Tips for loading a horse into a straight-load trailer, by myself?

[PonyRiderMom]

How do people load horses in straight load trailers by themselves? I’ve done it where I lead them on, clip them in, and then go around and close the butt bar / door. But I hate it that there’s that five or six seconds where I’m outside the trailer and can’t see them, and I worry about them pulling back. Also, whenever they see me there back behind them, they start wanting to back out. Even when I’ve put a bag of food in front of them. Not to mention my butt bars are a bit sticky and take a minute to hook in.

I believe that the ideal situation here is to teach them to “self load” and then closing the butt bar behind them and then going around and clipping them in, but I am having a hard time visualizing sending them in, while holding onto the lead rope (for safety). I feel like if I do hold onto the lead rope, it will make them want to stop or come back out. I’ve tried it before and that is what happened. I can send them through narrow gates in front of me – they understand that. But then they always turn around to face me afterwards. But something about the trailer makes them want to just back out again. FYI I never back them out to unload them – I have a side ramp, so they are always walking forward.

So, if I hold on to the lead rope, they want to stop or back out. But if I don’t hold on to the lead rope, I don’t see how I could feel safe with that. Would I just turn them “loose” in a strange place and then ask them to load and hope for the best??? Or do people clip them in first and hope the horse doesn’t pull back?

[trubandloki]

@PonyRiderMom

How do people load horses in straight load trailers by themselves? I’ve done it where I lead them on, clip them in, and then go around and close the butt bar / door. But I hate it that there’s that five or six seconds where I’m outside the trailer and can’t see them, and I worry about them pulling back. Also, whenever they see me there back behind them, they start wanting to back out. Even when I’ve put a bag of food in front of them. Not to mention my butt bars are a bit sticky and take a minute to hook in.

I believe that the ideal situation here is to teach them to “self load” and then closing the butt bar behind them and then going around and clipping them in, but I am having a hard time visualizing sending them in, while holding onto the lead rope (for safety). I feel like if I do hold onto the lead rope, it will make them want to stop or come back out. I’ve tried it before and that is what happened. I can send them through narrow gates in front of me – they understand that. But then they always turn around to face me afterwards. But something about the trailer makes them want to just back out again. FYI I never back them out to unload them – I have a side ramp, so they are always walking forward.

So, if I hold on to the lead rope, they want to stop or back out. But if I don’t hold on to the lead rope, I don’t see how I could feel safe with that. Would I just turn them “loose” in a strange place and then ask them to load and hope for the best??? Or do people clip them in first and hope the horse doesn’t pull back?

The horses that I know that self load, the lead rope is tossed across their neck or back as they are loading.
If they stop loading or come off, you just grab the lead rope.

I have one that just will not self load. I lead the horse onto the trailer. I stay holding the lead line as I walk around the outside of the trailer to put the butt bar up.

I do not clip the horse’s head to the trailer tie until the butt bar is up.

I make sure to have good hay and maybe some yummy treats while I am not there.

If they totally insist on leaving the trailer I can let go of the lead and grab it as they back off, they are safe, I am safe.

Typically, I just put up the butt bar and then go back to the head and remove the lead and clip them into the trailer.

[Sister7]

I hang a small bucket with a few handfuls of grain and some carrot chunks in the trailer. I walk him in and leave the lead over his neck and don’t clip him in yet. He eats his treats while I go around and do up the butt bars. Then I come back and clip him in. He has never tried to back out, but I’m heading that way anyways so unless he comes flying out I would be there to catch the rope.

[Janet]

When they self-load, I drape the lead rope over their back, and walk around to meet them at the front.

[PonyRiderMom]

But then you have this period where you aren’t attached to them at all, right? What if they just decided to back out while you were walking to the front?

[Janet]

Sorry, wasn’t sufficiently detailed. I drape the lead rope over their back, staying behind them until I do up the butt bar. If they don’t go all the way forward, I am in position to encourage them. THEN I walk around to the front.

[JB]

Training and more training teaches the horse to go forward when you ask, to stop when you ask, and to not back up until you ask. That’s how self-loaders are safely loaded with one person

I use an extra long lead - 12’ - and toss it over their back as they walk on. Once they’re on, I put the butt bar up, then go remove the long lead and snap to the trailer tie. If it’s just 1 horse, I put the ramp up after the butt bar, otherwise I put it up after both horses are on.

