Page 8 midwest horse digest April 09
Trailer Loading
By Ken McNabb with Katherine Lindsey Meehan
an Equiface Saver as well. This pro- ders, hips, and can put your horse’s head
tective headgear will keep your horse down on cue, you are ready to move to the
from getting hurt if he does throw his trailer.
head up or bump into anything in the Bring your horse near to the trailer, and review
trailer. You will also need a light dres- the exercises you just practiced. This is to
sage whip for part of this exercise. remind your horse that nothing has changed.
Find a safe area away from the trail- He still is expected to give you the same
er. You want to practice the ground responses, and you will give him the same
work exercises somewhere without rewards even though you are in a different
the added pressure of the trailer first. location. Once you have reviewed things and
Your horse may already know these he is being responsive, bring him up to the
basic ground work exercises, but trailer door. If you are dealing with a young
even if he does you should review horse who has just never loaded before and he
them so they are fresh in his mind. gets right in, let him, and reward him for it. If
Start by moving your horse’s shoul- you are dealing with an older horse that has
ders away from you as you send him off in a some fear issues around the trailer, don’t let
Having a
circle around you. Point with one hand, then him get in. If he does get in, don’t make a big
horse that
reinforce the cue by swinging the tail of your deal of it but ask him to come right out again.
will calmly
lead rope if your horse doesn’t move in the Ask your horse to put his head down. He
and safely get
direction you pointed. He should step off, mov- should stay focused on the inside of the trailer,
in and out of the
ing his shoulders away from you and not in not looking all around.
trailer in any situation is very important. The
towards you as he does. If he does push his If your horse backs away when you ask him to
trailer is a relatively small, enclosed space,
shoulders in to you, step towards him and drive come up to the trailer, don’t pull on his head.
where you and your horse can get hurt easily if
his shoulders away. When you get a step in Instead, stand to the side of him and tap his hip
things go wrong. So it is vitally important that
the right direction, release the pressure and with the dressage whip to cue him to move for-
you take the time to work with your horse
pet him. ward. When he does take a step towards the
before you need to go somewhere in the trail-
Once you can move his shoulders away, trailer, stop tapping. Work with your horse on
er. The day you are trying to get him to the vet
review moving his hips. Ask him to step under the head down cue just outside the trailer door
for urgent treatment is not the day you want to
himself with the hind leg closest to you, cross- until he is relaxed. There is no sense in asking
find out he doesn’t load well.
ing it in front of the outside hind leg. When he him to get in the trailer until he is completely
I believe trailer loading problems are caused
has taken as many steps as you wanted, calm. You are just asking for a wreck if you do.
by two things. One is a legitimate fear of the
release and reward him. Periodically back your horse away from the
trailer. This is usually caused by a bad experi-
Then, practice the head down cue. This is trailer and lead him up to the door again.
ence in the past. The other is a leading prob-
especially important if you are working with a Next, ask him to load up. Stand outside the
lem. If your horse really leads properly, he
horse that pulls back in the trailer. Put your trailer door, point with the hand that holds the
should follow you anywhere, including into the
hand on the lead rope below where it connects lead rope, and if he doesn’t go forward tap his
trailer, without pushing on you or resisting.
to the halter, and put slight downward pres- hip with the whip. When he gets in the trailer,
For both fear and leading problems, I start with
sure. Hold the pressure, neither increasing or follow him in and pet him while he stands for a
the same exercises to build trust and explain to
decreasing, until your horse lowers his head. little while. Then, before he makes the choice
my horse what the lead rope means. I like to
Release to reward him, and ask again. You to back out, you make the decision and back
use a rope halter for these exercises. That
want to practice this until you can get your him out of the trailer. If he does start to go
way there is no hardware or snaps banging on
horse’s head all the way to the ground. Now backwards on his own, do not pull on the lead
my horse’s head. I highly recommend using
that you have reviewed control of the shoul- rope trying to stop him. If you do, it is likely that
he will just throw his head up in the air and hurt
himself, making his impression of the trailer
worse. Leave the lead rope slack, stay calm,
and as soon as he is out of the trailer ask him
to get right back in immediately. If you are in
a position where you can keep giving him a go
forward cue with light taps to the hip as he
backs out, do that, but otherwise don’t make
divider. When you open the divider, your horse
should stand quietly and wait for your cue to
get off the trailer. Repeat all the steps outlined
in this article hundreds of times until you can
get the same response every single time you
ask. Teach your horse to get on the trailer
calmly every time you need him to. When you
have to go somewhere with him, you will be
glad you put a solid foundation in place.
Until next time, may God bless the trails you
ride.
For more information on Ken McNabb’s pro-
grams call us at 307-645-3149 or go to
www.kenmcnabb.com.
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