Re: How do you stop your horse from charging out the back of the trailer ?

["April Lee" <adlee@bigfoot.com>]

Julie wrote:
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I had a old cowboy tell me once that he had the same problem with a horse he
had. The way he solved the problem was to back up to a dock and let her rip!
Well when that horse came charging out of the trailer she got a big suprise
and a swim, never had a problem after that. Of course that may not be
feasible for you, so you need to make being outside the trailer very
uncomfortable. Every time this horse backs out like this back her up make
him or her lounge a couple of circles no more than 3 anything you can think
of. Then ask the horse to load again and let the trailer be a comfortable
place let the horse stand and soak. Then unload and if the fast backing
happens again go back to working her keep this same routine up untill your
horse backs nicely. "Allow the right thing to be easy and the wrong thing to
be difficult" (Pat Parelli) Julie
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IMO, you shouldn't try to make being out of the trailer uncomfortable.  If
you do, you'll be asking for trouble at the other extreme.  Chances are,
your horse won't want to come OUT of the trailer, or will start refusing to
go in at all because he's scared of coming out.  Dunking him into water may
be an outward fix, but you're not building up his trust in you or the
trailer by doing that.  And forcing him to work hard immediately after
coming out of the trailer may cause the same effect.

I suggest using John Lyons' method of trailer training.  Teach the horse to
be confident going in and confident coming out.  Don't hurry his training.
Keep him at a level where he's comfortable.  If he gets nervous, drop back a
step to where he was comfortable.  Teach him to load one foot only, then to
unload the same foot.  Do it about 200 times.  Then teach him to load both
front feet, then unload them both without allowing him to get into the
trailer all the way.  Do that about 200 times.  Add a hind leg for 200
times.  Then you can finally add the last leg, loading him totally.  Don't
forget to unload him about 200 times.  After this process, he should be calm
enough to come out without rushing.  If you would like more detailed
instructions, check out the February and March 1999 issues of Perfect Horse
for step-by-step instructions.

Good luck!
April & Apache (the "A" team)
Chattanooga, TN


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