Mirrors are difficult for me, so if you have a secret, please share. I back into parking places using my mirrors just fine. Something about the mirror w the trailer confuses my brain.
That is how I taught myself how to drive stick; but it was my dog in the back and my goal was to drive so he did not have to brace himself. 
god, I loved that dog.
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I think itâs really just a matter of practicing and going slow. When we did our CDL testing (needed it for driving the big truck and trailers at the farm where I worked) you failed the testing if you looked behind you instead of using mirrors. We set up cones courses to practice
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Some people struggle with spatial awareness and geometry in motion. I know exactly when to start the turn into almost any driveway because I can sense when Iâm at the right point for the big gooseneck or the boat trailer or the bumper pull. The exceptions would be those that are too narrow or crowdedâŠso I know enough to slow down and think before I act.
Backing short trailers is a bitch lol. Give me a longer trailer all day long and I can put it anywhere. But that takes practice.
I added mirrors on my truck that have a separate top and bottom mirror. That made the mirrors ever so much more valuable.
I am a strategic thinker when I drive in general. Moving left to free up those merging on, getting over to the right well before my exit. Smooth is my goal. Some folks poodle then go oh crap. As much as possible I actively do not do that.
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The most helpful thing keeping me safe in my early training was having my coach/mentor involved in my first few trips and loading. My first trip was out to her farm so I could have support on that end if maresy didnât want to reload. I also drove the truck on the freeway and practiced backing up in an empty Walmart lot. I wanted my mare to never have a bad or rushed experience in the trailer because she was a calm loader and I didnât want to jinx that
My childhood horse was a bad loader and never had facilities to practice so I really donât take loading for granted.
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Mine has those. They scramble my brain even more.
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Well, sorry 
I focus the larger top mirror on the end of the trailer. The smaller lower one on the tires and whatâs beside me. I look at one or the other. Not both.
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Yeah, honestly, Iâm glad someone said this, because I donât really think trailering is that hard for someone who is a skilled, comfortable driver of passenger vehicles who has taken the time to understand the additional hauling-specific aspects.
The first time I hauled or hooked up a trailer of any kind was the day I went to pick up my first 2H BP from the shop where itâd had its PPE. I hooked it up to my F-250 long bed, pulled it out of a crowded parking lot (that, IIRC, involved at least some backing), and drove home to a different state. I drove it around empty for a while and then put my horse on it.
The first time I hauled or hooked up a gooseneck was the day I bought my 2H GN. That time it came direct from the seller, who had it in a pasture on the top of a mountain, and at the time I drove three hours to see it it was not clear that my truck was actually going to fit under it with enough clearance. (Itâs an early 2000s model; the axles had been blocked and I had had the blocks swapped in my 2019 truck, which was previously 59.5" at the rails, so I thought it had a pretty good chance of working, but I wasnât sure until I got the truck under it and saw it squatting.) Once again, I drove it home to a different state, though this time it mostly wasnât in the dark.
I learned to back the BP by backing it up my driveway, which is a ninety-degree turn up a very steep hill off a two-lane road. I canât back the GN up that driveway because it bridges. To me, GNs are much easier to back than BPs, though, so Iâm about as good at either despite having practiced less with the GN.
(Though I did really embarrass myself once at a shop when I still owned both and was driving the one into whose mode my brain had not yet switched⊠but the only thing that was ultimately hurt was my ego.)
My spouse has driven both the BP and the GN empty, with no prep (in one case I was at the barn and my horse was colicking; in another instance, there was a mechanical failure of a different trailer when I caught a ride.) Spouse had to back the BP down the Very Long Driveway and around the corner in the dark, and did so successfully, despite not having driven the rig before.
Now, to be fair: my spouse had experience driving various military machinery, and at the time I started trailering I had been driving ambulances (which areâdespite the opinions of drivers who yield for a 70K lb fire engine and then gleefully cut off the 20K lb ambulanceâone hundred percent heavy enough to smash you in your Toyota Corolla just as dead) for years. The 1200 lb toddler banging her hooves on the wall is pretty funny in comparison to the panicked medic in the back (whoâs not very good at their job) shrieking âARE WE THERE YET???â while working somebody whoâs trying real hard to die. I understand that this background does have some bearing on my attitude, which is why I disclose it⊠but I still think it shows itâs not rocket science, if you take the time to educate yourself first.
