Trailer Issues!Help!

[countrygirl]

Well, my little Quarter horse mare does NOT like the trailer. And thats not good because with my Equestrian team we have atleast 2 practices a week that we have to trailer too, and not to mention the winter competitions at the Tacoma unit and Stewarts that I am competing in with her. I need some tips on how to get her to go in the trailer without taking us thirty minutes.

Thanks~

-Shay

[Buena]

Set aside time to get it done with no dust. Take more than 30 minutes. Take as much time as it takes. Best recommendation I have is to get Buck Brannaman's Trailer Loading and Problem Solving video. Excellent stuff and no dust.
www.brannaman.com/bbtldvd.htm
You may be able to find it at your library or on eBay, too.

[hooti4me]

What type of trailer is it? Did she have something else prior to you owning her? Is she calm about the trailer, or does she get all nervous about it?
What I do is LOTS of practice. I have an older 2 horse straight load trailer, (it is't one of those tiny ones) its a large 2 horse. I teach all my horses to self-load, so I don't ever have to go in the trailer with them, unless absolutely necessary.
I get myself a good halter/lead (I use rope halters) and a good dressage whip. I do the tap tap, method. As long as they are going forward, its fine, but I just do a tap tap, on the hindend.
When I first introduced my big Warmblood to my trailer, (he was used to a 2 horse slant load, prior to me) we practiced everyday, for a week. He went in and out, in and out. It was easy as pie, he never got nervous. About the 3rd day, I was keeping him in the trailer, did up all the doors, and just let him stand in the trailer for an hour, eating hay. Around the 4th day we went for alittle ride. The 5th and 6th day, we combined it all, and he was fantastic. I was then more comfortable hauling him 3 hours away for training. He still does fantastic in the trailer.
YOu need just set some time out and practice practice and practice... til its just like second nature.. horse loads and you go.

[zebradreams07]

I can tell you what I did to teach my mustang to load. Now, I was using a stock trailer and some of the details are particular to how he responds, but the general idea should work for most horses. It could be much more difficult if she has had a traumatic experience however.
It took about 4 or 5 sessions of this before he was ready to bring home from where he was being boarded, and it will take a good deal more work before I feel he is ready to trailer on a regular basis.

For starters, I used hay as a bribe because that's all he will eat. Plus, I had hay on the floor for him to eat when he actually got in, so I could just pick up handfuls as needed.
I started with rewarding him for just walking up to the back of the trailer. I would give him the hay, then back off and walk him around before presenting again. When he would stand there comfortably I got into the trailer and started bringing the hay farther and farther back until he couldn't reach it with his feet outside the trailer. (I first tried staying outside the trailer and cuing him from behind, but he didn't trust the trailer without me inside.) If he couldn't reach the hay from where he was I would keep holding it in the same place, sometimes waving it or jiggling the lead rope if he stopped focusing on it. He started picking up his feet and pawing at the edge of the trailer, and I rewarded him for that since picking his foot up was the first step to getting it in. Keep in mind that I would always give him a break after a few attempts. After a few times of this he started to think that he was just supposed to kick the trailer and make noise, so I stopped rewarding him for pawing and instead praised him when he left his toe on the edge, even for a second. When he would leave it there while he was getting his hay, I started moving back again, so that he had to put his foot farther in and start bearing weight on it.
Eventually he got to the point where he had to pick his other foot up in order to reach the hay. At first it was only long enough to reach out and snatch the hay, but as he got more comfortable trusting his weight on the trailer I moved back some more until he put his second foot down in the trailer and put weight on it. That's where I stopped the first day.
The second day he put both feet up on the first try. I put some hay down on the floor where he could reach it, so he could stand there and eat for a while. At first he wanted to grab a back and back out, then come back after he finished chewing. After a few times I started asking him to come back as soon as he backed out, and eventually he would stand there eating for several minutes. Then I started moving the hay farther back - sometimes I would have to pick some up and wave it at him to get the point across. He did pretty good until it got to where his back legs were up against the trailer; he didn't want to move them. I called it quits since most of his body was in.
The third day we hit the same snag; he would rather stretch his front body out than lift his back legs, and by the time he couldn't reach it he was so stretched out that his hind legs were leaning against the trailer. I had to get him to lift his hind feet without stretching, and I couldn't cue him from behind - whenever I used the whip, even on his rump, he shot backwards. Then I got the idea to tap his foot, rather than his body. Bingo! He picked it up and stomped like he would at a fly. The next time I pulled on the lead rope while it was in the air, and he caught the lip of the trailer before putting it back down. Third tries the charm, he put his foot on the trailer and a handful of hay was enough to put weight on it, then the other one came up. He stood and ate hay for a while, then I backed him out. After a break he got back in - no tap needed on the hind feet now - and I took him up to eat all the way at the front, before turning around to walk out. After doing this a few times he was fairly relaxed, so I stepped out and used the whip to keep him from following me. I started closing the door very slowly, once he got over the noise he wasn't too worried about it. The first time I closed it then opened it immediately, the second time I latched him and left him in for several minutes, and he ate some hay. That was it for the day, and we just kept working on that until he would load from me pointing, while I stood outside.

