Trailering Two Year Old

[dbaygirl]

This is the strangest thing and perhaps it should go on a training forum, however, I'm wondering if any of you breeders have encountered this with a young horse.

I have a two year old filly who has been trailered to shows in her yearling year and we had trouble getting her off the trailer at that time. She seemed to have visual issues with varying textures of ground surfaces such as grass changing to gravel changing to pavement. We had to follow another horse into the ring for her to cross the change to sand in the arena. After that she seemed fine. I had to back the trailer up to a grass hill to get her off and even then it took a few men to do the job with a lunge line around her butt. When she finally left the trailer it was with a huge leap. She gets on the trailer no problem. I have called a trainer about this and she has never heard of this before. Usually it's a problem getting ON the trailer.

So this Fall I have had her on a few times and she ended up staying overnight in the trailer the first night. The only thing that got her off was leading my mare/her mother down the road out of sight. So I missed seeing how she actually unloaded herself. I have loaded and unloaded her this way twice today, the second time taking forever. She acts like she wants to get off but is afraid of the step down. I have even shovelled a pile of shavings up to the edge of the trailer which is a foot from the ground, no ramp, to no avail. I am trying to let her figure this out on her own but she seems unable to overcome her fear OR and this is a big OR could she be just plain stubborn? I have to think not because I have left her hay just out of reach with the door open and she stayed in the trailer all morning rather than get out and eat it. She had water the whole time.

Anyone experience this? I've been trying for a few weeks now and can't seem to get anywhere!! Oh, and she won't back out either, much too scary...

Help...

[mayfieldk]

I don't post often but I had this distinct problem with a filly I had to train for someone. She had no problems getting in, but getting out either turned into her whirling around to LEAP out of the trailer, or absolutely refusing to go ANYWHERE. My trainer (at an equine college... >>) at the time got in the trailer with her and used a lead shank and a fiberglass stick to 'make' her back out. When she came out bloody (lips and her sides from scraping the walls), I figured I'd have to do it myself. And a much better way. ;)

The first thing I did was break down the 'getting on' process. I'd let her get one foot in, stop her, then back that foot off and back her several steps away from the trailer. The harder it was for her, the more time I spent standing away from the trailer for the filly to think about it. Then I tried two front feet, etc. The hardest is getting them with three feet in the trailer, and one out... lol, but with patience and a soft hand it can be done. If you break it down like this, they learn to trust backing out.

Then I worked at backing out once all the way in the trailer at the chest bar. I would make her walk one step towards the exit, then pulled her forward. Two steps to the exit... pulled her forward. Etc. etc. so that she would get really close to actually exiting... but then would pull her back into the front of the trailer. Again, the harder it was, the more she got to wait inside the trailer and think it over. Once I got to the exit, I asked for one foot down (or on the ramp, or if it was really difficult, even her putting the foot out and thinking about it), and then again, pulled her forward.

We had to 'test' loading into two separate trailers (ramp and a step down), and I must say she did absolutely fabulous with each one. I hope this helps!

[Tiki]

That's exactly right. Go back to square one and teach her one foot at a time to load 1 foot, unload that foot. Repeat until easy. Then 2 feet - first load, then unload and repeat, etc. For a step up, she'll also need to learn to turn and walk out, but teach her the basics first. It does not help to have a few strong men get on and force her off. If she gets stuck, tempt her with food or treats. Sometimes bribery IS worth it.

[Toadie's mom]

I had this problem with a horse who had stifle issues. Loaded fine, but unloading was a nightmare. This was a step-up trailer. After loading and unloading several times with a ramp she got better.

[ise@ssl]

First of all remember that horses have no depth perception - so in reality a black rubber ramp can look like a big hole to some horses - regardless of age. When you really consider that - the ones that hesitate are the smart ones! When we have youngsters (or even older horses) that balk we always put hay or bedding on the ramp. We also have a coco-mat that we've used and many seem to like it because it does have "grip" to it.

Best to work with her in small increments when you aren't pressed for time. As the study in Sweden proved - horses can sense our heart rate and sometimes when we are under the gun to get horses to do things - our heart rates go up and bingo! theirs does too!!

We also use peppermints or a little grain. I know some people balk at this but I went to a lecture by that gal that trains whales (she also does horses) and the one thing animal trainers have learned is that given a positive response (like food) the animal will always try if they are anticipating that positive response. A negative response (like a smack) might stop the unwanted behavior but it does not encourage them to do a desired behavior in it's place.

[secretariat]

John Lyons made the quite astounding point in his original "Loading and Leading" video that horses who don't load or unload are not taught to lead properly. Highly recommended reading, whether you agree with it or not.

Assume your trailer is a step-up, and you're backing her off? Then I agree 100% with the previous posts - you need to teach her to unload, as you load, a foot at a time. Just because a horse gets on a trailer, doesn't mean they're taught to load. Usually, people can dominate the babies/yearlings/2 year olds and think that's "trained." Not.