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Trailer Loading... Help!

4K views 34 replies 10 participants last post by  Breezy2011 
#1 ·
Okay, so today we were suppose to be taking Breeze over to my boss's farm. Did not happen. Breeze has only been in a trailer once before, and it was kind of traumatizing for her, but today, after about an hour, she was going in it nice and calmly.

The problem you may ask?

The trailer is a 3 horse slant load, meaning she has to be on a slant to be able to close the divider. Every time she gets in, she loads straight, will turn around, but doesn't move her butt over far enough for the divider. Every time we try and either close it and shove her butt over, or just shove her butt over without the divider, she backs up and gets nervous...

I need ideas!!! We are trying again tomorrow, so this is urgent! We were trying to get her in and over for 2.5-3 hours today.

Help!
 
#3 ·
We don't want to do that, because my boss thinks that she will feel trapped, and then we will have problems loading in the future... if it was up to me, I would just leave her loose, but it is my boss's trailer and she doesn't want it to happen like that.
 
#4 ·
I hope that others chime in but ... this is what I came up with for a straight 2 load. Getting the front half in was NOT a problem. Them BACKING out was and being in an awkward position I could not stop them. The head tie was to high, rear and hit head, to use so I found a lower spot and a long lead that I could use as leverage.

They get part in and I leverage the lead so they can not back out. They relax and I take in more line. Repeat until in and get the head hookup done.

I load in less then 30 seconds now.

Good luck.
 
#6 ·
My point! STOP her from backing out!

So most of your problem is solved. All you have to do is hook her head down. If she is good then just use the trailer ring and ... hook her down. IF she rears some then look at the swing divider in front and put her lead threw that and down under. That's your leverage and it is low enough that she should not be able to rear. Once her head is secured..... slam the gate. Then go re-tie her to the correct trailer tie up.

Let us know how you do. I like to learn.
 
#7 ·
i think you need more than just a few hour for that... horses are claustrophobic, and when the divider is opened, she feels that she could run away, otherwise.......

So the big challenge here is to keep her very calm. She has to understand that she won't die... so i think that you have to let her move backwards, but it must be YOUR decision and not hers... so feel when she wants to go and ask her to move back before she does. and then, ask her to go inside again.
she has to understand that the comfort is inside the trailer so when she wanna go out, make it uncomfortable.

don't know if it's clear... sorry for my english :oops:
 
#8 ·
As I see it, there's two options: 1) Get her in the trailer, let her travel loose and get her to the new place - not what the boss wants but it moves her and once at the new location work on trailer loading the easy way. 2) Start now with some ground exercises that have her moving her hindquarters in a restricted area such as poles set up to form a 'box' or against fences, etc. - she may not understand, when in the trailer, that she is just to move her butt over a smidge - this may take you a bit of time and if the move has to happen fairly quickly your horse may not have had enough time to understand and accept the concept so then your back to No. 1.

Good luck and for what it's worth you're not the first person, and you certainly won't be the last person, to experience to joys of trailer loading.
 
#10 ·
I have no idea if this will work but here's what I would try if it were my horse. I'd load her. Sit there for a couple minutes petting her. Making she she was calm. Then slowly start to close the divider. A little bit. Then let her calm down. Petting and talking to her. More and more. Before you close it all the way. Back her out all the way. And praise her. And repeat. Then work up until you can get the divider closed all the way... not sure if it would work or not... but worth a try maybe?
Posted via Mobile Device
 
#14 ·
Breezy is your horse just leaning her butt over on the divider and not letting you guys push it shut?

I'd walk her in then turn her head so her front quarters turn towards the back of the trailer forcing her butt over towards the front, just turn her ever so slightly to pull the butt off balance and make it move over then I'd close the divider and make her move her shoulder over. Did that make sense?
 
#15 ·
Thanks everyone, I am taking my time with her, we will take all the time it needs, but we would like her to be there sooner rather then later. We don't want her to be scared in the trailer. I will mention it to my boss to let her ride loose in it, and when we get there, during the summer I can work on her with loading properly.

As for where I live in Sask. I am in a place where we only got a little snow last night, and now it is melted... and the roads are dry and safe. I live near Outlook, if you know where that is.
 
#16 · (Edited)
Please try and convince her to allow your horse to travel loose. If its her first few times trailering she still needs to find her balance. Tying her will probably not help her with finding her balance.

My friend had a horse that was very well trained, tied well, trailered well, not spooky at all, but something spooked him in the trailer and he freaked out and hung himself to death.

At fair practice last year someone tied their horse who wasn't the world's most respectful horse and they had a small trailer with no matts in it. The horse freaked out, fell in the trailer, and she was in such an awkward position that she couldn't get up. She tried once and kicked a window out, tried again and kicked another window out. Finally someone with common sense helped the horse with getting a rope around her legs and moving them to help her. They finally got her up and out, she damaged her leg pretty good.

My show horse last year I always tied because I only had a stock trailer with no dividers and I put my tack in the front and I didn't want her to nose it and knock it over, but then again she is the type of horse that falls asleep the moment she walks into the trailer. Not kidding.

When we first got our Thoroughbred mare we took up a friends 4-horse slant show trailer because we didn't have a trailer. We tied all the slants back and kept her loose the 5 hour ride home. She is a very claustophobic horse, we have a stock trailer which helps her a lot. But we tie her sometimes if she starts spinning in the trailer.

These are just my experiences, but let your horse learn its balance in the trailer, then worry about your slants. Horses DO NOT like to be in small spaces.
 
#18 ·
Okay, so today we were suppose to be taking Breeze over to my boss's farm. Did not happen. Breeze has only been in a trailer once before, and it was kind of traumatizing for her, but today, after about an hour, she was going in it nice and calmly.

