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Trailering after an accident

Horse Care
#1

I’m not sure the best forum for this. I defaulted here since it’s not discipline specific…but I can make a cross post, if someone thinks I’m better off in another forum!

I’m looking for suggestions on the best way to get a horse comfortable loading again after an accident.

A few months ago, my mare slipped on the ramp coming off the trailer and fell down to her butt–it rattled her quite a bit. When I went to load her back on the trailer a couple hours later to go home, she was hesitant about loading for the first time. In that process, she swung her head to the side and cut her nose badly (it required 15 staples). Since then she’s been understandably weary of the trailer.

Now that she has recovered from that injury and another unrelated injury that occured not long after, I’ve begun the trainer. I’ve been put in several days of consecutive trailer training and each time we have eventually gotten her on–but it has taken a long time. And it there does not really seem to be much progress from day to do. So, I was hoping to hear what kind of tips folks might have.

She is a smart horse and not one that overreacts–so her reaction right now is too root to the ground and just not really want to budge. She’ll happily get her front feet up, but not her hind legs. She is fine with some pressure, but if pressure gets too hard she starts to go backwards mode and we lose her focus. We’ve tried butt ropes (single and double lines crossed), increasing pressure without making any contact, giving consistent taps with a whip to get her on board, and of course bribery with food–keeping grain in the trailer and moving it slowly forward. None of these other things have worked well for her at all. And anytime she has made it on to the trailer, she has been fed a meal in the trailer.

So far what has worked best is getting her front feet on, rewarding, backing her up, circling around and repeating until she finally gets on board. But this can take some time and may not be the most effective.

I am the one who initially taught her to load on a trailer and she has always been one of the easiest loaders. Other than first day I trained her to load when she was 3, she has never done anything but walk directly on no matter the trailer–ramp, step, straight load, slant, stock, etc. But now she’s clearly lost trust in the trailer, associates it with being dangerous, and does not want to go. So, I’m open to all and any suggestions people might have.

I’m not at all against having a professional work with her. But thought it was worth asking here.

Some other information:
She leads very well, stops when you stop, backs up when you back up without pressure on the lead (though she knows what it means).
She will be lead over/sent across pretty much anything you place on the ground–tarps, mats, puddles, etc
She joins up with me easily
She has been pedestal trained–she knows how to put her front feet up and then to follow up with her back feet when asked, even on a small area (though I don’t have access to a pedestal at my current barn)

#2

Food, she needs to see the trailer as a good experience now that she’s experienced it as a bad one. Start feeding her grain in the trailer. Yes it might take more time out of your day, but it usually works well and it works fast. Plus, with how you described her level head, I think she will recover quickly. You might have to start with her just eating out of the mouth of the trailer, but once she knows to expect food you’ll be able to pull her into the trailer to eat.

You can do this until you are able to load her without food without problem.

#3

If you haven’t already, I would recommend purchasing a coco mat to prevent slipping in the future. This may also help your current problem, if she can feel the increased traction and gain confidence.

Can you feed her all of her meals on the trailer, starting on the ramp and progressing from there? Move the food an inch or so further into the trailer with each meal, or as much as her comfort level allows. It will take some time, but it will help build a positive association.

If she is pedestal trained, has she been clicker trained? The timing involved with clicker training- immediate marker and then high value reward- can help override emotional reactions in training situations. Mark and reward incrementally to encourage her confidence and progress.

#4

@FaithView @Equisis I did buy a coconut mat! And yes, when I meant bribery above i meant food. She has been given foods as rewards for good decisions/forward progress. And each time once she’s made it on the trailer she has been given a small meal. Her desire to not get hurt right now is much higher than her desire to eat.

#5

You posted that you’ve used “consistent taps with a whip.” If this meant regular tapping in a steady rhythm, you might try a random tapping, instead.

I saw this demonstrated many years ago at a clinic, on a horse that had been overly desensitized so tended to shut down rather than over-react out, and have used it successfully on a “stuck” horse. Either with a flexible dressage whip or (what I preferred) the type of “whip” (more of a cueing stick) with a soft Nerf-type ball on the end, as used for trick-training.

