07/02/2025
Trailer loading is always ripe for discussion. I have since decided that much of it depends on the last time the horse was actually hauled. Many horses who have never before loaded onto a trailer will walk trustingly on—the first time—but ever afterward, they’re hard to load. Hmmm. I wonder why that is?
Sometimes, we have to get really honest with ourselves on how we are around the subject of trailering, ourselves. How are we handling our rigs out on the road? I'll put the links to some practical tips and how-tos, a few older posts, in the comments.
Now, if your horse has been largely a stay-at-homer and then, he has a long, cross-country jaunt that takes a day or so, he's naturally going to think twice before putting himself in that position, ever again.
Lyric, due to a scheduling nightmare with the transporter, ended up being FOUR DAYS on the trailer before she made it here to the ranch. Somewhere along the highway, she must have very sanely made up her mind that she wasn’t ever going to let herself be put into that fumey, rattley, tin can again… because the next time I asked her to hop onto our trailer, she quite pointedly—and understandably—said, “No way, lady. Not no way, not no how.”
So, the horses and ponies who are hard to load, or who don’t haul well, often think that squeezing into this tin can is going to be forever. How could they possibly know otherwise?
It’s up to us to show them, stepping on and stepping off again, before they absolutely need to get off. We build up to trusting them to wait in there, without slamming shut the door! (That’s a hard one for most people to do, by the way.)
Then, we repeatedly go out for short hauls… with no long hours to endure, no waiting without end, no tense excitement at the destination… until they learn that wherever they may travel, they WILL come home again. This is why my horses go with me to pick up groceries, go to the bank and fetch the mail.
I'll just randomly pick one and say, "Hey, it's your lucky day!" He'll load up, spend fifteen or twenty minutes tootling around the neighbourhood, then we're done. I'll do this with any age, or experience level, of horses, more with the ones who are struggling. I have long ago vowed that no horse of mine will have his first lifetime haul to the emergency vet visit, or to a horse show.
Any youngster who is halter broke and understands leading is old enough to begin. In fact, the younger they are, the more openminded and adventurous. I don't usually hard tie in a trailer, prefering to loop the rope through a blocker tie ring, or else, let them haul loose.
By the way, my horses haul with hay bags. I never know when a quick trip doesn't turn into a few hours away and I don't want them standing in stressful situations on empty stomachs. They don't need food lures to load but if they're on there for any more than an hour, I think they can munch. Heck, I usually have an open bag of Cheezies on my road trips, so why not them?
Buddies aren't necessary but they can be a help for a really nervous horse. Just pick your mentors wisely! The goal, of course, is a horse who calmly and quietly loads, hauls and unloads on his own. This takes practice. They're not born knowing how... and yet, many of us seem to think they should somehow have this knowledge, without putting in the time.
If you can, make loading and waiting an ordinary part of your schooling.
Best of all, if you, yourself, are a nervous hauler, you’ll also get into the rhythm and swing of being on the road again. A lot of horses wouldn’t be so bad, if their handlers could just take a deep breath and settle down. We might say our horses aren’t good haulers but usually, we could use some further work, ourselves.
Lather, rinse and repeat, if you can possibly manage it. By about the third short tootle, everyone is generally good to go.
Here, Tee and Lyric wait quietly in town, for their latest visit to the osteopath. Loading and hauling are but two-thirds of the equation; you've both got to practice chilling out, when you get wherever you wanted to go!