Trailer loading training isn’t just about getting them on. It’s a lot of partially on, stopping, coming back off with a cue you create (for me, it’s a little tug on the tail, from outside the trailer and to the side of the ramp), and repeating ad nauseum until the horse will load, stand, wait for you to ask him to back off, etc.

If they can’t stand quietly while partially or fully loaded, that’s where you fix things.

This way, they can’t back out while you’re walking to the front because you’ve put the butt bar up. Never tie the horse without the bar up.

So to unload, I untie from the trailer first, put on the lead rope and toss it over the back, go take the ramp down, then the butt bar, tug the tail, and grab the lead rope as it comes into reach.

[PonyRiderMom]

Thankfully, unloading isn’t a problem as I have the side ramp. I can unload by myself – clip the lead rope on, remove the chest bar, unclip the trailer tie, and just walk them right out. I LOVE my side ramp.

I’ve toyed with the idea of teaching them to load by going backwards up the side ramp and then turning into their stalls, but it’s a tight turn. But, it would mean that I’d never lose physical contact with them.

[JB]

If you have a butt bar, what’s the concern about not having physical contact with them?

[PonyRiderMom]

Oh I see what you are asking. Yes, that’s true. I would put up the butt bar (and close that side door for that matter) before walking to the front to clip them in.

I suppose my worries are

• letting go of them when they start entering the trailer, and them deciding to back out halfway through, and then I don’t have the lead rope and they run away, and
• I overall love my trailer, but the butt bars are sticky and take some time to get set up, and my one horse wants to sit on the butt bar once I’ve started putting it in. He also likes backing out. He’s just a big fan of backing up in general. I may have over-trained him to back up, because he tends to think that is the right answer in a lot of different situations where it isn’t.

The thing that gets me is, to reiterate, I NEVER back them out. I mean, I did once or twice just to make sure they could, but in my mind they should always be thinking “forward forward forward” in the trailer. They walk forward to get on, and they walk forward to get off. Yet whenever I’ve tried to get them to self load, they’ve stopped, or backed up.

Maybe I can start by setting up some cavalettis into an aisle and sending them through those. Sending and stopping.

[SBrentnall]

I trained my guy to self-load in my Brenderup. I would loop the lead rope around his neck and tie it loosely at his chest. That gave me something to grab if I needed to, and was also easy to untie from the escape door when I clipped him in.

[trubandloki]

@PonyRiderMom

letting go of them when they start entering the trailer, and them deciding to back out halfway through, and then I don’t have the lead rope and they run away, and

You stay standing there, right next to them.
If they back-up before you have the butt bar up, you just grab the lead rope that is draped over their back as they are backing by you.

When they are self loading the chest bar should be up.

Practice at home. Use yummy food (for the horse). Keep practicing until you feel comfortable.

[Scaramouch]

@PonyRiderMom

letting go of them when they start entering the trailer, and them deciding to back out halfway through, and then I don’t have the lead rope and they run away,

Unless you have particularly reactive horses this just usually doesn’t happen in my experience? My mare doesn’t self load so I lead her all the way on, then walk back to put up the butt bar, THEN tie her lead into the trailer. I never tie without the butt bar up.

She will usually try backing off once or twice before I get the butt bar up (she is a 6y/o WB and we didn’t go many places last year so it’s a work in progress) but I can always grab the lead and redirect her back on. It’s not like she’s flying backwards uncontrollably.

But if you tie and the horse tries to back off with no barrier behind it that’s a fantastic way to create the kind of panic/fear around the trailer you seem to be worried about.

[JB]

@PonyRiderMom

I suppose my worries are

• letting go of them when they start entering the trailer, and them deciding to back out halfway through, and then I don’t have the lead rope and they run away

gotcha. This is why I like a 12’ lead for “just in case”. They can walk on just about all the way, if not all the way, depending on how long the horse is, while you hold onto the end of the rope. For a safe horse, you can even step up onto the ramp or the back of the step-up as they’re clearing that, and then flip the rope over their back. It should be pretty darn easy to grab the rope from their back if they decide to really fly back out, and even easier if they slowly but “you can’t stop me” back out

@PonyRiderMom

I overall love my trailer, but the butt bars are sticky and take some time to get set up, and my one horse wants to sit on the butt bar once I’ve started putting it in. He also likes backing out. He’s just a big fan of backing up in general. I may have over-trained him to back up, because he tends to think that is the right answer in a lot of different situations where it isn’t.