Very irregular tempo, moving the whip-like object over an area, rather than steadily and on one specific spot. As the clinician said, just enough to be annoying, without causing pain.

And you may already be doing this, but I’d reward (with a momentary break and possible a treat) if the horse even thought about forward – such as the slightest body lean in the desired direction.

Best wishes that she recovers from her experiences, and returns to her stellar loading soon.

2 Likes
#6

do you only give her food when you need her to load? The feed trailering method is to become part of her daily schedule, not every once and awhile when you want to work on trailering. When it becomes part of her schedule and something she grows comfortable doing every day, it will should ease her anxieties. Training wont be instant which is why I suggest starting to just feed her at the door of the trailer and then moving her farther inside of it.

#7

Honestly, I would pretend it never happened in the sense that I would not treat her any differently than a brand-y new horse I have that doesn’t load well.

A horse needs to be able to walk on to any trailer I put them in front of, period. You just happen to know this horse’s history with trailers. Pretend this horse is brand new to you - you have no idea why they don’t load well, you just know they don’t. But it doesn’t really matter why, because at the end of the day they need to load easily and calmly.

So start from scratch. Sounds like she understands how to work in hand well. So you’re going to have to invest some sweat equity in building her trust back up. Get rid of the butt ropes, brooms, bribery, etc. Make it clear to her what is expected: that she will at least give you a try at going forward, even if that makes her nervous. A try could be as small as picking up a foot and placing it down exactly where it was, it could be leaning forward when invited to come onto the ramp. Reward those small tries back backing off pressure entirely. Then ask again. Build up those tries until she walks on. Have some really nice hay or some food in the trailer for her so she has a reason to want to stay. Then back her off BEFORE she decides to leave on her own and put her away for the day.

I’d be doing this every day, for as long as it takes each day, until you can point her on or lead her up and she goes without hesitation and stands quietly. It may take a while, and that’s fine. Again, pretend this is a new horse to you and you’ve found out they don’t load well. It takes as long as it takes, and it doesn’t matter why the horse doesn’t want to load because in the end they are going to feel better about it.

1 Like
#8

This is what we’ve been doing–but it does not seem to be making much difference to her. She is happy to put her front feet on the trailer every single time and wait with them up as long as i want. It’s the back feet that she is not really making progress on. I’m not treating it differently than a horse that has never learned, just wanted to provide context as to why it has been challenging–I’ve never had a horse I was first teaching to trailer be so willing with front feet and stop with back feet before. Usually once you can get the front feet up willingly the rest of the horse follows.

I fully agree that she has to be able to get on any trailer she is pointed at, which is why I am asking for suggestions on methods that might work that we have not already tried–much of what is in my original post is stuff that has not been done again since day 1 because it proved to not be the right method.

#9

My horse was a notorious difficult loader, like to the point that she has flipped herself to avoid loading. She plants her feet and then the more pressure put on, the worse she gets until she’ll flip herself. I believe at some point there as a trailer accident (she has scars across her hind end, conveniently where a butt bar goes but I was told it was a barb wire fence accident as a baby).

So, as you can imagine, loading was fun. She does the same, front feet on and then she hesitates. There’s a mental block there. Thankfully mine finally seems over it, but outside of the two trailers I use, I expect any new trailer we will have to try the method below.

First, continue with feeding her every meal in the trailer. My mare was self loading within 24 hours - we set up a camp for her inside a paddock, put up an electric fence to make a smaller area and kept her food and water in the trailer. Of course, this was a VERY open trailer. That worked until her owners (I was leasing) left her tied in the trailer with the door open. She freaked out and broke loose, breaking the tie in the trailer.

…I bought her knowing the issues anyways, and we continued to have loading issues. I’ve used a lip chain and a rope halter.

I suggest using two halters, the rope under the nylon - I do not tie with a rope halter so that is my reasoning for two, and a chain through the nylon and for tying - with your mare try starting with it over or under the nose - my horse we had to start with the lip chain because once she escalated there was no getting it in place. Two lead ropes, one attached to the rope the other with the chain. Try and use the rope halter first - but if she escalates that is what the chain is for.

