Trailering tips *UPDATE* I'm so Proud!!!

[Cait]

Lena is moving to the boarding barn to start her training....Yay!

One problem....she doesn't load. Full out bucking, kicking, pulling, etc...

I know that I need to work with her on loading, problem is I don't have a trailer. So I have never been able to work with her on it. Hopefully, at this barn I can use the owner's trailer (I'm using hers to haul Lena) and practice.

But anyways...

Does anyone have any tips on getting her to load? I don't want to fight her and I would hate to bribe her (don't think she would fall for food anyway). I will use a rump rope if I have to, but I'm not very experienced with using one. When I went to pick her up when I got her, the guy used one, let it fall around her ankles, and when she reared up, I thought for sure she was going to fall over backwards and get hurt. I'm scared of that happening again.

I've debating using one of our mini's as bait as they load no problem and helping Lena to see that it is ok. Only thing is, then what do I do when we get her in and shut the door. Me, the mini, and someone else is going to be stuck in there with her. (I can't haul the mini with us because when we drop off Lena, we drop off the trailer and there aren't any escape doors)

So...suggestions anyone?

[BarnBum]

You are asking for an injury if you don't work with her before she goes to the trainer. From loading and being comfortable in a trailer to hauling her around.
To just "bribe" or "rump rope" her in a trailer and *hope* she trailers ok to the trainers is an accident waiting to happen

You need to get a trailer and work with her

[Horselady44]

I totally agree with Barn Bum...maybe you can borrow the BO trailer for a few days and just practice with the horse.
Another thing before trying to load her...a good thing to teach her is to 'step up' I teach all my horses and young ones that. It sure makes trailer training go alot faster. Get a pallet or two and a peice of plywood put the plywood on the pallet and work with her on stepping just one foot onto the plywood. Reward her when she places just one foot on there. Then let her step back down...if shes totally comfortable with that then go to getting both feet up there. Sometimes if you just make her hold the one foot up there after 2-3 mins she will get tired of holding that foot there and either try to pull it off(which you correct her if she does) or she will 'step up' with the other foot. Give her a nice reward and praise and then let her step back down. Work on just her front feet for awhile. Then ask her to step up with all fours and BACK down...This will espiecally come in handy if you ever load her into a straight load trailer...as their only option is to back out. I think if you practice this your trailer loading experience will go much smoother. Make sure you give her a voice command such as 'step up' or 'load up' so when she goes to the trailer she will remember what you want. I would def give her a treat when she gets in the trailer. And DO NOT just shut the door behind her...make sure you make her comfortable in there. Also, after you load her...UNLOAD her...and do it again. Make it fun for her so she enjoys being trailered...instead of 'shoving her in there' and slamming the door behind her and then hauling her...it will be very stressful and unpleasent for her. So, once you get her in there...give her some treats and pets tell her what a good girl she is and make her comfortable...then unload her and do it again

[Cait]

Sigh, I was afraid you guys would say that...

The OP won't let me borrow her trailer that long because she allows her other boarders to use it and she practices with her horses quite a lot. I would LOVE to have a trailer and just work with Lena on. I would LOVE to have Lena be able to just hop right up there comfortably. Unfortunately, I won't get that until Lena is at the barn.

And Lena will not even get close to the trailer. I'm pretty sure that she had a really rough past because sometimes she acts as if I am going to hit her (which I have never done) and as soon as that trailer comes into view. She just plants her feet. Not to mention she is so hard to gain trust. She still doesn't trust me and I've had her for 3 months now. So it will seriously probably take me days to work with her. Most likely, I will work with her a bit when we load her Friday, but other than that, I just don't know what to do...Would it be bad to put her in the trailer just to get her to the barn and go from there? I feel like I need to gain her trust and respect (we are still working on that also) before I can work on trailer loading...am I wrong here?

Horselady- I would love to be able to use your technique, but like I said, I don't have the trailer or the time to work with her...I would once I got her to the barn...but until then...

[BarnBum]

Originally Posted by Cait

Sigh, I was afraid you guys would say that...

The OP won't let me borrow her trailer that long because she allows her other boarders to use it and she practices with her horses quite a lot. I would LOVE to have a trailer and just work with Lena on. I would LOVE to have Lena be able to just hop right up there comfortably. Unfortunately, I won't get that until Lena is at the barn.

And Lena will not even get close to the trailer. I'm pretty sure that she had a really rough past because sometimes she acts as if I am going to hit her (which I have never done) and as soon as that trailer comes into view. She just plants her feet. Not to mention she is so hard to gain trust. She still doesn't trust me and I've had her for 3 months now. So it will seriously probably take me days to work with her. Most likely, I will work with her a bit when we load her Friday, but other than that, I just don't know what to do...Would it be bad to put her in the trailer just to get her to the barn and go from there? I feel like I need to gain her trust and respect (we are still working on that also) before I can work on trailer loading...am I wrong here?

Horselady- I would love to be able to use your technique, but like I said, I don't have the trailer or the time to work with her...I would once I got her to the barn...but until then...

Ok, you just said, she HAS NOT gained YOUR TRUST. How are you going to convince her to get into a trailer w/out any sturggle.

Sounds to me, you need to step back and put training on the back burner. You got other hurdles to deal with FIRST. Sounds to me you are mentally pushing her too much if her HUMAN TRUST is not there. You need to step back with her and work with her first and gain your trust so she will do what you ask of her ... same with the trainer.

IMO- You are pushing her too far too fast .... She has NO trust in you, and you want to trailer her and get her trained

Take about 10 steps back and rethink this .......

