I’m thinking the OP could have the same issues with a straight load as a slant if they are loading by themselves. If the horse won’t stand in a slant while tied, they likely aren’t going to stand in the straight load either while the OP goes though the escape door and around to but the butt bar or chain up.
If you’re going to haul by yourself you need to make sure your horse will go into the slot by themselves so you can close the gate or butt bar behind them.
Well I have seen the horse successfully loaded in a straight load-and straight loads are different from a slant in several ways -this is a 4 horse slant so I don’t think you could send a horse in by himself -I actually don’t see folk doing that in a slant anyway. They walk the horse in-other what I’ve seen. Also with the chest bar up and escape door at least cracked a straight load is lots roomier looking-not probably actually roomier but looks open to the horse-and me. My slant has no escape door and while the inside is roomy it’s closed off-I don’t like that!
Re the horse backing out-even when he broke the bailing twine affixed to the metal ring and then to the trailer tie, he didn’t run back just slowly backed off. Remember that’s how he was taught. When the human leaves the trailer he backs off too. The person I bought him from had a friend shut the butt bar after she walked the horse on and ducked under the chest bar.
A friend has recommended fixing the trailer tie to the metal ring, shutting the stall gate, and just letting him figure it out, but I’m scared to do that in case he really panics and hurts himself.
Two other things-have any of y’all ever heard of a slant load with a chest bar in front of the horse that a person can duck under? AND this is a good example of the ‘board or backyard’ debate. I can get my husband to help but he doesn’t know anything about horses so his help is limited. If I boarded I’d have a horse person to help, but I couldn’t afford a second horse.
Regards,
Hinton’ Fool
Two bay boys, I think the backing difference would be going around the outside of the trailer rather than walking out right next to him. Also, I could get my husband to slap a butt bar in place-but I don’t know if he could ‘play’ a horse on a lead rope-not pull too hard or too slack-you know what I mean, if I was trying the leadrope through the window. And I wouldn’t dare let him try to lead the horse on.
The more I think of it, the more I think sell the trailer.
OP, you’ve said this on a couple of threads now and I’m having trouble picturing how this is possible. You can put your left hand on the divider before you start backing away from your horse, pulling it towards the horse as you back away from his hip. Unless he’s flying backwards so fast and so violently that you can’t take a single step away from him? In which case, a straight load will only exacerbate the problem.
Well if I’m standing by his head it’s one step say, a long one, to his hip. And about two more to get to the end of the gate. I think what you’re saying is pull the slant gate towards both of us, starting maybe while I’m close to his head. Then edging it closer with my hand on his hip, I edge around the gate, another few steps, but I probably could keep my hand on his hip if I sucked my stomach in while I edged past the gate. Ok I’m going outside -it’s 815pm so I dont have the horse. But I did a walk through, and I’ll try to attach it. It took a step to get to his hip, if I started swinging the gate shut while I was next to him, I can get around it in 4 total. Probably not able to keep my hand on the hip the whole time. And his head would be free. And I’m not thrilled with the idea of swinging the gate closed with both of us in there. He does walk back when I take that first step back-slowly and quietly.
I put this and most other stuff on Hunting, my sport so similar, but also Around the Farm usually tho sometimes others, just to get a different perspective. It’s amazingly helpful. I certainly don’t mind saying it’s on two forums, I don’t think it matters.
Regards,
Huntin’Fool
Ps the video was too big to attach! And pretty dull
And as I said, on a walk through you are going around the outside, so not right next to the horse. Plus, I can get my husband to shut the butt bar-though I’m not comfortable asking him to hold a rope through the window, or certainly come in the trailer.
I get why you feel this way, but in the grand scheme of horse stupidity, holding the lead rope out the window is far safer for a non-horsey person than playing with the butt bar behind a horse that you are worried might back out suddenly.
Edit to add - horse stupidity is the horse being stupid and doing stupid things. Nothing to do with the humans being stupid.
You are right about being outside! But it’s hard to explain about ‘hold him tight enough to keep him in but not too tight or he’ll pull back’ to a non horse person who’s never done it.
And oh yeah! A butt bar can fly like a club. To this point the horse hasn’t flown back, just walked-but no guarantee of course. Makes a case for boarding! Lol
I know it can be hard to find a trainer to work on this at your place. But if you hunt regularly, are there other folks who haul in a slant that you trust? Watch for senior members who have quiet and well-behaved horses and inquire if they’d be willing to help you? Or at least ask if it’s ok to watch their method and try it with your horse?
I have a horse who was willing to be led on any trailer. She had only traveled on larger trailers (3 horse slants up to 6 horse head-to-heads). And while she would lead into my 2 horse straight, it took several sessions to get her self-loading. But one thing you need to train onto your horse is WHOA. It must be rock solid whether you keep the slant or not, especially if you’re going to be loading solo. Getting good help from a competent and patient horse person will also help with your anxiety! Good luck.