And the horse-hauling aspects? My old mare absolutely would not get on that BP I mentioned. My coach looked at it and said, âIf I were a horse, I wouldnât get on that either.â (It was safe, but definitely not fancy.) So I spent a month teaching her to do it with the Lyons technique, a little bit every day, and now because of that my timing is good enough that I can teach pretty much anything to get on a trailer if Iâm given half a chance. (Which of course meant that my current mare came with âwalk on immediately even if itâs a 5â high completely dark stock trailer that is also on fireâ pre-installed, because thatâs the way the world works.)
All of this is to say: I donât think learning to drive a trailer has to be that hard. I think you need to be curious enough to understand weight ratings, towing capacity, and the problems you might face. I think you need to do some practicing with an empty trailer in relatively safe environments. But, again, I donât think itâs as hard as folks make it out to be.
In service of that, one final anecdote:
My coach, who can back a four-horse head-to-head with her dually like I back my Subaru in at the grocery store, learned when her folks (also horse pros) drove her to a lesson in another state and then left her there. With her horse, and the trailer, and no other way home.
Worked pretty well for her!
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My secret technique is to be forced to back a boat at a busy ramp with a giant tank completely blocking the rear view mirror 
- I was always a look behind me person but that taught me to use my mirrors real quick.
I still look behind me more than use my mirrors, but what I found helps to orient yourself to using mirrors is to start a turn in the way you are comfortable and then while moving switch to your mirrors and practice continuing the turn.
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The thing I found difficult initially about backing up the trailer was remembering to switch mirrors whenever I lost sight of the back of the trailer, because that never happens when backing a single vehicle. If I had to do an S wiggle to get it where I wanted it, the back of the trailer would swing out of sight behind the front of the trailer as it turned.
If Iâm backing straight I keep checking both mirrors to catch any deviation as quick as possible.
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Thank you for that very amusing long read
Iâll add the lengthy tale of my TB, who loaded onto ANYTHING from the commercial 12H semi to a borrowed 2H BP so small the buttbar left an impression for the first 3yrs I had him.
Weâd use him to load the reluctant ones.
See? Vern got on.
Until the day we got our VeryFirst brand new 2H straightload & proudly took it to the barn we boarded to see how it pulled loaded.
DHâs horse was relatively new to us, so TB got the honor of getting on first.
Except he didnât.
Walked up the ramp, looked inside & politely backed down the ramp.
Stood calmly, grew roots & no amount of persuasion would get him to do more than stand on the ramp.
Being a boarding barn, âhelpâ was plentiful. 
But no amount of broom applied to butt (he kicked at it), longeline run behind (he sat on it), etcetera changed his mind.
Iâm sure the gathering crowd wasnât helping relax either of us.
DHâs horse, OTOH, walked right on, stood patiently, waiting for TB.
Who observed, agreed it was an idea.
But one heâd pass on, TYVM.
So it went for a couple weeks.
Hitch trailer, ask TB to load, nod politely to suggestions, ask peanut gallery to give us some space.ie: Go AwayâŠ
Final straw was the day an obviously drunk guy pulled into the yard, began slurring his ideas at us.
I asked who knew him.
No one did.
Eventually I worked out that keeping the idea of loading out of my mind made TB load himself 9 times out of 10.
That 10th time just meant my mind wasnât clear enough of the idea 
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See, this here bolded part is the crux of the issue with the person Iâm trying to help. When she first started talking about getting a trailer, I asked her if her vehicle (a new big SUV) had a towing package. She did not know. I looked on the driverâs side and saw the brake controller so I knew it most likely did. She didnât know what a brake controller was, how to find the hitch (itâs a newer model GMC with that panel over it - I didnât know how to get it off as my GMC is a bit more vintage), and the list goes on. Trust me when I say she didnât know diddly about hauling specifics. I thought the gradual approach with maybe a helpful person along would instill some of those.
I just hope that her sink or swim approach doesnât come to a tragic end. Sure it works sometimes but why subject yourself or the horse to it?
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My 2020 Ram pickup has a lovely âsafetyâ feature. If any door is open even a crack, it immediately puts itself in park. It is a royal pain in the behind while hooking up the trailer or driving through gates. I have to question how safe that feature would be in a car jacking situation, tooâŠ
I have never driven one, and I probably never will. But when I saw an ad for the truck that could back itself up to the trailer, my jaw just about hit the floor.
That seems like an option that would be pretty darn valuable to lots of people! Lol.
Iâm super-proud whenever I pass a trailer and the driver is a woman â young, old or somewhere in between. Typically they know more about hauling than 80% of the yahoos out there driving bigass pickups because they simply must own bigass pickups. And the most they ever will haul is maybe a bag of Sakrete placed on a dropcloth placed upon a Rhino liner.
