Practice Loading Your Horse like a Champ

Sarah, our mare, grazes near the trailer

We had concluded a few weeks of training with Ben, our trainer, and it was a hot afternoon. Montana would go to the back of the trailer and then shy away. He had repeatedly loaded well before in the same trailer. Today, no matter what we did, Montana would not load. Finally, Ben did something that is not according to Hoyle in horse-loading circles. He went in the trailer first and led Montana in. The Paint went in. End of problem.

But truly, walking a horse inside a trailer is something Vallerie Sweeton, head trainer at Horses of Hope Riding Center Inc., in Baxter Springs, Kansas, won’t do, she said. If the horse startles or has a fit, that leaves the person in a very confined place with the horse. I had interviewed Sweeton for Horse & Rider. Montana had a lot of anxiety that day. We have learned that the secret is to teach your horse the “go forward” cue so the horse will go forward without hesitation – anytime, anyplace.

Give a little tap, with a crop if you like, and forward the horse goes. Practice this every time you are with the horse. Exposing horses to trailers so they won’t be afraid to load when the time comes is always a good idea, as well.

Perri's Riding Crop

In the “4-Step Trailer Loading” article I wrote, Lisa Bockholt, a select John Lyons certified trainer from Kingsville, Texas, says to “not make it about the trailer.” She advises if a horse hesitates going in, go somewhere else and practice the “go forward” cue for a while out of view of the trailer. Sweeton did this when we were with Jet, the Paint she loaded for the article.

Also important is teaching the horse to unload. Let the horse go in and out and prepare for a lot of pawing. There are gentle and not-so-gentle techniques for trailer loading. During a demonstration between three trainers at a show, a huge jumper wore a leather device to protect its head as it would bolt inside the trailer when it was in it. But it would not go in during numerous attempts. The trainer folded the gates around the horse to force it in and concluded his portion. The horse could be heard hitting his head on the top of the trailer. An audible groan came from the audience.

The other trainers, Clinton Anderson and John Lyons, showed patience and gentle methodology. The young horses were skittish and fearful each time they got near the trailer. Anderson used a circular lunging exercise to eventually get the horse to load. Lyons’ method was to get the horse to trust him. He lunged the horse around the round pen, stopping, petting its nose, touching it, getting some connection with the horse. He practiced the “go forward” cue.

But at the end of the two-hour session, the horse would not load, though he would come to the back of the trailer and stand and give a “try.” Lyons said he was not going to force the horse to load. He said he would come back the next day and load the horse. The next day, within 10 minutes the horse was loaded. And the horse repeatedly loaded and unloaded. Practice, practice, practice the “go forward” cue to get the horse to load. Remember, learning to load doesn’t always have to be at the trailer. But it always takes patience.

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Neal McChristy is a freelance writer with over 25 years journalism experience in magazine, newspaper and Web-based work. He has been contributing editor for a magazine column in the wide-format industry for seven years. He also has over 16 years’ experience as reporter and editor in the printing and imaging area. He and his wife have three horses.

They were "green," knowing little about horses when they began to acquire them in 1998. They learned about them through training lessons by Pat Parelli, John Lyons and others in the field of "gentle training" and "natural horsemanship". Neal lives in Pittsburg, Kansas, and currently writes action-adventure novels, which he has done for over 10 years. You are welcome to contact him at freelance9@cox.net All your equine supplies, for loading horses and more, can be found at Jeffers Equine.