The problem you may ask?

The trailer is a 3 horse slant load, meaning she has to be on a slant to be able to close the divider. Every time she gets in, she loads straight, will turn around, but doesn't move her butt over far enough for the divider. Every time we try and either close it and shove her butt over, or just shove her butt over without the divider, she backs up and gets nervous...

I need ideas!!! We are trying again tomorrow, so this is urgent! We were trying to get her in and over for 2.5-3 hours today.

Help!
Let us read this again with Bolding mine. What IS the problem? She backs out. "Slam" is my fault and should NOT have to be done. Once the horse is secured then closing the gate... gently and adjusting should/could be done.

HAY... I'm only saying what I've found that works for me and three horses after ... months of all sorts of things.

30 second load and NO trauma doing it. I'll make a vid later.

AND no... I'm NOT an expert and I welcome all input about loading. BUT... can you load YOUR horse(s) in 30 seconds with ease?

:D
 
#22 ·
Okay so I thought a little bit about different ideas, some of what you guys have mentioned, and what I read on the internet from different sites... what do you think would be the best idea:

1. Do it how we were today and just bring her in and out, in, out, try and move her butt and see how it works out.
2. Let her go into the trailer by herself to get grain or grass and close the divider behind her.
3. Tie her to the trailer tie when she gets in, then close the divider on her, this way she will not be able to back up.
4. Put her in the trailer, close the doors behind her, no divider, let her loose.

I am thinking about going with #3 or 4 but it is all what my boss decides to do to... I will mention these ideas to her and see what she thinks.

We also have all summer to work on trailer loading, and I would like to get her there ASAP!!!
 
#23 ·
....3. Tie her to the trailer tie when she gets in, then close the divider on her, this way she will not be able to back up.
4. Put her in the trailer, close the doors behind her, no divider, let her loose.

I am thinking about going with #3 or 4 but it is all what my boss decides to do to... I will mention these ideas to her and see what she thinks.
..
For No. 3, does the trailer have drop down feed windows by the tie rings? If so, I would suggest that it would be safer to close the divider first then go round and tie her through the window. Since she is not a seasoned loader and if she gets upset and/or panics before you get the divider closed on her, it could be extremely unpleasant for all concerned if she's tied and starts to struggle.

No. 4 is my pick under the present circumstances.
 
#25 ·
She is asking what type of trailer you have.
Is it like a horse trailer 3-horse slant that has drop down windows, or is it more of like a stock trailer 3-horse slant that just has slots. Or what does it have.

I would still go for 4.
 
#26 ·
I didn't read all the posts, but I noticed you did not want to remove all or one of the dividers. If you haven't spent time training her to load and unload under "no pressure" conditions - but now have a need, that is the easiest solution. I have never seen this negatively affect a horse's willingness to load later on.
 
#29 ·
Some photos!

This is how I load all three of my horses. Takes about 30 seconds to load, secure and close up for each.
You can read what I posted above also. The main problem was them backing out and no way could I hold them. Using the way forward tie down did not work.

To high, to far away, not enough friction and the rope could pin me. The horses could pull the rope through the tie down ring and could rear and hit their heads.


So I found another spot and the lower hinge of the divider. I pass the rope through the divider slot above the hinge to the other side then back under the divider to my side.




The horses quickly learn that they can not back out and no rearing. As they move into the trailer with a little pull, I can take in more rope. Hay and grain are there for them. I can hold the rope/horse with one hand as I go out the side door. Hook them up to the tie down that is ready, drop the lead rope, close the side door and the back door and butt bar in place.

I hope this helps and good luck.
 
#30 ·
I don't suppose there's any chance of trailering with another horse or two?

My horse was at a similar stage as yours when I got him. He had been trailered a lot before, but almost always by himself in a stock trailer. When I tried him in a slant load with other horses, he'd go in just fine, and even scoot over into position, but as soon as I started closing the divider on him he'd just back out. We were able to trailer him in the back compartment of the trailer (the other slots occupied by other horses) since it was a little roomier. Since January I've been trailering him on a more regular basis (once or twice a month to go to jumping lessons) and can now put him in the back or middle slot (and probably the front slot, but we haven't needed to try it). I think the combination of good experiences (he very much enjoys the jumping lessons) and allowing him to get used to the idea by traveling in the back compartment were what did it for him.

That's probably not a lot of help for you right now, unfortunately. But if you can load up two additional horses from wherever the trailer starts out and let them just go for a ride, then you could put your horse in the back slot.
 
#32 ·
Great News!!! Breeze is moved safe and sound!

This morning I finally convinced my boss to let her ride loose in the trailer, after tying her to the trailer tie, and her breaking the halter (we had a spare one) we called for some help, the first person we called was busy and could not come, but also confirmed it with my boss that the safest way would be to let her go loose.

After that, we got the barn owner of the place she was at to help, but that also failed... so we asked him if he could call my 'friend' (the person who always helps me with Breeze if I run into trouble) and she was there within 10 minutes.

I gave her the lead rope, let her do her thing... she lunged Breeze, brought her to the trailer, if she backed up or veered, she would lunge her again, after doing that a few times, I went behind her (but not directly behind) and smacked her every time she backed up... eventually, within 20 minutes, she was in and calmed down fairly quickly.

I was very suprised when we got to her new place because when we unloaded her she was very calm and listened very well. She did not really care about the other horses, even when I put her in her own pen... she ignored the gelding for about 5-10 minutes then went up (it is a mare thing, she is the only mare there) and after she calmed down, we put her in the barn for the very first time, and she was fairly good, then I lunged her in the round pen and left it at that...

She is very calm and not squelling or kicking at the others very much. I am very happy with this.
 
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