I’ve owned my mare since 2012 and have been leasing since 2010 and just in 2019 she loads within 5-10 minutes (vs the hours it took before) and now loads simply with the rope halter and she hasn’t needed the chain the last few times we’ve loaded so we’ve been using just one lead rope. It’s a long journey and not something fixed overnight.

#10

It appears you’ve edited your post now, but initially you said you’d done 3 attempts to load her again. Now it is “several consecutive days”.

Either way, you haven’t put in enough time to judge whether a “method” is working. And if your methods have included forcing her on with butt ropes or bribing her with food, I’m not sure why you would expect they WOULD work. While both of those things might eventually get her on, neither is going to actually change how she feels about loading onto and being in a trailer.

You need patience and the willingness to put in the time to get her comfortable, no matter how long it takes. Three days is not enough time for this mare, as she has made clear.

So you take her out to the trailer as many times as you can over the next few weeks, and you continue to work with her in the same way each time - you direct her to step up onto the ramp and as soon as she offers to try you take pressure off. If she goes up with both feet, great. If she moves two inches, great. You give her a pause and then you ask again. You remove the pressure as soon as she gives ANY indication that she’s trying - a shift forward in weight, lifting a foot, etc. If she pulls or goes backwards, you keep that same pressure on until she commits to going forward again. Then you remove pressure and allow her a moment to process. Then you ask again.

You have to judge how much effort she’s having to put into trying - if she’s really struggling and makes a major concession, I take a break and reward her by hand grazing or some other enjoyable thing. The reward must match the time and amount of effort she’s putting in to trying. You may not get her on the first day, and that’s okay. What must happen, though, is that each time you get closer and closer and she tries a little more and a little more until eventually her positive experiences pay off and she just walks on.

When folks constantly “method search” to fix a problem, it usually is because they did not know how to be truly effective with the method they were using, and they want results faster than they are getting.

2 Likes
#11

@Abbie.S yes, I edited the post because at the time of your reply, 3 days had become 5 and the number will only continue to increase. The work started this past weekend and has/will continue.

I definitely don’t expect a quick fix, but all the time in the world with an ineffective method will not get us there no matter how much time I devote to it. And it seemed worth seeing what has worked with other difficult loaders. So, I appreciate you and others who have taken time to share their experiences. I don’t think it is wrong or problematic to try things that I might not have as I continue to work with her. I’m not expecting 3 days or even 3 weeks to fix the problem, but I don’t think it’s too early to look into alt methods

#12

OP, did you train your horse to always back off the trailer, or can she turn around and then walk off head first? I ask because she started being reluctant to load right after she slipped backing down the ramp, so the root problem may be that she’s worried about what will happen when she backs off. If your trailer has enough room for her to turn around you might try that and see if it helps. Maybe if she sees that she can get off without hurting herself she’ll be easier to load. Of course, you have to get her on first before you can teach her to turn around. Like others have said, go back to the beginning and take baby steps.

Both of my horses can back off a trailer, but I prefer for them to turn around and walk off because I think it’s safer. And they like that method better too.

#13

You can reduce the degree of the ramp’s slope by putting a 2x4 board under the end of the ramp. This is the first thing I would do.

Perhaps you could back her in hand elsewhere, over little challenging things, for ex. a sheet of plywood, a jump pole, a stall doorway. Almost everyone at my barn has ramps but babies get their first trailering lesson by backing out of a stall that has a drop. (That spooky Grand Canyon.)

It sounds like you have done a very good job with her as a youngster. You’ve been spoiled, g. Take it slow and be really recognizant of the smallest try and stop the pressure. Try not to urge or coax her fwd when she is already thinking forward. This might mean resting if she so much as looks into the trailer. Looking elsewhere gets corrected of course.

Not sure if it will work in this case but the random tapping can indeed be effective. I had one who would just shut down and asked a barn rat to toss a handful of pebbles when I asked. Just enough to be irritating, i.e., the relief is in the trailer.

Good luck. Let us know how it works out. The curse of an intelligent horse!

