Trailer Loading

When it comes to loading a horse in a trailer, there are only two things you need: straight and forward.

Think about loading your horse like this — if you point your horse at a trailer, and the horse stays straight and then goes forward on cue, he has to go into the trailer. If you have straight and forward, in theory, you can get any horse into any trailer as long as it’s physically possible for the horse.

Now, think about what a horse does when it doesn’t want to go into a trailer. The most likely answer is that the horse will stop and refuse to go in, which is a lack of forward. If you keep asking, the horse will probably pull back or rear up, which again is a refusal to move ahead.

The other thing you will see when a horse doesn’t want to load is that he will walk up to the trailer, and right as it looks like they’re about to go on, they swing their hind end one way or another until they are too crooked to be able to get in. The handler will then usually lead the horse away from the trailer and then back to it to get the horse straight again. Without realizing it, the person is now teaching the horse to get crooked.

This is because when they lead the horse away from the trailer to straighten him out, the horse figures out that if he gets crooked, he doesn’t have to load. You see this more often with older horses that have learned this trick and not so much with young horses that usually won’t load just because they are nervous.

I like to get ahead of any problems before they start, so I work on forward and straightness and suggest doing this away from the trailer.

Working on Forward

To work on forward, stand the horse beside a fence or arena wall facing the horse. Assuming the fence is on the horse’s right side, face the horse holding the lead rope in your left hand (have just a bit of slack in the lead rope) and a lunge whip in your right hand. Now tap the horse on the left shoulder with the whip and, simultaneously, walk backward, which will draw the horse to you.

I position the horse beside the fence and then tap him on the shoulder to call him to me as I back away from him. This teaches the horse to step forward on cue when he feels the tap on the shoulder. Photo courtesy of Jason Irwin

When the horse approaches you, stop and pet or scratch him with the whip. If the horse doesn’t walk forward when you tap on the shoulder, it’s no big deal because as you back up, the lead rope will become tight, pulling the horse toward you. However, as the horse progresses, he should start walking forward from the tap before the rope has a chance to tighten. Repeat this exercise, and you can take it a step further by releasing the flexible part of the whip and just flicking out behind him to get to pick up the pace and trot toward you. You now have a cue on your horse that means go forward. Now if he stops at the trailer, you can give him the forward cue and then increase the pressure of the cue until he steps ahead.

Working on Straightness

To work on straightness, I teach the horse to side pass on the ground. Stand the horse facing the fence (instead of beside it). Assuming you’re on the horse’s left side, hold the lead rope in your left hand and the lunge whip in your right hand. Use the whole length of the whip to lightly tap against the side of the horse’s body until he takes a sideways step to the right, and then stop and pet him.

I face the horse towards the fence and then tap against his side to ask him to side pass away from me. This will later help me straighten the horse at the trailer if he gets crooked. Photo courtesy of Jason Irwin

Repeat this several times, tapping against the side until the horse side passes away very willingly. Repeat on both sides and then practice this exercise away from the fence. The fence’s purpose, in the beginning, is to keep the horse from walking forward when you’re asking him to go sideways.

Working on Loading

Walk the horse up to the trailer as if you’re about to load, but let the horse stop if he wants to. Give him a moment, then tap on the shoulder to ask him to move forward. As soon as he does, release all pressure. If he only goes a step or two and stops, that’s totally fine; give him a minute and then ask again. If he freezes up and doesn’t move, increase the pressure until he does take a step. In the beginning, I will even release and reward the horse for reaching down to smell the trailer because this shows that he’s investigating the trailer and is considering getting in.

In the early stages of trailer loading, I typically get in the trailer with the horse, but as it gets better at loading, I will then work on sending the horse onto the trailer as I stay on the ground. Photo courtesy of Jason Irwin

At some point, most hard loaders will start backing up. You can’t stop the horse from backing up, so don’t try. However, go with him and keep tapping him on the shoulder as he’s backing until he eventually stops and takes one step forward; you then release again. It doesn’t matter if the horse backs up 50 steps and then only takes one step forward — it’s still teaching him that the only release from the pressure is to move ahead.

At some point in the training, most horses will swing their hind end one way or the other, looking for another option instead of loading. Immediately tap the hindquarters to swing them back straight, wait a second, and then keep working on the lesson. You need to fix the crookedness immediately so the horse doesn’t think that getting crooked is an option.

Keep working your way forward with lots of petting (I usually scratch them on the withers with the whip as a reward) and resting after they take a step ahead. Eventually, you will have them in the trailer.

Once the horse loads well, I will take him off the trailer, lunge him around me in a small circle, and then send him into the trailer. The idea now is that the trailer is the spot where they get to rest and relax. Instead of just being able to get your horse in a trailer, your horse will look forward to loading onto the trailer.  

Final Thoughts

The better your horse knows the groundwork exercises covered earlier, the easier it will be once the trailer is part of the equation. If it helps, you could practice using the trailer loading technique to get the horse to cross a piece of plywood or a bridge, tarp, etc., before going to the actual trailer. Then, when you get to the trailer, you have a feel for the program, and the horse already has the idea that he must keep straight and move forward when asked.

When doing this training, be aware that most hard loaders will get frustrated at some point and may throw a temper tantrum because their old tricks for avoiding the trailer are not working. However, if you stay cool-headed and keep working on keeping the horse straight and taking one step forward, you will get the job done and create a horse that’s easy to load.

I hope this helps you with your trailer loading training. Good luck to you and your horse.

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