Trailer Loading

Horse trailer loading techniques abound:

From using feed as a lure, butt ropes to prevent a horse from stepping back, and the "halter-pulley method," which uses leverage to practically force a horse in a trailer. But these methods usually have limitations.

One of the first things we need to do in order to get our horse loaded is to get the horse to be able to "GO FORWARD". So we will teach a GO FORWARD CUE before we get to the trailer. Ways in which we can do this are listed below.

"GO FORWARD CUE"

Tap on the hip, it means walk forward. Start out in a open field or pasture. You will be standing on the left side of the horse at a 45 degree angle from the shoulder. Have a Dressage Whip and begin by softly tapping on the horses hip until the horse takes 1 step forward. If the horse doesn't step forward then increase the tap with the crop until he moves forward one step or just a lean forward. Praise your horse as well done. Now repeat until you get consistent steps forward. When you get consistent steps forward on the left side then switch to the other side and  repeat the steps on the right side.

When you have your horse stepping forward on cue in the pasture then increase the difficulty by putting down a blue tarp, walking over poles or stepping up on a old tree stump. Use your imagination and before long you will have your horse going forward on cue no matter where you lead him, even the trailer!

Longeing

You need to be able to longe your horse over obstacles and onto different surfaces. Longeing is used to teach a horse direction, posture, power, yielding and to move off of pressure. For this exercise, we assume that you have already worked through the basics of longeing on the ground. Practice longeing your horse on good footing i.e. dirt, sand, shavings etc. then move on to concrete or pavement. Once you have that working for you, practice longeing over a tarp. Then move onto a piece of plywood.

Ground Driving

You also need to be able to drive your horse from the ground. You can’t ask your horse to ground drive until you have taught him the concept of longeing. The reasons are simple, unless your horse understands direction and power, you’ll be wasting a lot of time. And it’s easier to teach those concepts with longeing than it is by ground driving first.

Practice driving your horse on good footing i.e. dirt, sand, shavings etc. Move on to concrete or pavement. Once you have that working for you, practice driving over a tarp. Then move onto a piece of plywood. We have made a bridge that we use for training. The bridge is two feet wide and eight feet long. We drive the horse over the bridge, ask him to stop, back up, stand quietly for a while and then walk off. Once the horse has this under control, we add a piece of wood under the center of the bridge to turn it into a teeter-totter. This adds the effect of motion to the exercise which is very similar to the horse trailer giving under the weight of the horse. This is one of the best exercises to build confidence and bravery into a horse.

Backing over and through objects

Practice backing your horse over obstacles on the ground. We like to back our horses over ground poles. This does two things at once; it gets them used to picking up their feet and they are going backwards at the same time. We repeat this exercise until the horse will softly pick up its feet and step backwards over the ground poles. This can be a time consuming exercise for some horses.

Another exercise that you can do is to practice going through gates both frontwards and backwards.  We added the tarp to our gate opening to make it even scarier to the horse.  Many horses will rush through a gate because they don’t like being in a confined area. This is a real good clue that your horse will probably rush into and out of the trailer. Try to use a gate or area with a 4-6 foot opening . Drive your horse through the gate, ask the horse to stop at the gate. Ask the horse to stand quietly. When you can do this with your horse responding quietly, ask your horse to back through the gate. Then ask the horse to stand quietly. Remember to reward your horse for appropriate behavior.