Trailer Training for Fearful Horses

When I bought Zeke, he was not afraid of trailers.  His previous owner had a bumper pull stock trailer and had no issues loading him into that trailer.  Zeke was used to the open feel of the stock trailer and liked the extra room.  My limited budget could only afford a small two-horse bumper pull trailer that was built sometime in the 70’s.  The ceiling was low, it had very few air vents, and it was a tight fit.  In the beginning, Zeke refused to load in my trailer and I spent the next several weeks working with him.  He eventually learned to load easily and willingly and continued to do so for the next year.

My First Horse Trailer

For some reason, over the next couple of years his trailering anxiety increased to the point that it took 2-3 people to get him loaded and he could actually become dangerous in his desire to get away from the trailer.  Several well-meaning people attempted to help teach him to load, and their more aggressive methods only increased his fear of the trailer.  Thankfully, no one (including him) was every seriously injured while trailering (although I did get my fare share of bruises and rope burns).  This trailering problem eventually caused me to stop going to barrel races because getting him in the trailer was such a hassle and very stressful.

This was taken before Zeke became fearful of the little trailer!

Now, I have a larger trailer that is much less claustrophobic for the horses, but his fear of trailers still remains.  So, I am retraining him to load without having to rely on ropes or other people to get the job done.  I am working to make him load calmly and consistently, without using fear or aggressive methods.  The next several posts will lay out the step-by-step process to retrain a horse to trailer (or give a new horse a positive trailer experience), as well as show how it worked for Zeke.

**Working with fearful horses can be extremely dangerous, especially in the confines of a trailer.  Inexperienced horse owners should seek help from a professional.  Always put your safety first!