IT

The tendency with trailer loading, like everything else people do with horses,  is to try and bribe the horse with a treat. As in all aspects of gentle natural horsemanship training, trying to coax a horse to do something using a carrot or a bucket of grain is a no-no.  A horse should not be bribed into doing anything for you because that does not teach the horse to respect and trust you. We want our horses to view us as trustworthy leaders that they respect. When we accomplish this, the horse will enter a trailer because we ask her to do so, instead of doing it because there is a carrot at the other end. This builds confidence and respect, and like catching and leading the horse, properly trailer loading the horse will lead to success in all aspects of your relationship including riding.

    Approach and Retreat

The single key concept you need to etch in your mind for trailer loading is Approach and Retreat. With trailer loading, this is simple to execute but requires patience to do it properly. When describing how to do it, we are going to assume that you have a horse that is reluctant or scared to enter a trailer.

    Step 1: Initial Approach
The first step is to bring the horse up to the trailer without asking anything of her. Have your horse on a lead rope and halter, and bring her out and do some initial ground work for a few minutes.

Then approach the trailer. Just walk right up to it and stand next  to it.  On the first approach, do not ask her to enter the trailer. Wait there a minute or two and let her look it over and smell it.

Your goal here is to begin to teach her the trailer is not a place of fear.   Like anything else in horse training, we want to remove the uncomfortable stimulus, which is being present by the trailer in this case, before she comes unglued. Your horse may not do so before getting in the trailer, but you need to apply this procedure anyway. If the horse does come unglued just being by the trailer, time how long it takes before this happens. Then remove the horse from the situation and bring her back to the trailer.

If the horse comes unglued in say 5 seconds, bring the horse up to the trailer and let him sniff it and look it over. Count in your mind to 4 seconds-one one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand, four one thousand. Then walk the horse off in the opposite direction from the trailer, removing the stimulus.




        Before asking the horse to enter the trailer the first time, do some          groundwork exercises to establish leadership.



The first phase of approach is to walk the horse up to the trailer. Let her smell it and look around, and then walk off and move her away from the trailer.

    Step Two: Approach and Retreat Backing out of the Trailer
The next phase of trailer loading involves gradually increasing the stimulus. So next we walk the horse up to the trailer and ask her to go in. Make sure you ask for small gains and don't get greedy about what you are asking. The idea here is to lay a solid foundation one brick at a time. So we might begin with a real timid horse by just asking her to put her head inside the trailer. If your horse is difficult to trailer load but not that timid, you might ask her to put her front foot up in the trailer.

Regardless of  how far you take that first step, don't ask for anything more. A horse that is reluctant to trailer load is thinking BACKWARDS when we are asking him to get in the trailer. This is where we can apply the steal a thought idea from catching.

Let's say that the horse we are working with puts his front foot in the trailer. He might seem OK at that point, and you might have the tendency to keep asking. This is where being GREEDY gets you into trouble. If you ask the horse for more at this point he is going to start getting uncomfortable and be reluctant to enter the trailer.

Instead, when the horse puts one foot up in the trailer, then reward him with petting, verbal praise and use deep breathing to promote relaxation. Then ask him to back out of the trailer. This has several advantages:

It lets the horse gradually build confidence without coming unglued, which would put us back to square one in loading.
It helps the horse trust you, since you're slowly showing him  that the trailer is not a place to fear, without asking him to be confined in it right away.

Horses learn in slow motion-so ask them for small steps-one at a time.







Here the horse has put both front feet in the trailer, but she is nervous. We stop and pet the horse and praise her verbally for giving us what we want. Exhale loudly to promote relaxation and a decrease in energy.





Now, ask the horse to back out of the trailer instead of trying to get  more out of her in one go. This promotes gradual learning which is more effective.

    Step Three: Increase the Pressure

When you are making progress at each step, its time to turn up the pressure, but in small steps. Maybe the first time you get him to put both front feet in the trailer, you keep him in the trailer for say 5 seconds. Repeat the process two or three times increasing the length of time he is in the trailer to say 7 seconds, 10 seconds, then 12 seconds. Each time, while the horse has part of her body inside the trailer, pet liberally and provide a lot of verbal praise. You want to get inside the mind of the horse and teach her that the trailer is not a place to be feared, but is instead a place of comfort. Remember that for a prey animal like a horse, a dark confined space is going to be viewed as a place of fear, a place where they might be killed or eaten. This is instinct. We are asking a lot of them by having them overcome this instinct and get in the trailer.

But doing it gradually we are teaching the horse that the trailer is a source of comfort. At each stage, when you get a horse to make reach a major milestone, say going from just putting one front foot in the trailer to putting both front feet, when you back the horse out move him far from the trailer and walk him around to give him a mental health break. Do a small amount of groundwork before asking him to enter the trailer again.

Continue the gradual increase in pressure. Once both front feet are in, ask the horse to put one back foot in the trailer. Use the same process we have discussed so far. Instead of asking for more at that point, back the horse out of the trailer instead. Then repeat, keeping her in the trailer just a second or two longer. Eventually, the horse will put her entire body inside the trailer and be relaxed. How long it actually takes depends on your individual horse, but have patience. If you stick it out and get the horse to enter the trailer without using any treats or carrots and do it in small steps, you will have a solid horse that will be anxious to get in the trailer, instead of one that has to be coaxed in.




Repeat the process going further each time. Here, Eric has both front feet in , and is asking the horse to put her back feet in.


Now she is all the way in. Not a single treat was used and she is comfortable and relaxed in the trailer. The entire process took about 30 minutes. It may take you longer, but stay focused and patient for long term success. You might consider breaking the steps described here into sessions over several days.

This article is an exerpt from Teach Yourself Natural Horsemanship in 14 Days, available for free download with the purchase of Eric Bravo's Gentle Natural Horsemanship training video software (click here for more info).

• © 2009 Gentle Natural Horsemanship Productions Incorporated. 
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