It sounds like he’d benefit from more training at the trailer. Partial loading, backing out, partial load, stop, back out OR go forward, working on Whoa, and installing a back out cue (like the tail). If he’s just being funny and testing when he backs out, don’t be afraid to send him forward fairly strongly. If he’s nervous, let him back out and regroup

@PonyRiderMom

The thing that gets me is, to reiterate, I NEVER back them out. I mean, I did once or twice just to make sure they could, but in my mind they should always be thinking “forward forward forward” in the trailer. They walk forward to get on, and they walk forward to get off. Yet whenever I’ve tried to get them to self load, they’ve stopped, or backed up.

It’s very natural for a naturally claustrophobic animal to want to back out of a small dark space (relatively speaking). I think every horse needs to learn to back out of a trailer, because forward isn’t always an option.

@PonyRiderMom

Maybe I can start by setting up some cavalettis into an aisle and sending them through those. Sending and stopping.

Absolutely - anything, including a stall door - like that can be used to teach these skills. And then, of course, it has to be translated to the trailer environment

[colorfan]

I teach mine to self load, as they are walking in I toss the lead over their back. I practice this by ‘loading’ them into their stall or through the gate into the corral. Sure they turn around when going into the stall but the size of the horse trailer explains to them they can’t turn around.
I close the butt bar, then the door, then go around and tie if I am going to.
I have left the lead across their back while hauling or unsnapped it.
Someone said they liked the lead left on in case of incident of any kind, someone else worried it may drop on the floor and they would step on it.

[JB]

@colorfan

Someone said they liked the lead left on in case of incident of any kind, someone else worried it may drop on the floor and they would step on it.

I worry less about it getting stepped on, and more about it getting wrapped around a leg if a horse scrambles for some reason

[ClassyJumper]

If you have access to the trailer regularly, i found the easiest way to teach a horse to self load is to feed their breakfast/dinner grain on there for a week or too. They quickly figure it out.

[Montanas_Girl]

It sounds like more work is needed on your horse’s basic ground manners. Teach him a solid “whoa” and to ground tie. Then, if he thinks about backing off, you can say “whoa” and stop him immediately.

Most trailer loading/unloading issues have their roots in a hole, small or large, in the horse’s foundational training.

[CanteringCarrot]

@Montanas_Girl

It sounds like more work is needed on your horse’s basic ground manners. Teach him a solid “whoa” and to ground tie. Then, if he thinks about backing off, you can say “whoa” and stop him immediately.

Most trailer loading/unloading issues have their roots in a hole, small or large, in the horse’s foundational training.

This.

I travel alone with my young horse quite a bit in a straight load trailer. He has a “stay” command on the ground. So when he gets on the trailer, I tell him to stay as I would if I left him anywhere else. I then walk around to the back and fasten the butt bar.

He tried to lean on it once, and I did give him a firm smack on the rump and told him to get off of it. He got the point.

To unload he waits until I give his tail a little tug and then backs off with the lead rope over his neck.

For self loading, I just toss the lead rope over his neck/back. If he were to back off while I am back there, I would just grab the rope off of him like I do when he unloads.

I will say that talking to him and using the stay command that he already knows is probably a majority of it.

He does get hay when he’s on the trailer and usually a treat once the loading process is done and everything is secured.

There is a lot of ground work that you can do to build up to this. Just sending him through things, having control over his body from close and afar, and teaching certain commands. If you’re more comfortable with that stuff, you’ll likely be more confident and comfortable with the loading process overall.

[Incantation]

I prefer to teach self loading, but have friends who’s horses don’t. They use a lunge line to lead the horse on. Then they can walk to the back of the trailer to hook the butt bar, still holding the line, so are always attached to the horse in case it decides to make a sudden departure before the bar is put up.