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Trailer Loading a Horse
Trailer Loading Horses
Introduction
For some horse owners there is nothing as gut wrenching as loading time. It is an uncertain process that is time consuming and frequently ends in anger and sometimes dangerous situations. We breed, raise, show and trail ride horses. Learning to load is part of all our horse's routine. But because we see lots of strange horses that requires loading into a set of stocks we see many horses that have to be taught to load into them so we have had a lot of practice.
Going Forward
When you think about it, the refusal of a horse to load is the same as any refusal to go forward in a calm and directed manner. So a first step is to be sure your horse understands the command to walk and will dependably walk forward when asked to. This is best taught on a lunge line, using a lunge whip lightly, and the lesson hooked up with the voice commands: whoa and walk.
Now: Going Forward into the Trailer
Horses that have never seen a trailer before are generally very easy to teach using these principles. To teach a horse that has already become difficult and learned some of the avoidance maneuvers, requires some degree of coordination and in the case of some hard cases strength. You should have the trailer on a level surface connected to the truck which is in park and has the brake set. This is important as it is very frightening for a horse to step on an unsteady surface. The doors should be propped wide open and a little hay available in the front of the trailer if there is space for it.
Start the horse behind the trailer but far enough away he is calm and relaxed. The horse should have a good halter on and if ill behaved in hand, a chain placed over the nose. The lead should be a 6-foot cotton rope. You should have a pair of light leather gloves on. You should also have a 4-foot crop in your hand. I will start on the left-hand side of the horse, facing forward and the rear of the trailer, with the lead in my right hand and the crop in my left, trailing out behind me. It is ready to just touch the rear of the horse if need be.
Now we begin to walk forward. At the first sign of stopping touch him once lightly on the rear. This almost always results in a little goose forward. Continue to walk forward quietly goosing only when you are sure he is wanting to stop until he refuses to go forward with repeated light goosing or loads on the trailer. It is very important to not goose the horse when he is moving forward willingly. This will undo the important notion to this horse:
move forward calmly when asked and the world is a great place.
If your horse is willingly moving forward, jump on down to Getting on the Trailer.
Refuses to Move Forward
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