I have a slant and all my horses load by themselves. they do it in my straight load also.
Once they’re in I go in and shut the divider. Then if I’m going to tie them, (I usually don’t) I go around through the drop windows and tie them.
@Huntin_Fool I totally agree you should not tie the horse with an unbreakable tie and let him “figure it out.” I feel like that would be setting up a situation where the horse might hurt itself or really panic and become traumatized about trailering at all.
Do you have anyone who can give you an assist with practicing loading? When I’m trying to teach a horse to load on my slant load, I use an assistant and I hand the lead rope out the window to them and tell them to hold it very gently, just enough to mentally cue the horse that they are being held by the person outside the window. I also have the assistant feed the horse some treats, not as a reward, but to get the horse to pay attention to the person at the window. I pat the horse and push them into their slant position before messing with the divider. And I go really slow about it, casually patting the horse and moving back and forth a little before going for the divider. Once the divider is closed, I go to the window and praise the horse and feed a treat myself, and I preserve this routine for a while with inexperienced horses so they anticipate me closing them in with me coming to their window with a treat.
If the horse starts going back, the handler lets the rope slide back through the window and we don’t try to stop the horse in any way. And we just start over, as many times as it takes for everyone to be totally bored and relaxed about it. I have never come across a horse that keeps backing off as some kind of a game, though I guess a horse could. But I usually trailer alone to meets so I value preserving a “no big deal” attitude about loading.
I had this problem with one of my horses . . . he would load but not stay. What worked for me was making outside the trailer the uncomfortable place to be. I would let him come out, then the minute his feet hit the ground make him work–yield the hindquarters, lunge both directions, anything to make him a little uncomfortable. I worked him right by the trailer entrance because I wanted him to learn that leaving the trailer meant instant work. Then back into the trailer and relax. I never tied him in the trailer because it had to be his decision to stay in. I also never tried to stop him from leaving, either by a lead rope or by saying “Whoa.” I just stood outside the trailer and waited for him to decide to leave or stay. It took a LOT of repetitions, and we still have trailer loading practice days, but he’s pretty reliable now.
I have a stock trailer, but I don’t think the type of trailer matters. The issue isn’t the trailer; the issue is that the horse won’t stay put. With a slant load you may have to adjust where you stand, but the key is to make him responsible for staying in, and you do that by making outside the trailer uncomfortable. Also, if you think part of the issue is that he thinks he is supposed to come out when you start to leave, take the trailer out of the equation and practice parking him and walking away in other places.
Horse had to figure what you wanted for himself, why it took long.
Another way is to install a whoa outside, then practice it in different situations, in the trailer also.
That works well also and the horse learns a useful skill, to stay put, stand wherever told to stand.
With this horse, the issue was that he just didn’t wanna stay in the trailer. He knew perfectly well what was expected of him. He’s also claustrophobic so had some anxiety about the trailer, and it just took time for him to feel comfortable. I don’t mind that it took a lot of time, because I wanted the end result to be that he sees the trailer as a comfortable place to be, no matter how long it took. The big payoff for me was the day he walked over to the trailer and got on all by himself while I was 100 feet away putting a halter on my other horse. That got lots of positive reinforcement and I was so proud of him! I don’t doubt that a more experienced horse person could have done this faster, but that’s not me.
“All roads lead to Rome”, in horse training also. 
This was the approach a cow-boy type used-when he took a horse for training–make it uncomfortable (pressure?) outside the trailer. The discomfort was not draconian—just that the horse could not just stand there and not have to work at something.) It was an eye-opener approach.
Yes, there’s no need to work the horse sweaty. Also no need to try to force the horse to load; just make it so that he would rather load and stand still than stay out and move his feet. A cowboy type trainer once told me that yielding the hindquarters so that the back feet cross over is a calming move for horses, and I’ve found that to be true with my horse. It takes some practice to learn when, how, and how much to apply pressure and when to release, but it’s very effective when you get it right (and I’m very much still learning).
This comment surprised me, although when I thought about it maybe not so much. With my horse, you could tap him on the butt all day and he would not move. Ditto for running a rope out the window and applying pressure. Same for standing in the trailer and begging him to load. And absolutely nothing would make him stay put. The technique of making him work when he left the trailer and then letting him find relief in the trailer worked like magic.
Interesting about the crossing over the hind legs-I have watched some Tristan Tucker videos and that is part of what he does–(I am not sure I quite get --yet-about the goal of making the horse aware of her/his body/self?.) But I could see they definitely start relaxing with that exercise…
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