[dawson0284]

I have a 2 horse straight load step up trailer (it's the bigger taller wider kind...) I also have a 4 year old quarterhorse I have spent close to14 hours (in 2ish hour sessions or however long it takes for us to make some progress). I can get her IN just fine. Our problem is she tends to have crazy panick attacks once she's in with the butt bar up and tied in with panick strap. If I close the big door and there is somthing solid behind her she's fine and sometimes she'll stand there with the door open for 15 minutes no problem and then out of nowhere panicks and gets her big bum under the butt bar pops it off and races backward out of the trailer. My biggest conserned is safety for both her and me, and being that I am loading and unloading her myself and at some point would like to be able to load her along with my other horse and unloAd them BOTH safely and calmly I am just running out of ideas. I've been spending alot of time loading her, asking her to stand and then asking her to unload on my terms hoping she might get comfortable being inside of the trailer but she still blows 2 outta the 4 times I load her. I'm out of ideas...? Help?!

[FarFromOver]

Close the door first, then put up the butt bar. And if you can, don't load/unload yourself. It's easier and safer to do it with a partner.

[Horse_Girl9804]

If it were me...
Make the horse put 1 foot in the trailer. 1 foot out. 2 feet in, 2 feet out. Make her 100% comfortable. 3 feet in, 3 foot out. Let the horse come out when HE wants to. When they get uncomfortable, they can get out. Eventually they will just stay in there.

Hopefully that made some sense. It's worked with my mare. And she was AWFUL to get in the trailer. Rearing up, totally refusing. She goes in like a charm, and so does my colt.

[FarFromOver]

I've also had success with leaving the trailer in the pasture and putting feed in the trailer so the horse has to actually get IN it to eat.

[JustJeph]

Originally Posted by FarFromOver

I've also had success with leaving the trailer in the pasture and putting feed in the trailer so the horse has to actually get IN it to eat.

My horse found a way around this. He's tall and has a long neck, so he put all four hooves in a square right in front of the trailer, stretched alll the way up to the front to get the hay and pulled it out. Grain he just ignored, he likes his hay better.




Have you ever loaded her up and driven her around? That's what we did with my horse when he realized he did fit in the trailer, and now he has no problems, though he might back out a little fast once in a blue moon.

[dawson0284]

What I DONT want is to have to close the door before I put the Butt bar u( tho I have had to do it with her before)p because ultimatly it's not fixing the problem or making things any safer for her or me. No one wants to deal with a panicky horse. I've been doing somthing real similar to one then 2 then 3 ect and then I'll get her totally in and think I'm making progress and she seems to be perfactly comfortable with it and then suddenly BOOM she blows up. I like the idea of pitting the trailer in the pasture and feeding in it. How can you keep it stable enough without keeping it hooked to the truck? I love the ideas so far keep em comin!

[dawson0284]

Oh. And we have done some short driving trips and then straight home again to try to relieve some stress an so far haven't seen soooo much improvement yet darn horses!!

[FarFromOver]

Originally Posted by dawson0284

What I DONT want is to have to close the door before I put the Butt bar u( tho I have had to do it with her before)p because ultimatly it's not fixing the problem or making things any safer for her or me. No one wants to deal with a panicky horse. I've been doing somthing real similar to one then 2 then 3 ect and then I'll get her totally in and think I'm making progress and she seems to be perfactly comfortable with it and then suddenly BOOM she blows up. I like the idea of pitting the trailer in the pasture and feeding in it. How can you keep it stable enough without keeping it hooked to the truck? I love the ideas so far keep em comin!

Leaving the trailer hitched up to the truck is ideal, although I suppose you might be able to crank the trailer up and put cinder blocks or something under the frame, then letting the trailer rest on the blocks. And obviously you'd want to chock your wheels GOOD. I'd still like to leave the trailer hitched up to the truck, but if that isn't an option....

Do you have a pasture with a gate? You could back the trailer up to the gate (with the gate open) and block the opening with the trailer. That way the truck doesn't have to be *in* the pasture with her. Just a thought.

[JustJeph]

Hmm. Maybe you just need to convince her the trailer is an okay place to be. Load her up, praise her, give her a treat or handful of grain, groom her, just help her see she doesn't have to be a spazzoid. The feel of the butt bar bothers her, which seems weird, does she act up if you walk behind her and run your hand over her?

[Horse_Girl9804]

If she's backing out fast, she hasn't had enough to time to get comfortable.

Feeding in a trailer is a good thing, I have had good success with that too.

You could take a whip, and the moment she starts backing up smack smack smack. I'm talking like with a bat, not a "whip". That makes more noise, then actually hurts them.

I don't now the exact situation, to help.

I don't have a good way to keep a horse trailer in the field withought a truck. I've always left the truck for fear of the trailer shifiting, no matter how well I chalked it.