Horse won’t stand in trailer

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Beckymac2701

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Looking for advice on how to get my horse to stand in the trailer.
She loads and travels absolutely fine but if she is standing in the trailer at shows she gets herself so worked up she starts rearing and ends up over the bar.
I can’t tie her to the trailer either as she just walks side to side and won’t settle.
 
Just having this issue with my lovely mare, she loads no problems, but wants off within 5 seconds, pawing, threatning to rear over the breast bar or go under it. Then bolting out the front door off the ramp.

I’ve gone back to basics, bridle, longline, hat and gloves. Both ramps open, breast bar up and tub of mix.

We walk into trailer and ‘wait’, I am making the trailer a nice place, she gets handfuls of mix. I have a small schooling whip and when she starts pawing, I tap her pawing leg quickly in an irritating way until she stops, when she stops I stop tapping.

She gets a lovely rub when she stands nicely.

I am doing this every day for a week, increasing the amount of time that I am nicely asking her to ‘wait’ in the trailer. I will then give her a couple of days off and then do another week of training. Increasing the length of time, starting to add ramps being closed etc.

I accept this is going to take some time to master, but I am hoping the repetition and the sheer boredom of it all will pay dividends and I have a horse that is happy in the trailer.

If all that fails, I am prepared to call in a loading expert.
 
Take the partition out in the trailer.. she needs room to stand diagonally and will be more comfortable. Mine was EXACT the same. Put shavings in, yes it DOES work as I think it makes the trailer feel more 'safe' and stably.

Mine bolts out the front ramp so I no longer get them out this way, I back them out. Why not try this? This means they don't rush forwards and don't jump the bar as they have kinda 'forgotten' their is a exit at the front.

Try taking the partition out and backing out for a while, also leaving her in the trailer at home while you feed her some treats will help. My gelding does bang but don't think that will ever change!

My old YO would leave her horses in there for hours if it banged, take out partition and cross tie, they soon apparently (didn't try it myself) learn that banging or rearing won't get them anywhere and to just patiently wait. Hers stand in her box all day at a show if they have too, happily.
 
Aimeetess said:
Take the partition out in the trailer.. she needs room to stand diagonally and will be more comfortable. Mine was EXACT the same. Put shavings in, yes it DOES work as I think it makes the trailer feel more 'safe' and stably.

Mine bolts out the front ramp so I no longer get them out this way, I back them out. Why not try this? This means they don't rush forwards and don't jump the bar as they have kinda 'forgotten' their is a exit at the front.

Try taking the partition out and backing out for a while, also leaving her in the trailer at home while you feed her some treats will help. My gelding does bang but don't think that will ever change!

My old YO would leave her horses in there for hours if it banged, take out partition and cross tie, they soon apparently (didn't try it myself) learn that banging or rearing won't get them anywhere and to just patiently wait. Hers stand in her box all day at a show if they have too, happily.
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Yes, my trailer is without partitions and with savings down, I have two lead ropes already tied an left in the trailer to cross tie.

I have thought of backing her out of the trailer to stop the bolting out the front, and if the bolting had continued, this is way I would have gone. But even after such a short time training, she is now walking off lovely. I didn’t want to back out first without trying to resolve the front ramp issue, as I i didn’t want to potentially cause a ‘pulling back’ issue as well.
 
Beckymac2701 said:
Looking for advice on how to get my horse to stand in the trailer.
She loads and travels absolutely fine but if she is standing in the trailer at shows she gets herself so worked up she starts rearing and ends up over the bar.
I can’t tie her to the trailer either as she just walks side to side and won’t settle.
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Can you not just leave her with a haynet and a radio on? Leave the top door open if its a front unload so she can watch the world go by. This might help settle her if she can see sight of other horses.
 
Aimeetess said:
Take the partition out in the trailer.. she needs room to stand diagonally and will be more comfortable. Mine was EXACT the same. Put shavings in, yes it DOES work as I think it makes the trailer feel more 'safe' and stably.

Mine bolts out the front ramp so I no longer get them out this way, I back them out. Why not try this? This means they don't rush forwards and don't jump the bar as they have kinda 'forgotten' their is a exit at the front.

Try taking the partition out and backing out for a while, also leaving her in the trailer at home while you feed her some treats will help. My gelding does bang but don't think that will ever change!

My old YO would leave her horses in there for hours if it banged, take out partition and cross tie, they soon apparently (didn't try it myself) learn that banging or rearing won't get them anywhere and to just patiently wait. Hers stand in her box all day at a show if they have too, happily.
Click to expand...

Thank you, I will give this a try.
I have been told by a few others to just take the partition out and give her the whole trailer without a breast bar so she has nothing to rear onto.
Another idea someone gave me was to take her into the trailer and take the lead rope underneath the breast bar then tie it up at the tie point so it stops her lifting her head
 
One of mine does this so I get him off let him have look round then put him back on, I find his better after his ridden as well so I have done a short warm up in tacked him and put him back on with hay and he seems happier, I have just lunged him for 10 minutes and that works as well.
 