[TXquarterhorsegal]

Be careful with the rump rope. We had a horse at our barn last year that refused to load, they put a rump rope on her and pulled. She reared up, the rope slipped down, and they accidentally pulled her feet out from under her. She fractured her skull and died the next day. The owners were heartbroken.

[Valerie62]

Originally Posted by BarnBum

You are asking for an injury if you don't work with her before she goes to the trainer. From loading and being comfortable in a trailer to hauling her around.
To just "bribe" or "rump rope" her in a trailer and *hope* she trailers ok to the trainers is an accident waiting to happen

You need to get a trailer and work with her

I completely agree with BarnBum -- and from experience too. I decided to take my mare to a show in May of this year ... thinking she'd get on the trailer no problem. And I had a trailer too, but didn't think I needed to practice first. Well, it came show day, hitched the trailer and went to load. Luckily I had already decided that if I got there fine, if not fine.....because she would not load at all. Two hours later I finally got her to go in the trailer (2H straight load with manger). Then I made the mistake of having my hubby close the back door while I was still inside. She freaked out - reared up and got her front feet stuck up on the manger - she was trying to come out the little door over the manger. Miraculously I was not hurt and was able to get her out of the trailer with only one cut on her leg.

I know you say you don't have a trailer and that does make training near impossible but it is sooooo important. It took me working with my mare every day for two weeks (twice a day) before she would stand in the trailer without quivering or bolting out backwards. I had to start with just getting her to stand quietly in back of the trailer and progress from there.

I did a lot of internet research on problem loaders before starting too. Monty Roberts had some of the best techniques, as well as Clinton Anderson. Now, my horse practically loads herself! We still practice every now and then -- just getting in and out a few times without going anywhere.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGsOV_eOYXk

You have to find a way to make this a safe experience or you'll just be making it worse.

[GodsGifts]

Does she trailer fine? Is it just getting her in thats the problem?

If it's just getting her in a have a GREAT idea for the short term. My mare wouldn't load into a trailer last weekend and she HAD to be moved. It was life threatening if she stayed.
She reared and pulled. Broke 2 lead ropes.

Finally we backed her into a corner and backed the trailer up to her and kept backing it up until she had no choice...either stay squashed between trailer and fence or get on.

Kudos to her though. She stook pinned and squashed with her butt resting on the fence for about 5 minutes with me pulling and 2 guys pushing before she got on.
After she got on....that was it. She was fine.

Now she does know how to load...I've practiced with her and last time she walked on with no problem so she was having a bad weekend.

If your horse doesn't even trailer well then I agree with everyone else..don't attempt to get her on...

Even if you don't have a trailer why not just build a box and get her to walk into that?

Anyways good luck. Don't loose your cool with her. That was my first mistake with my mare last weekend.

[tahani z's momma]

i cant help any cause i dont have a trailer and my horse loads into my trainers trailer like a dream so i dont need to work with her but are there places that horse people can rent a horse trailer from? kinda like some one would rent a uhaul truck or trailer. i would love to show my horse but i dont have a trailer to take her and was wondering if there were companies that would rent out a horse trailer.

[prancingpony]

Why not hire the trainer to teach her to load???

[Horselady44]

You can still work with her on teaching her to 'step up' like I said before without the trailer. All you need is something sturdy for her to 'step up' on like a pallet and piece of plywood like said before. If I were you...beings you are bringing her to the trainer...maybe just have the trainer come out and load her...this isnt something to mess around with....there has been ALOT of horses killed trying to get them in a trailer...simply because people dont understand what to do...and mainly because people try to rush things. Dont do this as it will most likly turn out ugly....Get the trainer out to help you. It will be much safer for you and your horse
Work with her on stepping up...as it will make things go smoother when the trainer comes out...I know you are planning on doing this today...but dont do it without the trainer IMO. You want to make this a good experience...espiecally if she has had bad trailer experiences in the past. Make this good and fun for her. Not a rush rush get your A$$ in there type experience. JMO

[Cait]

Thanks for the advice everyone!

First of all...she loaded like a dream!!! I was shocked! The last time I hauled her she would NOT load. Reared, bucked, etc. She walked up this time like it was absolutely positively nothing. As if she had been doing this for years! I was SOOOO happy!

Then, we get to the barn, I unload her and the barn owner is standing there. She goes "Oh my gosh. She is gorgeous." I walk Lena past, and she goes "Bailey (her daughter) has always wanted a dappy gray...what are you planning on doing with her?" I tell her I didn't know and it depends how the training goes whether or not I sell her. So she says "Well if her personality is good and you want to sell her, I'll buy her from you. She is gorgeous."

Not that I am going to sell her, but it was nice to hear someone tell me just how gosh dang gorgeous my horse is. She couldn't get over Lena's coloring at all.

So even though it absolutely rained, poured, and blowed ALL day (we got 3 INCHES of rain today!!!!!) overall, it went great. I am still going to work with her on her trailer loading just in case but I can't tell you guys how proud I am of her!

On a sad note, Stella is looking for Lena all over the pasture...poor Stella...

[Horselady44]

Glad to hear everything went so well Its always nice when they cooperate. Makes our lives alot easier...but horses wouldnt be horses if they all cooperated But, Im glad to hear everything went well Make sure to tell us how her training goes under the 'training' thread
Take this time with Stella for bondage. Shes really looking for someone to bond to while Lena is in training...weither you have trust with stella or not...this would be a great time to really bond with her.

[WickedNag]

All that fretting for nothing... leave it to a horse to do just that