Tips for horse that backs out of trailer after loading?

[DQ23]

I’ve owned this horse for 6 years and trailering by myself has always been challenging because he backs out of my 2h straight load (with ramp) as soon as he loads. It does not matter if I send him in or walk in with him. My method has been to give him a bucket of grain and hope he stays distracted long enough for me to secure the but bar. This is problematic when we go to the vet and he is not allowed to eat after sedation. I’m opposed to longing/working him each time he backs off because he just recovered from his 3rd soft tissue injury.

One idea I had was to walk him in and tie him with a non-breakaway halter (standing on the other side of the chest bar ready to release if needed) and let him feel more resistance than i can provide holding him. Normally this would be a big no for me but with this horse I had to use a similar method to teach him to single tie and cross tie. With both once he figured out he could not easily back up he yawned and quit pulling. I’m a little nervous to try this in the trailer and create a negative experience.

Anyone have any tips? He travels great once he is on.

[Scribbler]

I have seen a ground work clinician do a thing where they run a rope from the halter through a ring or something on the trailer ceiling back to the person on the ground so they can send the horse in, then keep tension on the lead until they do up the trailer door. Maybe they run it out the trailer window and around to the person.

I would not try this at my current skill level but I have seen it demonstrated.

I would not tie a horse if I thought he was going to panic and put up a fight because no halter is truly unbreakable, the hardware can crack, and horses do shoot backwards out of trailers and flip over and die.

[Texarkana]

A blocker tie ring is sometimes helpful for what you’re trying to accomplish. Although some horses will figure it out too quickly and you inadvertently teach them more bad habits.

I find blocker tie rings to be really handy in the trailer in general, though.

The tricky thing about horses who want to back out quickly is that they sometimes get panicky if they think they can back out but find themselves tied.

[Tee]

I’ve had horses like this (not to this extreme) and my method that’s always worked is just to send them back in. Over and over, until they stand for even 15 seconds, and then ask them to back out. Make sure they have a solid “WHOA” outside of the trailer, and combined, eventually, you should be able to get him to stand quietly in the trailer.

[Zevida]

I have not tried this and it may be a terrible idea but have you tried asking him to back out? Load him partway then you give the cue to back. Load him almost all the way then you give the cue to back. Load him partway and then stand and then back. In other words don’t wait for him to back up on his own but have it be your idea.

I could see how this could backfire but I also could see if you have more ownership of the forward AND back aids during loading then he may learn to wait for the cue before backing.

[fivestrideline]

I’ll tell you what works for my horse who does the same thing - though he’s got other issues related to the trailer. And a soft tissue injury!

You need a lunge line, a good halter, and gloves. Helmet isn’t a bad idea either.
Lay the clip of the lunge line on the ramp, and run the end either out the escape door or through the tie ring and back to the ramp. I find out the door works best as I can get him to step all the way up easier, as opposed to the tie ring.
Walk him up, clip the lunge to his halter, and toss the lead over his back or unclip it. Send him in, taking up the slack of the lunge line as he goes. My horse needs slight tension on the line the whole time, others may not. Once he’s in, tell him to stand and just start moving around back there. Don’t put yourself right behind him, just reach for the bar and jiggle it, pat him on the butt, whatever, but keep your eyes on HIM.
As soon as he thinks about backing up, put some tension on the line. Don’t try to hold him in the trailer, but put enough pressure on him to suggest he’s tied. If he insists on coming out, let him! But keep some tension on the line (this is a skill, letting the line slip but keeping pressure on). Keep the pressure even when he stops, until he shifts forward toward the trailer. Then you can let off and reload him.
He should learn that the only way to get relief from the halter pressure is to step FORWARD. Usually they’ll unload all the way a few times, but then they stop halfway down the ramp, then just back feet on the ramp, and then just a shift around but staying on.
Then you can start putting up the butt bar and walking around to give him a cookie and let him chill for a bit. You can then use the lunge line to keep him from backing off before you’re ready, unload and reload a couple times, and be done. Personally, my horse is only allowed to unload with me backing him out from inside the trailer, but that’s because he FLIES off and it’s easier for us for now.

