Trailer Troubles

Imagine this: you're loading up for a show at 5:30 in the morning, and running late.  You grab your horse from his stall and as you try to load him in the trailer, he pulls back and refuses to go inside.  The result is a lot of lost time, and both you and your horse arriving at the grounds stressed and unhappy.  This is why trailer training is so important.  It's also commonly overlooked, and shouldn't be.

Luckily, although it will take time like all things, trailer training isn't difficult.  Make sure your trailer is safe, not only in that the horse won't cut or knock itself on anything, but also in that the trailer won't roll at all when the horse starts moving around inside.  A good idea is to hook it up to your truck; that way it won't move, and it will look the same as it will on the morning of a show.  Next make sure the door is open and tied or propped back so it won't swing shut.  Do this with any side doors as well; the idea is to make the trailer less dark and confining.

Make the trailer look as open and
inviting as possible to make things
go more smoothly

Once the trailer is safe, bring your horse out and walk him over to the trailer.  If he is nervous right off about it, treat it as if you were passing it on a trail ride.  Refer back to the exercises in Trail Safety Part 2: Off the Farm to get your horse to relax and accept that the trailer isn't going to eat him.  Once you've done this, walk over and sit down just inside, letting your horse stand outside.  Relax for a bit, rub his nose, maybe give him a carrot.  Once he's totally relaxed (level topline, soft eyes and ears, resting a back foot) stand up and step inside.  Encourage your horse to stick his head into the trailer and look around, and then have him step up with just his front feet.  As soon as he does, have him back out again.  Do this until he's chill with it, and then ask him to step in all the way.  If he gets nervous and wants to back out again, let him.  Holding him in the trailer will just make him spook more.  The goal is to make him want to be in the trailer because he knows nothing will hurt him, then he won't feel the need to back out.

A slant-load trailer

Now things will be different depending on the type of trailer you have.  Let's start with a small, open trailer (or one with a removable center partition) or a slant-load trailer of any size.  Now that your horse is inside, turn him around and walk him out.  Unless he's absolutely huge he should be able to do it.  The reason for turning around is so that when you ask him to walk out, he can walk out forwards, which is easier and more reassuring than backing up.  So turn him around and walk him out.  Practice this a few times, then get him to stand, first facing the door, then standing wherever he will be tied for travel.  If you have a slant-load, make sure the partitions are secured against the wall to make sure they don't swing open and catch your horse, or just limit his space for turning around.

Next, a two horse trailer with a center partition.  This will be very similar to an open trailer, but obviously your horse cannot turn around to walk out.  That and he won't be able to stand facing the door, which is fine. You might need to practice backing out with just his front feet a few more times, and maybe have him stand with his front feet in for a bit.

Lastly, a trailer with two doors (one in the rear, one on the side, usually in the center) is the easiest, because instead of turning around or backing out, you can just walk your horse through the trailer a few times before you let him stop inside, first near the exit door, then wherever he will be tied.
                         

A trailer with two main loading doors.

A two horse trailer with a
center partition.

Now repeat the steps above with all the doors but the loading door closed.  Once your horse is accustomed to the trailer itself, tie him in and step outside with the door open.  If your horse settles right down, you can close the door for a moment, before coming back, untying him and taking him out.  From there on you can gradually increase how long he is tied, and pretty soon you will be sitting and chatting with a friend while your horse naps away.

Happy, relaxed horses in the trailer

Once your horse will stand in the trailer for about ten minutes, you can start going for short drives.  To start just go to a quiet spot where you can take your horse out and let him graze and relax for a bit before going home.  Gradually go out longer and longer and you will find that you have a horse that will jump on the trailer and ride for hours without getting upset.  Now you can go on trail rides, compete in shows and attend clinics without having to worry over how your horse is doing on the way there!

Make sure your horse has access to fresh water and hay while they travel, and always check to make sure your trailer is in good working order.

I've included Rick Gore's take on trailer loading because it's similar to what I wrote above.  Part One  talks about the fight or flight response, has a lot of good points, and starts on the beginning of the sacking out process.  Part Two is more of the actual trailer loading process.  There are a couple bad words so be careful with the kids.

As with everything this exact process might be too fast or too slow for your particular horse, feel free to tweak it and change it to make it work for you.  Happy trails!                

Get in Touch!