#14

Abbie S has some good pointers. And when you say that she gets a meal every time she gets on the trailer, I was unsure if you were also rewarding the baby steps and not just the ultimate goal. Like AbbieS said, pressure/release, pressure/release and I like to throw in a snack or two, but not for every positive step, but a bit unpredictably. Sometimes there will be release and sometimes there will be release AND a literal carrot.

Another technique I have learned is the wither tap. A dressage whip or far better, one of those natural trainer “carrot sticks” as we call them on COTH, and (away from the trailer), tap on the withers (gently at first) and as soon as the horse takes ONE forward step, STOP. Then do nothing release the pressure, take everything back to relaxed (for some horses this is not a big deal, but if they do get worried, you want them to know tap=move=reward, so it’s ok to relax.

This is a great way to stand off to the side and “put the pressure on.” It can look a bit ugly initially because the horse is going to go sideways, possibly over you unless you get big and stop him, definitely backwards, pretty much ANYWHERE but forward and all the while you need to keep yourself at his shoulder, tap tap tap until the moment they go forward, then release (stop tapping). And if they totally shut down with the tapping, take them away from the trailer and do the tap=forward lesson again, then come back to the trailer. So you may have a lot of drama, then forward, followed by a lot of drama, the usual 2 steps forward 65 steps back 70 steps forward, 3 steps back 4 steps forward, 2 steps back OH ALRIGHT I WILL GET ON. But I’ve never met one yet who didn’t figure out it wasn’t threatening and what the rules of the game were (go forward, that there is a trailer ramp involved is of no consequence). You can either stand in front and tap them to have them follow you up or stand off to the side where they ultimately learn to self load, and you don’t create the sense of confined panic that butt ropes and energy/aids from behind them tend to create. You also don’t get in a pulling war, which of course you know you won’t win.

In your case it may be a good idea to use this technique to have her go forward into a few different footings, light/shadow, different situations, so she starts to understand the drill as well as understand you can be trusted, then go to the trailer.

My guy didn’t have an accident, but he was a young, carefree fjeral fjord whose first time on the trailer involved a really, really long trip and being unloaded/reloaded once along the way. He really had ZERO intention of ever getting in the Evil Box ever again and I’m not sure I could argue with his logic. And being a fjord, with a fjord neck and a fjord body, I’m not sure a front end loader would have done the job! He was the implacable mountain of NO MOVEMENT. In fact the first taps might as well have have been butterfly kisses. It ended up more like THWACK THWACK THWACK until he finally looked at us with utter disgust and moved… a toe. About 10 seconds later he got the premise, and the thwacks were back to taps with movement. That’s when he tried every possible direction instead of forward. And if you can stop a freight train of a from from running over you, you can stop anything, Just be prepared to put that whip up (not to hit them, but to make yourself very big highly undesirable to run over the top of).

Don’t think of that stage as “disobedience”, think of it as a Q&A session.

“Is this right?” No. How about this? No. Maybe this? No. How about I do all three of the last things at once and see if that is what you want? No. SWEET JESUS WOMAN WHAT DO YOU WANT? Oh, you want me to put my foot on that horrid black stuff? Sheesh, why didn’t you just say so? Humans <rolls equine eyes> …Oh wait, you want me to put ANOTHER foot on there? WHAT MADNESS IS THIS?. I’m backing up to the barn. QUIT TAPPING ME WHY WON’T YOU QUIT WITH THAT CRAP? Fine. I’ll go put a foot on the black thing and see if I can stop you from being annoying. Wait ,you STILL want another foot on there? OMG you are evil!! Fine, I’ll do it. Oh, hey, carrot!

So long story short, even though he hates loading with every fiber of his being, he self loads every time, all the time. Although because he is a fjord, and we taught him the cue to self loading involves being tapped on the withers, I cannot load him without taking the whip out and giving him the cue. It’s a small price to pay!

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#15

My 4 year old used to load like a champ. But he got a bad case of cellulitis from a leg injury, and after hauling to the vet and staying there for a few days, he did NOT want to get back on the trailer to go home. It was a straight load bp, not walk through. We had vets, vet techs, other clients all trying to help us, trying everything to get him on. I had to call it off that day when someone tried using a chain lead and he absolutely shut down.