Beckymac2701 said:
Thank you, I will give this a try.
I have been told by a few others to just take the partition out and give her the whole trailer without a breast bar so she has nothing to rear onto.
Another idea someone gave me was to take her into the trailer and take the lead rope underneath the breast bar then tie it up at the tie point so it stops her lifting her head
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Do you mean take the breast bar out when you arrive at the venue, or take it out completely??
 
Beckymac2701 said:
Another idea someone gave me was to take her into the trailer and take the lead rope underneath the breast bar then tie it up at the tie point so it stops her lifting her head
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Gah! Don't do that; she'll panic altogether and fight the rope...that's a mad suggestion!
 
I honestly wouldn't travel without a breast bar otherwise she has nothing to brace herself against if you have to break harshly. Does she always come over the bar? You could just take the breast bar out once you get to a competition and then let her make a fuss in the trailer until she stands quietly then bring her off? Then she learns she comes off when shes standing quietly.
 
ShowJumperL95 said:
I honestly wouldn't travel without a breast bar otherwise she has nothing to brace herself against if you have to break harshly. Does she always come over the bar? You could just take the breast bar out once you get to a competition and then let her make a fuss in the trailer until she stands quietly then bring her off? Then she learns she comes off when shes standing quietly.
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Yeah if she feels she has something she can jump onto in front of her then she will do it. She has done the same in a friends lorry.
Someone told me to get a livestock trailer and travel her in that 😱
 
Oh what a pain, was going to suggest a lorry that doesn't have the tack locker going into the horse area but I guess she would try and climb the wall?
 
Beckymac2701 said:
Yes just take it out when she’s standing in the trailer not when travelling. My worry is that she will feel she has more room without partition and she will jump over the bar when travelling!
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That's okay. I was worried you were going to travel without one, which as the above poster has pointed out means she has nothing to brace against. It also means in the event of a dramatic emergency stop she would be sitting in the boot of your car! Neither of which scenarios are ideal.
 
hopscotch bandit said:
That's okay. I was worried you were going to travel without one, which as the above poster has pointed out means she has nothing to brace against. It also means in the event of a dramatic emergency stop she would be sitting in the boot of your car! Neither of which scenarios are ideal.
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I think you need to consult a professional in these matters. I can recommend someone a friend has used who is a horse behaviourist and specializes in working with horses that have loading/travelling issues. He used to work for Monty Roberts for many years and he was very successful in getting a friends horse who travelled fine but was stubborn to load, loaded.
 
Take the partitions/bars out as soon as you arrive and cross tie her. Make sure she can still move her head a bit but make sure it's tight enough that she can't thrash about or rear. Plonk a hay net in front of her.
I've had a nightmare with my mare and travelling. She would attempt to climb the walls and thrash around like crazy as soon as you went to put the ramp up.
Someone suggested taking the partitions out and travelling with the full length breast bars. She's like a different horse now.
 
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Sorry to hijack a little - but what is the different between trailers not having a breast bar in place and 3.5t vans that have a solid wall / no breast bar. I know that in my 3.5t van my horses are travelling backwards - but I have noticed that when I brake they move towards the back of the van - not towards the front. My previous lorry was forward facing (7.5t) and although I didn't have a camera in there, I suspect that the horses still moved towards the rear of the vehicle - based on trodden poos and grease marks on tail bandages etc.
 
It's probably not much help, but my horse would never stand quietly on the trailer at a show either in an Ifor or an Equitrek. We now have a 7.5t lorry and he will happily stand all day on his own. Maybe a mirror would help your boy?
 
One of mine was like this, couldn't settle. In the beginning you had to basically get her in the box and drive off straight away or she'd try to climb out.
I chipped away at it over a few months, never putting her in the position where she would escalate in her behaviour. If you have a horse that winds itself up to the point where it's rearing in the trailer this is a dangerous situation and IMO saying just let it get on with it is not helpful. At some point, one of you is going to get hurt, so I think you'd be better off teaching her that it's OK to be in there on her own.

This takes time, repetition and practice. I would begin at home, loading her onto the box, staying with her for a while perhaps with treats or brushing her neck or similar so she feels relaxed and happy. Then lead off and if it's gone well, repeat. Build it up so she is happy to stand with you for 10 or 15 mins. Then begin leaving her sight for a short time. Perhaps only 20 seconds at the start, talking to her so she knows you're still there, and then go back and have some happy fuss.
Over time you should be able to build this up to being able to sit outside the trailer, have a cup of tea, whatever, while she entertains herself eating a haynet.

This is all best done in a quiet situation at home. When you are out and about you probably need to go back to the beginning and teach her again that it's OK to be on her own in the trailer. I wouldn't put her in the position where she can kick off in between times because she will unlearn what you've been teaching her. Get someone to come with you and hold her if you need to leave the trailer. It's a pain, but they can learn this. I can leave mine for hours now without a problem.
 
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