It may take more than one session but it works. It’s also very low key, no running or flying around. Eventually he should load, and stand, while you put up the bar without you having to put any pressure on the line. Then you can start loading him without it, close the bar, and tie like usual! Just keep practicing every now and then, so trailer doesn’t come to mean Vet.

[OzarksRider]

Check out a similar thread someone started a few weeks ago: Trailer loading conundrum You might find some suggestions you haven’t yet tried.

It seems the basic problem is that your horse moves before you tell him, so maybe try working on that issue away from the trailer. Put him in various places and make him stay there while you walk away and wait for you to come back. Practice putting him in places that may make him a little claustrophobic or new places that he’s never tried before. For example, I put my horse in our garage and made him wait for me, and I taught him to place his front feet on a tree stump and stand there while I walked away and came back. If he stayed put, I rewarded with a little treat. If he moved, he had to try again.

When your horse is solid about staying put wherever you put him outside the trailer, then start working on staying in the trailer. If he comes out before you tell him, make him go right back in. You can make him uncomfortable outside the trailer without stressing his joints–even yielding the hindquarters is a lot less fun than standing still. Don’t even try to shut the butt bar or door until he will stay on the trailer. Let him come out as much as he wants, but make him get back on. When he starts staying on by himself, gradually start walking away a few steps and then come back and reward him. Then start rattling the butt bar, stop and reward. Then swing the butt bar, stop and reward. Then finally close the butt bar, open and reward. In other words, tiny, tiny baby steps and endless patience. The key is to reward for standing still and waiting, not for just going in the trailer.

If your trailer is suitable, you might try turning him around so he can ride backwards. Some horses seem to feel less claustrophobic that way. And finally, if you’re not making progress, find a trainer to help with this issue. If he’s been doing this for six years it’s a pretty well ingrained habit, and it may take a professional to fix it.

[Jaegermonster]

Do you load, tie, then do the butt bar?
Eliminate tie.

[SusanO]

I have one horse like this and one that taught herself how to load and will stand in there forever if she has a treat. First horse has taken a lot of work and will always need reminder sessions. Teaching her to load wasn’t that hard because she would follow me easily. But as soon as I went around to put up the butt bar up she would back out. If I had alfalfa in a hay net ( and she is the hungriest horse alive) she would grab a bite and back out to chew it up. One time I HAD to get her somewhere so I tied her before I put up the butt bar. I knew that was dumb and yep! she enforced that was a bad idea.

So as I have stated in other threads I learned I had to teach her to self load and it was going to take time and effort to fix this problem. Forcing/ pulling/ etc. was NOT going to work with her. She needed a lot of practice just standing in the trailer and feeling comfortable in there and not panicking. I let her do a lot of this before I even thought of putting the butt bar up. And as somebody else suggested I tell her when she has to back out. I would load her and let her stand there and then I would back her out so she knew it was my idea to leave the trailer. Several times I had to make standing outside the trailer and balking not so fun for her. You can’t whip this horse but you cansure make her uncomfortable enough so she wants to load and be left alone.

She is pretty good now but I still have to have reminder training sessions from time to time unlike my first mare that was a quick easy study. Slow and steady wins the race! It is better to do short lessons and stop when you are ahead than trying to do a marathon session.

[wsmoak]

I once got a young horse and a straight load trailer at the same time without really thinking this through. If I had it to do over I would have gotten one with a front ramp! I have since sold both the young horse and that trailer.

In my (limited) experience, until the groundwork is confirmed, I wouldn’t expect loading (and staying loaded) to work either. After going through the whole program (*) and practicing every time you handle the horse, they look to you for direction, and will stay put until you ask them to do something else. You pretty much get ground tying for free, even if that’s not something you were trying to train.

(*) pick one, Tristan Tucker, Warwick Schiller, Brent Graef, Ed Dabney

Can you direct each foot? Load halfway, stop, back out? This is easier (and less dangerous) to teach outside the trailer. Make a chute with barrels or jump standards and poles against the fence. Send the horse through the confined space, (no bar across the front at first,) then progress to having the front bar and making it narrower, until you can place him exactly where you want him. Play with it at liberty even.

[endlessclimb]

I’d send him straight back in. If he wants to make more work for himself by going back and forth, more power to him. No more food distractions, he gets in and he stands or he gets right back in again.