Driving even a two-horse is an impressive skill indeed. Donât get me going on women hauling four- and six-horse trailers. I mean, talent.
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Practice, a lot. And have someone who knows hauling help out. Donât put a horse on thr trailer until youâve practiced, a lot.
And here is my trailering history. Itâs long, so feel free to skip.
Tl;dr: if nothing else, you will learn a lot once you start hauling a trailer.
At the time I bought my second horse trailer in 2009, Iâd hauled DHs open car trailer a fair amount, but he always hitched it. I bought a 2H Hawk BP with a dressing room - a nice, solid, heavy trailer. He drove it some, and noted how different it was from driving an 800 pound open trailer with a 1600 pound British sports car on it. We had a Toyota Tundra at the time, an older one with whatever towing package was available around 2001, 2WD. At the time he bought it, he did not anticipate ever towing a horse trailer with horses in it, with occasional hauling through a pasture required. After a year, we traded it in for a 2009 4WD Tundra with the big engine and towing package, which made quite a difference. (The story of buying that truck is amusing, but Iâve told it here before. It ends with âIf the little lady wants a step, she gets a step.â)
I had the Hawk until 2023. I was forced to learn to back up into tight spaces by the trailer space at one barn, which was about 2 feet wider than the trailer, bordered by huge tree trunks on both sides, with a boulder at the back. I had to back the trailer through a poorly maintained dirt parking lot, sometimes with other vehicles, and on a slight but almost blind curve to get it parked - and the space was maybe 18 inches longer than the trailer, so I needed to not hit the boulder.
Nonetheless, backing up remained difficult for me. DH sometimes helped, but we both got pretty stressed out about it.
I learned step by step hitching and to check everything twice before heading out. Unfortunately I really wasnât zen enough about loading Feronia - who had been a reliable self-loader - and that started some⊠misadventures. I had to learn to apply and use a lip chain, as horrible as that is.
In 2022, the Tundra got moused and was totaled by our insurance. We could have had the electrical system redone, but there was a 4 month wait for parts and we had 2 months to get a working truck. That was absolutely the worst time to be looking for a truck, because denand had bottled up during the pandemic. We ended up with a used F150 that was fine for the closed car trailer, but not quite enough truck for the horse trailer. Luckily I only had to haul with it once, to take Feronia to her retirement barn where she still lives, and bring the trailer home. I promised her Iâd never trailer her again. So sheâs on the DNR/âif whatever happens at the barn canât be managed there, she gets put downâ plan.
DH has since upgraded to a long closed trailer, and traded in the old F150 last year for a new F150 with much more oomph - but the first one that isnât red, as the red ones in that style donât have extendable mirrors. DH drove several Ford dealers nuts while looking for that truck. I think this one would have been well up to my old trailer.
I think the sway chains I insisted on were added after my first real experience with the new truck and trailer⊠driving over the Cuomo Bridge in New York just behind a FedEx truck with an absolutely batsh*t, probably drunk or high driver. He was swaying in and out of lanes, nearly hit the wall of the bridge a few times, and speeding up and slowing down erratically. And of course what was in the trailer is DHs most valuable car.
(We wonât talk about my first trailer, except to say that there is or used to be a really shady used trailer seller in Seacoast New Hampshire. I think she breeds Bernese Mountain Dogs too, if sheâs even still around. STAY AWAY)
I was to haul a horse back to the owner and the owner was there to supervise the loading operation. I went to lead him over and into the trailer; he balked so went to get the trusty lungeline when the owner stopped me and said he just needed to âfocusâ. At the moment, the horse was focused on eating the grass around the trailer. After 30 minutes of focusing he decided to put us out of our misery and walked right on. Arrived at ownerâs barn and then they got pissy when I had trouble turning around in their miniscule parking area. Decided that was the last time Iâd haul for someone else.
One valuable piece of advice I would give to anyone driving a horse trailer is to always make sure that before you shift the truck into park, you are pointed in the direction you need to go to leave.
Otherwise, without fail, someone will park in your way so that you canât turn around to get to the exit.
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When I showed with the barn team, there was one gal whoâd âhelpâ the commercial shipper (12h semi) load her horse by sitting on the sideramp shaking a bucket of grain
I forget why the shipper allowed this 
I always wanted to take bets on when horse would trample her.
Iâd just hand over the lead & not watch my horse being loaded.
I figured these Pros always got him there in one piece, so how wasnât important.
@MHM supreme ignorance by an assumed horseperson shown one year at The Ntl Drive when someone parked their car under the nose of friendâs unhitched GN.
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Ok, thatâs extra bad. Lol.
