats his hay.

1 Like
#4

No actual advice here, but I do just want to say it will get better. My welsh pony was exactly like this. As he matured and got more milage he got over it. It became boring and too much work for him to act silly I think.

1 Like
#5

I suspect it’s a mileage thing with him having such little experience traveling in comparison to everything else we work on. He’s not dramatic about it, just very contemplative.

For now I’m planning to just keep practicing regularly at home. Once he’s happy to get in again, stick with that for a bit then take him around the block and unload and load again at home.

3 Likes
#6

Every time you load, do it 5x.

Even when you’re ready to skin him for being a dingaling or when you reeeeeeally want to go home. He must load and back out 5x before any departure.

Also, double check that there isn’t something rattling/clattering in the trailer that wouldn’t be easy to quiet down. It’s never going to be silent like the cab of a car, but if the trailer tie (for example) is making a racket, put some crappy carpet around it to quiet it down (etc etc on other noisy things)

6 Likes
#7

You could try earplugs too, if it’s a noise thing. We moved across the neighborhood last year and I rode in the trailer out of curiosity, it’s incredibly loud! I’m amazed so many horses have no issue with hauling.

10 Likes
#8

It might be the destination & not the trip that is making him sour. Make the experiences fun for him. Hand graze, treats, etc. Maybe use the trailer to go on a fun group trail ride. I often hate my morning commute & not because I don’t like my car :wink:

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#9

I know a few people who think they’re great at trailering, but their horses disagree! :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: Obviously your horse is telling you something is wrong with the experience so it’s either the trailer, or the driving, or what you do when you get there.

8 Likes
#10

We mostly haul out for trail rides so it’s very low pressure and something he enjoys. The clinic was a working equitation one which he also loves. Again, doesn’t seem to matter the activity, the type of trailer, who is driving it, or how long the haul is, he’s always more reluctant on the way back home. Doing it two days in a row seemed to exacerbate it.

@Xanthoria I’m a very cautious/conscientious mitigate-obvious-potential-issues-before-they-happen type of person. I hauled with and had my very experienced hauler friend with me hauling before I started hauling on my own to make sure I was driving properly with the trailer. I had his sloppy soaked dinner in a small bucket yesterday in the tack room and it didn’t slosh around at all on the ride home. Not saying it’s not possible, but I’d bet a lot of real paper money my driving isn’t the issue. With that said, I’ll ask that friend if I can haul him around the block and see if he notices anything going on inside the trailer.

My gut is telling me it’s just something he isn’t sure of and isn’t fully bought into, especially traveling solo. He is a thinker and he is smart (multiple coaches have said this…not just me thinking it). You can see him working things out in his head which is what he’s doing with the trailer now vs just being shut down or getting in a tizzy. We don’t have a great setup to throw another horse on the trailer with him now, so that is something we’re just going to have to work through I think.

Everything I have read is that hauling is stressful for them and rough on their bodies even if they are good haulers, with perfect driving and road conditions, and they have a buddy to hold their hoof. That is more of where I think the issue is. I don’t blame him for not loving it, I wouldn’t either.

Hopefully more practice and short rides around the block will help build confidence. @deweydee thanks for the earplug suggestion, I think that’s well worth a try too. Building trust and confidence is the only way I can get him to do things he doesn’t initially think he wants to. @endlessclimb I think practicing on and off off-site might help a lot too. We’ve just been doing it at home.

2 Likes
#11

Random rambling thought - You put him on the trailer and he goes somewhere to work if you take him off the trailer. (In other words, except for when you do short drives around the neighborhood.)
Why would anyone want to get on the trailer when they know when they get off at the other end they are going to have to work?

I am curious what he does if he put him on the trailer, take him somewhere for a no work time away and then try to put him back on to go home and then the next day.

6 Likes
#12

I will let you know! I am going to try that with him over the next month. We don’t have anything planned until early June so I have some time to experiment with him. Im thinking of hauling to the park up the road, feed him his dinner with some second cutting hay off the trailer, then go back home a few times.

3 Likes
#13

This may be waaaaaay out in left field, but could it be the New Car smell of your new trailer?
My brand-new 1996 4-Star (2H straightload w/ramp) had rubber mats 1/2 way up the walls in addition to the floor.
New smell was strong enough so I could smell it.
My TB at the time - also a Thinker - had been a Champion loader. Any kind of trailer, any size.
We would use him to get the reluctant ones on!
See? Vern got right on.

When we first brought the new trailer to the barn, he walked right up the ramp, stopped with his head in & planted.
Being a boarding barn, half the struggle was the Help offered :smirk:
He did eventually load, but was never as compliant as he’d been with others’ trailers.
I’d just allow plenty extra time - both going & coming home.
When we moved horses to another state we wanted to avoid any wasted time.
I bought some cheap apple-scented potpourri & added it to the shavings in the trailer.
He walked up the ramp, stuck his head in, “contemplated” for minute & walked on.
I never replaced the potpourri, but I imagine the mats’ newness wore off after several trips.

1 Like
#14

I don’t imagine its helping! It was very noticeable to me and I left the windows opened to help air it out as much as I could the couple days before we hauled out. I also was able to haul with some of the windows down and open. It’s a little better than it was, but still new car smell. I like the potpourri idea!

I had some of that as well. “Do you want me to pat him on the butt?” No. “What about this?” No. “What about that?” No. So we had a nice training opportunity with more distractions than usual :roll_eyes:. People are weird. I wasn’t struggling, wasn’t stressed, wasn’t asking for help. They seemed confused LOL.

100% and thats how I went into the travel this weekend. I knew it would likely take a while and just accepted that. And overall it was successful. Just not most people’s ideal but you gotta get there somehow.

2 Likes
#15

Hoo, Boy! Are they!!!
One memorable afternoon, DH & I were doing a Loading Lesson in the barn’s parking lot.
Besides the helpful(NOT!) boarders, some random stranger - drunker than hell - pulled in & started offering his 2¢ :angry:

1 Like
#16

Oh for crying out loud!

Thankfully I am pretty much the only evening person so I have the peace and quiet to work on whatever. The other boarders are day timers so I know now on the weekends at least to plan any trailer training later on haha.

#17

I used small magnets to secure my unused trailer ties from rattling…

2 Likes
#18

The other thought I have is that we moved barns twice in a short amount of time; end of Dec and mid Feb. So those were one way trips and routine disruption.

#19

I know this probably isn’t a suggestion for everyone but it worked for my horse when I spent several hours trying to load him after a lesson. I was out of options and called DH to come help me. He shows up, first he tries the “heaven and hell” approach. Didn’t work. Then asks for a lungeline and puts it around his barrel, between the front legs, through the halter, through the tie ring in the trailer and back out to his hand. Horse was in the trailer in less than 5 minutes. I had to use that method for a while and even now, if he balks, I just get it out and go to put it on and he pops right in. I’m a careful hauler, my trailer is plenty big enough and comfortable enough, he just didn’t want to get in.

#20

Something like this (for me anyways) would result in broken leads and a loose Fjord. At a minimum. And one that probably wouldn’t get within 10 feet of the trailer door in the future.

As a kid, my mare was not a fan of hauling and she had to be winched in a trailer once from the fairgrounds with a lunge line around her rear end. That did get her on but boy it was an ordeal.

2 Likes

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