I’d send him, and the second he starts back I’d put the pressure on so he knows he’s got a piece of the puzzle wrong, and don’t stop that pressure until all 4 are back on the trailer. Nothing crazy - just tap tap tap with a verbal ahh ahh until he gets back on. He has figured out this game, smart cookie.

[walktrot]

I audited a Julie Goodnight clinic a few years ago. People kept asking about trailer loading. It is the final topic at the end of the last day. There were two owners who spent an hour or more getting their horses loaded. She told them to pack everything, load the truck, load the passengers, leave the key in the ignition. When the horse was loaded, the trailer was closed. The driver got in the truck, fired it up and left. No dawdling. No idle chit-chat. No “thanks, I learned a lot.” The first one took about 10 minutes, the second around 15 minutes. Her highlights:

You have to walk a straight line to the trailer and the horse has to keep their head centered and looking at the back of the trailer. Vary the number of steps and how long you halt. They should always be looking at the trailer. You can work on that on the ground without a trailer. If they look away or try to move their butt, get them standing on the line. .

DO NOT circle the horse at all. It is a release. The horse has no idea they are getting into a trailer. Remember the 3-second rule. They think they are done. You can start over. Your horse has already moved on to the next chapter in their life.

One horse stepped off the ramp and was standing next to it. They have to step laterally onto the side of the ramp. It can be done. Don’t let them look or move away She used a flag to keep the butt by the ramp. Anything else is a release.

If they need to settle down Julie will give them hay or grain to munch on. 10 or 15 minutes. Don’t interrupt them. You want them to decide this is a nice place to enjoy a snack. Then back them out. Do the snack several times.

About flags: Julie’s sat on the sidelines gathering dust. She asked for it when she needed it, which was precious littte.

[Rel6]

Mine used to do this. He got freaked out by the divider swinging towards him on a two-horse and shot off backwards. After that, he would walk on and immediately shoot back off.

What worked is, like a lot of others said, just leading him on again and again. Because my horse’s backing came from nerves, we just let him back off. If he stayed on even for a few seconds he got a bite of grain. If he came off, he got to go back on. He also was taught to move forward off of pressure - specifically light pressure on his butt. So a tap tap on his butt meant he had to walk forward - the tap tap started with light taps of a hand and escalated to firm taps with a crop if he ignored me. We drilled that he had to go forward and on, and standing on got rewards, and eventually after about three off-property trips it just was a non-issue. Sometimes now he’ll self load and be 100% perfect, and other times after he loads he will still start to back off, but he respects the pressure on his butt enough now that if he feels the butt bar start to come up or I scratch the top of his rump, he immediately moves forward instead of panicking and trying to come backwards. We trailered somewhere once a week this summer and that helped a lot too.

[Fleurdelis]

Trying to quote Zevida(!!): I have not tried this and it may be a terrible idea but have you tried asking him to back out? Load him partway then you give the cue to back. Load him almost all the way then you give the cue to back. Load him partway and then stand and then back. In other words don’t wait for him to back up on his own but have it be your idea.

This is what worked for me! Giving my super difficult to load mare assurance that she wouldn’t be trapped by making it my idea/showing her there would be an exit did the trick. On a little bit. Backed her off. On again. Backed her off. The first few times she stepped partway on I didn’t even make her stand. Backed her right off. She began to self load that same day.

[goodhors]

We purchased an older horse who did this, but had learned to back out right after last foot stepped on the trailer. After loading quite willingly then coming right back out, husband got a little irritated. Went in the barn to get an old corn broom. He sent her in, when she started back out he put the bristles to her rump. She STOPPED with one hoof in the air, stayed in the trailer while I did up the bar and shut the door.

Well that turned into her loading method. We gave her two in and outs to check the 2H trailer, food at the front, then third time in she had the broom touch to stay in and close the door. She was a very thin-skinned TB, quite sensitive, so firm bristles of the broom were pretty pokey to her. She didn’t even like a firm brush for grooming.

She was not crazy backing out, all quite controlled on her part. Broom poke was quite firm the first couple times, then just needed a touch to stay in. I do not think k you would get the same “feel” using a plastic bristle broom as you get with a real broom-corn bristle broom because broom-corn bristles are much stiffer. I have used the broom on a couple other “quick to exit” horses owned by friends and it worked.

