When is it too hot to trailer a horse
Trailering A Horse That HATES THE TRAILER (How To)
hi guys welcome back to my channel Wow
so you guys today I'm going to be doing
probably one of the most requested
videos I've had in a long time and this
is going to be a how-to trailer your
horse without using any forceful methods
and this is going to mainly focus on
stubborn horses so horses who don't
really like the trailer link does
trailer and he typically trailers pretty
well if I'm doing it consistently but I
have not trailered him in a really long
time he's going to be just practicing
today the reason we're going to be
practicing is because I am going to be
moving him in a few weeks
so I don't want the move to come and me
to just like hurry up get in the trailer
which brings me to my first point in the
video when you are trailering a horse
especially a horse that doesn't like to
be in the trailer you need to take out a
lot of time to just practice with them
because where it goes wrong is when
people wait until last minute and then
you're in a hurry and you force your
horse to get in the trailer and they
have a miserable time a miserable
experience they're never going to want
to get in the trailer again and you
can't blame a horse for not wanting to
trailer that's another thing I want to
bring up a lot of people get really
frustrated and angry you cannot blame a
horse for not wanting to get in a
trailer it's essentially a metal death
trap it's a dark box that is super
confined and they have nowhere to move
around and they're basically trapped in
there horses are fight or flight animals
so if it comes down to it your horse is
more than likely not gonna want to get
in a trailer which is why you practice
ahead of time now the one thing I want
to say in this video is do not lose your
temper that is the main thing you want
to make this as positive of an
experience as possible thank you and you
want this to be enjoyable you don't want
to rush it you don't want to make your
horse feel like they have to go in the
trailer you don't want to make your
horse feel like you're running out of
time or that they're doing a bad job any
little bit of progress is progress so
even if a horse has never been in the
trailer before just them standing there
and smelling the trailer is progress so
you want to take everything one little
baby step at a time and I see so many
people trying to rush this which is just
so horrible and that's why you come into
problems and conflict so obviously for
things first when you're practicing
trailering a horse or trailering a horse
you want to make sure that you have your
trailer hooked up to a truck or vehicle
that is adequately able to pull this or
carry this or stop this trailer all of
the above and I also have Stoppers under
the trailer wheels also he hasn't been
groomed yet today so just ignore how
disgusting he looks we know you look
gross so up here as you can see he has
no hay in his hay bag and no grain
sitting up there this is just going to
be a patience test for him just train
and go in and out in and out now a lot
of people say that this isn't really
fair because he has trailered before
well trust me you don't know my horse
and he absolutely hates trailering and
especially if he hasn't done it in a
while he's gonna hate it even more I
don't think I've ever met a horse that
hates a trailer as much as my horse does
I even bought a trailer that has a ramp
load in which is a lot easier for him to
go in and out of and he still hates it
but the first step is having your
trailer as open as possible so I have
the escape door open and I have the
front door open I have my ramp down and
I actually have both sides open although
I did hook this side up so I don't want
him going over there cuz that's like a
storage side I do put shavings in my
trailer I know some people do and some
people don't there are a lot of shavings
in here right now just specifically
because I know while he's training today
he's gonna kick a lot of this out so I
didn't want to have to you know keep
refilling my trailer so this is way too
much shavings but I know he's gonna kick
a lot of it out today so that's why
there's a lot of shavings in here if
anybody's wondering another thing with a
ramp load and some people like a more
some people don't some people say
they're easier for horses some people
don't it's all just personal preference
my horse prefers a ramp load in and so
every trailer I'm ever going to buy it's
gonna be a ramp load in so there's that
and every difficult horse I've ever had
to work with train or trailer has always
done a lot better with a ramp loading so
my personal opinion I think ramp load
ends are a lot easier for horses but the
first thing you want to do after you
hook everything up you open everything
up is make sure that your trailer is on
a nice level ground and has enough space
where you can take your horse out loop
a few times and come back to the trailer
you don't want to just constantly stand
here forcing your horse to go in and out
of a trailer so let's go ahead and
practice this and I'm going to do a
voice over so you guys know exactly
what's going on
are you ready Linc he's like no I really
don't want to he knows exactly what
we're gonna do okay guys so as you can
see I'm just calmly walking him up to
the trailer allowing him to go in and
out as he pleases he can stand there
willingly if he looks like he's wanting
and engaged to go in and out of the
trailer but as soon as he moves over I
take that as a sign that he's a little
agitated so we go in a circle just to
clear his mind and then come right back
to the trailer I do like to go head on
to the trailer not from the side or from
any other angle unless he does what he
just did right there where I know he is
wanting to go in and out of the trailer
a lot of people are gonna say well why
don't you just move the center divider
over I don't want to do that because
then when I do put it back into place
it's gonna be a different setting and
he's not gonna be used to it so I want
him to be as used to the trailer as it
currently is and as it will be when he's
riding in it now right up here you're
gonna see he freaks out a little bit and
goes over so all we do is loop around
again I don't get agitated her angry
with him we just loop around so I want
him to stay engaged and continuously go
in and out it doesn't matter that he's
not going all the way in I just want to
be really encouraging now as you can see
right there he did do something really
mean and all I'm gonna do is not punish
him but just make him walk in a few
circles that are really really tight and
then I'm going I think I got something
stuck in my shoe right here but then I'm
just going to loop him back to the
trailer like I said you want this to be
a very positive experience for your
horse you don't want to do anything
negative because then your horse will
