Teaching your horse to load reliably and happily will make your equestrian life so much easier and less stressful. This isn’t just a bonus, or even a nicety for those who compete. If you ever need to transport your horse, to the vet, for example, knowing that your horse will load and travel without problems will make even the most daunting journey more bearable.
Trailering or floating your horse happily is the norm for many equestrians. Some horses though aren’t so accommodating, and can take a little persuasion to load. There are several methods to help make loading less onerous, but groundwork is the key. Spending time on groundwork with your horse will always pay dividends later down the line.
This article will help to give you ideas to get your horse loading easily and without stress. Read on to find out the 5 ways to load your horse.
Why won’t my horse load?
As all horses are individuals, so are their reasons for refusing to load. Why won’t my horse load doesn’t simply have one single answer.
Answer the following:
- Is your trailer is good order?
- Is the roof high enough for the horse?
- Are both the ramps solid? If your trailer has shakes and rattles, and/or has a less than sturdy ramp, and such a low ceiling that he has to duck, you shouldn’t be surprised that your horse would rather not travel it.
- Has your horse had a bad experience? Any bad experience will invariably to some reticence to load in the future. Whilst we can’t go back and change what’s happened, we can put some work in to make all future trips more enjoyable, and lessen the chance of a loading refusal going forward.
- Have you spent time practising loading? Practice, practice, practise. This should be your watchword for loading/floating. If you spend time on the groundwork then the actual loading shouldn’t be so daunting, and your horse will understand what you’re asking immediately.
- Are you calm and confident? It’s easier said than done, but remaining calm, confident, and firm, are absolute musts. Getting stressed and angry is not going to make your horse load any faster. In fact, it’s likely to achieve the direct opposite. Be aware of your body language; remember that you are trying to show leadership, not dominance. Squaring your horse up and yanking at the lead rope is never going to work. If you get into a tug of war I can guarantee you that you will not end up victorious.
- Have you tried loading onto a box and a trailer? Do you have the same problems?
- Does your horse load better with a companion?
- Does your horse prefer to face forward, backwards, or herringbone? If you can borrow a friends trailer/lorry or one that a horse travels in a different orientation, see whether your horse is more inclined to enter on these. Also try loading with and without a companion to see if any of these make a difference.
Remember that you’re not trying to ‘win’ against your horse. You’re trying to find any way to make their life (and yours) easier and less stressful.
How to load a horse
First and foremost think about your safety. Wear a hard hat and sturdy boots and make sure that your trailer is on a surface that isn’t slippery or too hard if you think it’s likely that the horse will be less than thrilled at the thought of loading. Always use a lunge line or extra long lead rope. You want to remain in control, but have the option of getting out of the way quickly should it be necessary.
Steps:
1: Open up both ramps
2: Hang up a hay net
3: Halter your horse and clip on a long lead rope or lunge line. Use a bridle on top if required
4: Walk confidently up and into the trailer with your horse following
5: Secure the breast bar and tie up your horse with a quick release knot (remove bridle)
6: Secure rear bar
This is obviously the ideal way of loading your horse. However loading is not always so quick and easy.
Loading a problem horse
When you’re loading a problem horse you firstly need to make sure that you’re in no rush to be anywhere. Impatience will be your undoing!
After making sure that there’s no physical reason that your horse won’t load; this goes for the trailer as well as the horse, make sure that you are parked in somewhere safe with a surface that’s not hard. An arena is ideal. This way there is limited space should your horse wish to make a bid for freedom, and should your horse have a rearing/bucking episode they will be safe if they overbalance themselves.
The most common 5 ways to load a horse are as follows:
- Straight on with no problem – the Holy Grail of loading, especially with difficult horses
- Coercion – usually double lunge lines used behind horse, crossed to encourage horse forward
- Feed reward – great for greedy horses. Often used in conjunction with other methods
- Lunging – keeping the horse moving when it refuses to load, especially if planting on the ramp
- Desensitisation – very often used with food. Aimed at getting a nervous horse used to a trailer, especially after a break or bad experience
Whilst we’d all like to gleefully skip up the ramp with our horse following at a sensible pace behind, all smiles and sunbeams, most of us will experience a bad loader at least once.
If your horse won’t load onto the trailer, we’ve all heard of how others would deal with the situation; from using brooms, whips, even tractors to get the horse to load. All this does is reinforce to the horse that loading is a negative experience and should be avoided at all costs. It is quite simply more likely to make your horse worse at loading not better.
Crossed lunge lines
In my mind, using crossed lunge lines are just as bad. It gets your horse thinking about what’s behind it rather than looking forward and loading willingly. I’m sure you’ve been told by an instructor at least once to ‘look where you’re going’ as that’s where the horse will go. If you’re stood on the ramp facing your horse tugging on a lead rope whilst others wrap lunge lines behind him, where do you think he’s concentrating on? You are effectively blocking his way forward (think about when you make yourself big in the field when your horse comes barrelling towards you).
So, you’re blocking his way forward, and others are nagging at his behind. The only way to go is front hooves up and run out to the side. He really doesn’t have any option.
Sometimes, just shaking a feed bowl will work miracles. The lure of food should never be discounted. However, still practice loading on a regular basis and change the amount and type of food used. Sometimes a pat and a carrot is all that’s required. Other times, a larger feed or a handful of horse treats should be used. Never the same each time. This means that whilst your horse is aware that there is a positive end to being in the trailer, they don’t get bored of the same old, same old.
Lunging Method
Lunging is by far the kindest and most positive way to help a horse get over a loading phobia in my opinion. It does however take patience and practice. And a bit more patience after that….
- Use the bridle/head collar that you would normally use to lunge
- Attach lunge line
- Pat your horse
- Be confident
- Lead horse up the ramp and into the trailer
- If the horse stops at any time ask it to back up a few paces and ask to enter the trailer again
- If the horse stops again ask it to back up several steps then lunge for 2 or 3 circles (no faster than trot)
- Ask to enter trailer
- Each time the horse stops, back it up and lunge before trying again
- At no point allow the horse to rest or hesitate, especially on the ramp
- The rest and reward is being fully on the trailer
- Pat and treat your horse
It sounds simple enough but it can be incredibly tiring and frustrating for both you and your horse. My gelding, who had always loaded perfectly until one day he just said ‘no,’ took an hour to get the message the first time I tried this. I admit to being almost ready to give up, and ached for days as he’d been quite strong-willed on the lunge.
When I investigated this method I read that some horses actually throw themselves around. Thankfully I didn’t experience this. As long as your horse hasn’t harmed himself, keep going. You know your horse though, so if you feel it is not working for you and your horse try a different method. I would probably have called it a day after an hour and a half if I hadn’t seen progress by then.
However, the second time I tried it only took half an hour and kept reducing from there. We’ve never got to walk straight on like we used to, but that’s mainly down to lack of consistent practice as we’ve always had to borrow trailers. Now that I have been fortunate enough to get a trailer of my own we’ll be putting in regular practice. Hopefully we can lose the lunge line altogether.
If you have your own trailer and your horse has had a bad experience, or is quite nervous you can try feeding your horse in the trailer until it happily loads itself. The try putting up the bars. Only go as far as your horse is comfortable with. Don’t rush and not only will you have a horse that loads willingly but you’ll have created a stronger bond.
Conclusion
If you’re trailer loading a difficult horse then you’ll need patience and a calm nature. There are various ways to approach loading horse into trailer, and trailering a difficult horse; from desensitisation to coercion. If you’re ever considering what to do if your horse refuses to load, then if the shake of a treat bucket doesn’t do the trick, try using the lunging method for long term positive results.