Now you can email me to ask questions or request a topic!  Just address your email to btbhorsemanship@aol.com and I will get back to you as soon as I can!  I think I'll also be creating a Faceboook page, so I will update this post when that is done.  That's all, happy trails!

Update: Back to Basics Horsemanship now has a Facebook page!

Trail Safety Part 2: Off the Farm

Learn to recognize signs of tension
and fear in your horse before it
gets out of hand.

Out on the trail anything can happen, and even the most bombproof horse can get tense and frightened, not to mention rider's nerves getting the better of them.  Luckily there are plenty of things you can do to relax both you and your horse while you're on the trail.

The first thing you have to do is recognize signs of tension and fear in a horse.  Look for a high head, tense back and shoulders and extreme stillness.  Horses will also have their ears either pointed at the source of the fear, or flicking back and forth in some way.  They will stand with weight on all four legs, or dance around and shift their feet.  This is sometimes accompanied by snorting or blowing, and you will usually be able to see the whites of their eyes.

Even if you don't see all the signs mentioned above, you will most likely be able to notice when your horse is nervous, provided you're paying attention.  The first step is to retreat to a spot where your horse is comfortable again, and then take a little personal inventory.  The key here is don't feed into your horse's fear.  Focus on yourself for a moment.  Take some deep breaths, shake out your shoulders and back to relieve any tension, and just hang out for a bit until you feel calm and relaxed.  Tell yourself that you aren't going to fall, that you've got this.  Make sure that you don't tighten the reins when you get scared.  Every rider does it out of instinct, but this will only feed your horse's fear.  Keep your reins loose.

Now that you've relaxed yourself, your horse won't be as tense while you deal with the scary situation.  Ride back towards the scary thing and try to identify it.  Once you know what it is, or at least where it is, you can start to tackle the problem.  Start at the very edge of your horse's comfort zone and work your way towards the fear while doing the following exercises.  Designed to engage your horse's mind and encourage him/her to ignore whatever is frightening them, they also work to keep you relaxed and in control:

1. The first is to make circles.  This is a simple way to distract your horse, and is also helpful for loosening up the neck (and jaw if you've got a bit in) should it (they) have become stiff.  You can make the circle spiral in and out, and reverse direction through the circle, all the time moving towards the fear.  If your horse starts to react again, or if you feel nervous, stay in that area or move a little farther away until it feels good again.

See #2

2. The next thing you can do is what I call Front, Back, Left and Right.  Start standing in the middle of the trail, then walk your horse forward just a few steps, stop and rein-back, then side-pass straight over to the left, and back to the right.  Repeat as necessary.  All of this should be done fairly quickly, and the order can be changed around as desired.  As with all the exercises I will mention, they can be modified to fit what works for you and your horse.  You should still keep moving to the fear.

3. The third thing you can do, space permitting, is make a long zig-zag pattern either staying on one side of the fear and moving towards it or walking past it repeatedly, thus increasing and then releasing pressure, however far away you need to be.  Make sure you get a little closer with each pass unless one of you gets nervous again.  You can also incorporate lateral work like leg-yielding to further focus your horse and you away from the fear.

See #3

4. The last thing you can do, which is good for limited space, is to walk until your horse starts to get nervous, and then simply stand until they relax, then move forward again until you are right up to the scary thing.  This is not as recommended as the other methods, as you have to be careful because getting to stop could reward your horse for being nervous.  Strategy is key here, and the goal is to reward your horse for being brave.

This horse is trotting on the bit, very relaxed.

Something you can do for all the exercises above is to put your horse on the bit to get them supple, relaxed and focused on you.  This can be done in both a bridle and rope halter, though I wouldn't recommend doing it for long periods with a rope halter, as your horse could begin to ignore lighter cues.

This article has more great ways to relax the both of you on the ground, on trail and in the ring.

Once you've worked your way close to the scary thing, loosen your reins and just stand near it for a little while.  Allow your horse to investigate, touching and smelling it, even picking it up (so long as it won't harm the horse, or ruin something important).  Make sure you're sitting steady in the saddle, ready in case your horse scares him/herself, but not tense.  When you're both feeling comfortable, you can go on with your ride, knowing that the two of you are better for the experience.  You should always make things like this into learning experiences for both of you, instead of just avoiding the frightening thing or pushing quickly past it.  That way you know that you'll have one of the best trail horses there is, and your horse will know that no matter what comes up, their  rider will make sure no harm comes to them.  Happy trails!