associate that negative behavior with
the trailer anything that he does I want
to be very open-minded and calm and as
you can see every time he goes in the
trailer I'm just rubbing him patting him
being really really nice and calm saying
really nice things to him like good boy
good job and basically I just want him
to go really nice and slow into the
trailer really nice and calm and just
stand there and be very willing not as
you can see sometimes he'll stand there
and go in and out a few times before
having to loop that's him stay
engaged with me but as soon as he
decides that he is an is done and has
had enough I don't want to keep pushing
it because then he's gonna get agitated
and angry so that's why I loop around so
many times and I'm just staying really
nice and calm with him just letting him
know that he's doing a really good job
now my main goal today is just to get
him to put all four of his feet on the
main floor of the trailer instead of
having one of them out on the ramp that
would be my main goal it's just little
things I don't need him to go all the
way in the trailer but it just makes him
feel more secure with the trailer when I
know that he's putting all four feet up
there because he's still a little uneasy
when he's not putting all four feet on
the trailer so that is my main goal it's
a little goal but you want to start
little and then over time it'll be
better and better you don't want to work
at the trailer for more than fifteen to
twenty minutes just because you don't
want your horse to continuously get
frustrated with it you just want to make
a small little goal and then once your
horse needs that be done so like you see
I'm just being very encouraging I'm
allowing him to stand there and go back
in if he wants to but if he shows no
interest in the trailer I quickly move
him around in a circle and then go right
back to the trailer because I want him
to stay very engaged and then as soon as
he loses that bit of engagement and
doesn't want to do it we loop around and
he is pretty comfortable but if I were
to try to lock the trailer on him or
push him in that would just set me back
a million steps and he wouldn't even go
up to the trailer for another few days
so we're just trying and just doing
little little steps one thing I want to
point out is that when you're training a
horse you should never lock them in the
trailer because you want them to be very
comfortable with it know that they can
go in and out and just really really get
relaxed you can see that he's going
further in almost every time there was
only that one time where he had a little
bit of a slip and like I said if your
horse does have a few slips if they get
agitated or angry you need to be
understanding the best thing to do is
just walk them in a few really tight
circles because a lot of horses don't
really like that it's a little
uncomfortable they don't want to
continuously walk in tight circles so I
recommend doing that not getting angry
or anything like I said you need to hold
your temper no matter how frustrated you
might get this variant
that you hold your temper just simply
because a horse will associate any
negative behavior that you do to them
around a trailer with the trailer so you
want to be very positive at all times
especially if you know that your horse
already isn't a fan and as you can see
I'm just constantly trying to keep his
feet moving I want him to know that
whenever he's outside of the trailer
he's gonna be walking around constantly
but when he goes in the trailer he gets
to stop and relax and catch his breath
in whatever which makes him associate
positive things with the trailer he
likes going in there because it's a nice
place for him to stay and as you can see
the more we do this the longer he spends
in the trailer regardless of how far
he's going in so nice and easy and I'm
just gonna let you guys watch this a
little bit longer until we get to the
end and then I will come right back and
tell you guys about the goal that we
meet because like I said our main goal
is just to put all four of his feet on
the main floor of the trailer which
ultimately it doesn't really take me
that long even though it might seem like
this is very repetitive work just super
simple he's just continuously
progressing throughout this and this is
the first time he's even been in the
trailer for several months so this is
really good progress for him like I said
just keeping my cool really nice and
focused take your time with this
understand your horse and realize that
this is not all their fault I wouldn't
want to go into a metal box either so
I'll let you guys watch the rest of this
and I'll come back when it comes to the
end clip
so right here you're gonna see that he
puts all four of his feet in the trailer
he does a beautiful job and as soon as
he does that I just completely reward
him I'm very very very happy with his
behavior and as soon as he does that he
knows that he did a good job I gave him
a lot of treats and go ahead and take
him and tie him up so that way he knows
he's done and he did exactly what I
needed him to do okay guys so as you
could see we did meet our goal I just
wanted him to put all four of his feet
on the main platform and he did that
just fine so once he does that I reward
him with a lot of treats and then we're
totally done that was about 15 minutes
of practice and he already met the goal
that I wanted him to meet today like I
said this is not something that you
should just do on a whim you should take
your time and really work with your
horse a lot especially if they haven't
been trailering for a while even for
horses that are used to being trailered
because he has been trailered hundreds
of times before but like I said not for
a while
so take your time you guys he did
everything I wanted him to do today and
more so I just wanted to reward him and
then just let him know that he did a
great job he met the goal and we're
totally done horses don't like doing
this it's very very stressful for them
so you have to understand if they get a
little frustrated if they get a little
anxious if they get a little upset
because it's basically just really
repetitive work and they're gonna get
really annoyed by it so you have to be
understanding in that way just keep your
temper stay really nice and calm always
be encouraging don't do anything
negative around the trailer because
they're gonna associate that with the
trailer and then it's gonna make it even
worse set minor goals and set small
goals so that way it'll take you 15 to
20 minutes to meet them and you can be
done with the practice I recommend that
when you are doing this with your horse
don't go over 15 or 20 minutes of
practice time just because after that
your horse is gonna start getting really
antsy and frustrated and it's just gonna
go really downhill anyway thank you guys
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