Not sure I would advise tying horse hard-and-fast in the trailer will work well. Can you get him out if he goes up in the Manger or gets a leg over the divider? Do you haul more than one horse at a time? Perhaps removing divider would be safer if you want to try tying solidly. Make sure ropes, snaps, halter are up to the weight and force if he throws himself backwards. Those lead rope snaps are usually only rated for about 100#s. Same problem with rope itself, not rated for 1000# pound stress.

The lunge line out the front, back around his rump is an old method, but DO NOT think you can hold horse by doing this!! You need a snubbing point, perhaps center post in back that won’t break or bend with the force he may give it. Of course a wrap there will makes it harder to shorten the lunge line fast enough. Same considerations, are the line, snap, halter going to hold him if he fights hard? You may want to add a head bumper on a second halter to prevent poll injuries when the head goes up. Second halter with bumper in case he scrapes halter off at the roof edge with high head backing out.

Bad loading horses are a misery to deal with. Hope you can get him retrained to improve his staying in the trailer. My sympathies.

[eightpondfarm]

For the new mustangs, i drive my trailer into their corral and leave it there. Ramp down door open, side door open too. I scatter a flake of alfalfa on the ramp and inside the door close to the edge so they can lean in to eat it. Takes several days for them to! Then i put nice big hunks of a few flakes of alfalfa all around the interior. Eventually, that is the only place i feed them their daily alfalfa rations. Within a week give or take they follow me right up in there.
Then i close the side door and we backslide somewhat…Once they’re fine with that, i’ll close the door and as soon as i do that i drop a pan of yummy hydrated beetpulp with grain through the side. I stand on the bumper and keep watch… as soon as they begin to get nervous, i open the back door and let them leave. AND REMOVE the pan of yumminess!
The ONLY time they get the grain is when they are in there with the door closed.

THEN we have Destination Pasture! The mustang in training has been ogg grass for a couple of months by now. Has learned to desire being haltered and can pick up his/her feet for me to pick out. And since s/he can obviously load, we go to one of my close pastures and i let him out there for the day. Come evening, alfalfa time, i’ll ask them to come load. If s/he doesn’t, i’ll sweeten the deal with a pan of grain to lure them in… And drive them back to the barn. We repeat this a couple of times then i take them for a real ride…into town and back. And big reward with carrots (somewhere in town, usually the park…nice and quiet there). Then back home.

I have three done thusly. Now we are learning the rough beginnings of being ridden. Think by the holidays two of them will be ready to haul in to dressage coach… i hope!

[DQ23]

Update: Thanks for all of the suggestions. I ended up hiring a well known “cowboy” in my area and after working through lots of groundwork exercises consistently in the arena the trailer issues went away.

[DownYonder]

A friend solved this issue with her new horse by putting a large feed bag like this where he can get to it when he is all the way on the trailer. She would put a bunch of hay in it and then hide apple pieces in the hay. He would get so busy trying to find the apples that she had time to attach the butt bar and even close the door/put up the ramp.

Although you won’t be able to do the hay/apples thing when he is sedated, if he gets into the routine, he may stand on the trailer nosing the empty bag just long enough for you to put up the butt bar.

[SusanO]

Mine, who is not the sharpest crayon in the box, figured this all out. She would grab a huge mouthful and retreat back out of the trailer to chew it up. Go back in, grab another mouthful, and back out to chew. I had to bite the bullet and spend time working with her ground manners and loading. Bummer!

[jonem004]

I haul by myself often in the same kind of trailer. I train my horses to walk themselves on and I stay at the back to close the butt bar so they can’t back out before they are tied. I throw the lead rope over their back before we are actually walking on the ramp and just put a hand below the snap to keep them heading in the right direction. Once their head is in the trailer that keeps them straight and I use a dressage whip if any encouragement is needed. Then close butt bar, close ramp, go to side door and remove lead rope, attach trailer tie. Good to go!

I often hang a bucket with a handful of feed at the front as a reward, but not always. Having a good basis of respect for your personal space is the most important thing. I make a really big deal out of a horse never moving their shoulder into my space. It’s the same thing a dominant herd member would do, and it makes general handling safer when the exit strategy for a scary situation doesn’t include running you over.

Point being, load from the back so you can close the butt bar.