| Proper Attitude When Loading When loading your horse on the trailer, be it the first time or one of many times, the proper attitude is a must. You must be confident and patient. If you are afraid you won’t succeed, you will tend to coax and wheedle and lose the horse’s respect. If you let anxiety, anger, or frustrations show, the horse will become nervous. If you even think that you must hurry, the horse will become reluctant. Horses hate to be rushed into anything. Horses that load easily until the day of the show are just catching your anxiety. You are excited over the preparation for the show and the anticipation for showing, but the horse only knows that you are excited. Keep your mind clear when loading; put everything out your mind except the habitual routine of loading. Load like it is no big thing. You cannot rush a horse into a trailer. Don’t even try to keep a horse moving forward when he wants to stop. Your chances of keeping him moving are almost nil and he will find out you can’t move him. Let him inspect the trailer, and give him some slack so he is free to look and smell and feel without being allowed to turn away. Wait till he relaxes then ask him to move forward. Here are four don’ts of loading 1)-Don’t use the lead rope to try to pull him into the trailer 2)-Don’t let the horse turn its head away from the trailer 3)-Don’t lead the horse away from the trailer to get a new start when he turns sideways. 4)-Don’t pet him for refusing to load and don’t get excited either. Even for a well trained horse, I always try to position the trailer to make it easier for them to get in and out. Proper positioning is absolutely essential if you have hope in loading a horse that will not load easily. I find a dip in the ground to drop the trailer wheels in, taking care that the back of the trailer extends over the higher ground. In positioning a ramp loader, take out as much slope as possible out of the ramp by dropping the trailer wheels in the dip. Make sure the ramp is solidly on the ground so there will be no give or play in the ramp. All ramps should have on them a non- skid protection so it will keep the horse from slipping. |
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