I know that's a lot of detail, and some of it may not apply to you, but the principle is to reward whenever a foot moves towards the front of the trailer, and take lots of breaks. Baby steps

[qhflicka]

Here is part 1. See at bottom of pages for part 2 and 3.
Nice pics and the method is explained clearly.

www.kbrhorse.net/tra/trailer1.html

[hooti4me]

The hay thing as a reward doesnt do it for me. I want my horse to trust me, and do what I ask him to do. When I was loading I reward with a "good boy" and LOTS of praise. I don't do treats anymore, unless they are in a bucket. Plus if you get into a habit of always using hay or treats, then you get in a situation where you don't have it and the horse won't load.
But what won't work for one, might for someone.

[zebradreams07]

That's the only thing I've used it for; partly because he's likely to get hay when he's in a trailer anyway, and partly because praise isn't a very strong reward for him yet - I wanted to make sure he understood when he did something right.

[hooti4me]

sometimes you have to do the hay thing.. there is a time for it.. like with your horse! But in my situations, I 've had horses with experiecne in a trailer, so I just had to do some more training, and get them to do it 'my way'
But definately there is a time and place for hay, if you need it, or treats if you need them. My words were only a caution, saying, you might want to train without them also.. as if you get somewhere and don't have it, you want your horse to load and trust you.

[winterlakesfarm]

Countygirl-

It sounds like you are close to me and I would be happy to show you some ways to deal with loading. It starts with groundwork away from the trailer. She has to be willing to yield her hindquarters to you and also give to pressure in a stressful situation. I have lots of experience loading horses who have never been hauled both for rescues and Animal Control and have gotten pretty good at it. Let me know if I can help.

[zebradreams07]

Yes, as I said, we will do lots more work before I take him places to ride - that was just to get him home so I could spend more time with him (ok, so that backfired). My old Appy mare didn't like our Brenderup at first, by the time we were done working on it she would go in halterless from 20 ft away with the point of a finger, as well as back in.

[cardicorgi]

countrygirl, can't remember if I congratulated you on your new horse. (congratulations!).

I write to urge you to take Winterlakesfarm up on her offer. She was at the show too - maybe you met already?

Jenny

[shekaberry]

I second Cardicorgi; WLF has lots of experience with loading horses in a variety of interesting situations. She can help you for sure.

[countrygirl]

Thank all you for your help, I really appreciate it! I have been working with Kahlua on it- and now she goes in SO much better. She does not like it, but she will go in. We had to get her some shipping boots and a shipping helmet because she beats herself up in it. But she is getting a lot better.

~Shay and Kahlua