I called my friend to ask her to bring her stock trailer the next day, and went out early in the morning with my boyfriend to try one more time with my trailer before she picked hers up. It took about an hour and a half, but we got him on. And at least half of that was trying various “work away from the trailer and rest at the trailer” methods. He had gotten it in his head that pressure on the lead rope asking him to walk to the trailer meant to back up like crazy, often yanking the lead rope out of your hand (thank god he didnt run off, just stood there until you got him). It took me taking a deep breath, summoning all the patience I could, and taking it one step at a time. Literally. I clipped a lunge line on so if he backed up I had more line to let out, that nipped that in the bud since he stopped before the line ran out and I could immediately ask him to walk back up and PRAISE him once he did.

Then the fun part: I stood in the trailer, put the tiniest bit of pressure on him to ask him to step up, and relaxed and gave him some hay (had no treats) if he leaned even the slightest bit forward. It took forEVER, but I finally got it built up to where I could get him to go in.

The key was praising him lavishly for every single little try, and letting him take periodic breaks walking away from the trailer. He wasn’t being naughty, he was genuinely concerned that going to hurt if he went in there. So I had to convince him that no, it wouldn’t, and he would even get lots of goodies if he tried. He is much, much better now.

Granted, you have to be able to pick up on the tiniest try for it to be effective. And have the attitude of “I have all day and I won’t get mad at you for being worried”. I think this would help yours since her problem sounds just like my guy’s.

1 Like
#16

@OzarksRider that’s a great suggestion to have her turn around–she would i’m sure feel much safer. Sadly, I don’t think there’s room for that in this trailer. But I have a friend with a large 4 horse that has side ramp and back ramps, so you can walk through and down that might be the best way to get her comfortable with the ramp again. right now we’re using the step-up (less likely for slipping as she hesitates)

@Brown Derby 2x4 is a great suggestion to level out the ramp some in a safe way! thank you!

@DMK She is given treats to reward progress in between as well. In your suggestion for the wither tap–would that be the person leading tapping from in front of the horse, or would it be someone standing to the side?

#17

Same person holding the lead line as is tapping because you are much faster to “release” if you are feeling the horse through the lead line. Two people would probably lead to mismatched cues!

If the “stick” is long enough you can reach from either position, but from the side is easier. But I far prefer one of these ( training stick ) over a dressage whip, I just hold the lash in my hand so it is only a stick, not a whip. The problem with a dressage whip is it is very flexible at the end and in order to strengthen the tap it becomes much more like a sting, whereas the more rigid stick is similar to you poking them with a finger, annoying, but not threatening or painful.

I love the idea of using a big trailer with a back and side ramp. I think a lot of walk on up, walk on out sessions would be good therapy!

#18

Blob99, what type of trailer do you have (slant load, 2-horse straight load, stock, etc.)? And how big is your horse? My trailer is a custom stock type, 6 ft. wide, and my 15.1 hand horses turn around in that with no trouble.

I think the idea of using your friend’s 4-horse trailer for practice is excellent. I really think your mare is worried about coming off the trailer, and that’s where she needs to get her confidence back.

#19

The current method I use for my hesitant to load horse is a different version of pressure/release. He can stand there on the ramp and/or move forward for as long as it takes. However, if he takes a step backward, he is quickly backed for several strides. He is then lead up to the trailer again. Typically takes 2 backings to get him on. Coming home from wherever we went, he loads on the first try. Due to slipping, I would understand if you don’t want to try this method.

#20

It’s a two horse straight load with a ramp–there is a divider between the two. This is the trailer where she slipped.
”‹”‹”‹
right now for training I’m using a two horse slant load step up because if she’s going to hesitate, I’d rather not risk the slipping at this stage and risk her losing trust even more. She’s ridden in this trailer actually more than any other. It’s a friend’s and we show together–taking this trailer. My horse usually rides in the second slot and was always comfortable getting up in that smaller spot. For practice I’ve been loading her with the divider open as if she was going in the first spot, but it’s much too tight for a turn.

She’s only 15hh, but she’s WIDE and sturdy (a drafty mustang).

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