 Hi there, we're going to be talking about getting the horse ready to load in a trailer and or a float and we have to realize of course coming from the horse's perspective is that this is a completely foreign thing to do. It's not natural for them to want to crawl into a dark enclosed space and so we need to approach it in a way that makes sense to them. First and foremost you want to have your groundwork working pretty good. You need to be able to ask the horse forward and back responsibly and quietly separate from the trailer. You need a bit of control of the hind quarters and the fore quarters so there's some clear direction not only with your halter or our direct feel but also with your indirect feel in your body language. There would be times when you may need to use a flag or a rope behind them or something like that but more than nine times out of ten it's just preparation and just helping them along. Getting them to think about getting inside the trailer, getting them to think in that direction and engaging their curiosity. Using food to bride them into the trailer will not have the same results in the long run. It can work with some horses but in reality then you're dealing with the belly not the brain. Every once in a while if one's having a hard time really relaxing in there then I might give them some food when they're in there but I'm not going to bribe them on to the trailer with food. So this mare's really never seen the trailer before she's ridden in a truck before this she's so she's familiar maybe with the ramp idea with the enclosed space idea but she's not ever seen seen or been inside of a trailer something this small okay. So I'm just having her check it out I haven't really even asked her to come forward she's confident enough to put her feet on there but I'm not going to rush it anymore than to have her looking in there. Now what she did there she went ahead and backed out on her own. And I asked her forward because I hadn't asked her to back up. Now I'm asking her to back up so I can give her that release and she's been responsive right throughout. If I had to let her back up on her own and just let her have that release out there after having done that on her own then she starts to think that it's acceptable to just back out and quit on her own. Like right there I'm just going to say hang on come back forward good. Let her have a good sniff of that have a good look at it get a nice release for being there and then before she goes to back out on her own I'm going to say now back out good now come forward good. I'm just working on some responsiveness I'd like a backup just maybe to there so that we start to break that down. She's not thinking that she has to back up the whole way every time I ask her to back it's not about getting all the way off just as it's not about getting all the way on until we have responsiveness working through here okay good let her have a good look around a good sniff this might be where I start to add a bit of noise make sure she's aware of the surround sound we've got here again see if I can just ask her to stay forward with me she doesn't have to she doesn't have to not move but I just don't want her to quit altogether and then again back her off so that it becomes responsive the backup has to be as responsive as forward is it's all part of the same deal a lot of times we get stuck going forward forward forward and we're just thinking about loading the horse we've neglected the part of unloading them quietly and responsively and the horse starts to do that on his own and reactively notice there she set herself up to sort of not be thinking towards the trailer into the trailer so I just tipped the nose with my direct feel and redirected her thoughts so that when I asked her to come forward she was thinking in the right direction right there she's not thinking into the trailer so I'm just gonna bring the nose bring the nose a little bit right there she's backing on her own I'm gonna step her forward good have her get have another think about getting into there okay good girl good girl the hind feet can be a big one the hind feet can really be a big a big piece both coming in and coming out back up back up back good girl so right there where she's put a hind foot on and off quite responsively and quietly that's really really good okay it can really be a sticky spot for these guys is what their hind feet are doing when they first come up on the ramp and when they first come up into here with their hinds and then back off it can be a real tricky spot girl girl if I can I like to get them sending ahead of me just a little bit in these cases sometimes it works better to lead them in but a lot of times you got to be careful the way you're doing that I like to make sure they start to get used to having something behind them these trailers almost all of them have bars that'll go back behind their hind quarter back good oh I want to start to break down that forward and back equation just a little bit okay now one thing you want to be careful about here is you start to get on an angle you don't want her falling off that side if you can help it I might just swap sides bring her up a little notch if I can good start to shift that hind quarter maybe just a little bit she needs to put weight on the other foot in order to really do what I'd like her to do I don't think it'll scare too bad if she does fall off but good girl if they start to back good girl good girl okay I'm just going to tip that nose away from me just tip that nose away I need some of that bend working through that back up there so the hip starts to come around to my left okay if they start to back up while they're in there and we try to hold them in place with our halter our direct feel and they're pretty committed to getting out you're going to end up in a tug of war and it can be really detrimental okay they can pull back pretty hard and smack their head on the roof of the trailer and things just can go from bad to worse they get a big fright or they get hurt doing that and they start to think that they were right about this being a not a good idea okay so we're not trying to hold them in the trailer we can't hold them in the trailer if they're not if they're not committed to that okay so instead we're just trying to make the right thing easy and the wrong thing difficult like right there now she's in trouble because she left of her own accord okay I'm wanting even though she's not been particularly bothered about this process I'm wanting her to get a little more release get a little more thought and and time to process with her feet up here not thinking that the answers are out there back behind her somewhere okay and again always waiting for me back back back always waiting for me to back her off realizing little by little that out here we're not going to be getting as much release direct the thought good good good girl just giving her that time she needs a bit of time if she will to soak with her feet up here and find a little bit more release so far it's been as much her idea is mine to get up here which is good it's good that she's curious it good it's good that she's confident enough but then she starts to think that the release is out here somewhere okay so contrast is what we'll get her thinking about doing this a little bit more and having a little bit more release up here is where out there wasn't as good a deal as what she was expecting okay it doesn't have to be painful it doesn't have to be too intense to begin with but just a little bit of busyness out there some some quick transitions just give her the chance to just settle here a moment have a nice soak okay if she still insists on going back out then we'll go back out that's fine there that's better good girl now she's licking and chewing and she sort of just parked her feet up there pretty happily for a moment okay just keep that nose soft as you back she needs some practice with that this mare when she came was extremely high-headed and she would back reactively throw her head up and almost rear at times so this backing and backing quietly out in and out of the trailer like this is a really important thing for her and really really importantly we changed her way of doing that before we bothered with this another thing you want to be aware of is if your horse is going to get bored or over stimulated over good girl good girl okay it's gonna be easy easy again i was gonna back her off there but i just would rather her just break it down a little bit we start to be able to have a bit of more of a conversation back where it's a little less where she doesn't feel like she's got to get all the way off of here all the time okay really breaking that down she seems happy enough in here she's just not sure about staying so right there she's fallen off the side that was good for her to experience that i'm just going to hang out here a moment and try to get her to settle a little bit i'm not seeing any reason for that kicking i don't see any flies or or such um she is pretty quick to kick at other horses so it could be just a sign of her um working through things here girl good girl again as you're in here you want to make sure that they're aware of some of the sounds that are going to be being made so that we're not um tricking them into thinking that it's just going to be nice and quiet all the time good girl that was much quieter nice quiet step back didn't try to do more than what i asked now she's licking and chewing right away that's what we're talking about and trying to break that back up down and um make sure that she's thinking about it not just flying backwards so as we go here i'll continue in and out in and out a few different times i want to start making sure even out there on the ground that she can move forward uh with some pressure or or a stick or a flag or something in behind her hind quarter i want to see about her moving forward off of that before i i put that bar behind her um some horses are particularly claustrophobic you might need to do some more prep with a a bit of a tight spot or put them through a squeeze between a barrel and a rail or something some of those things can help prepare them for the um constrictions of being in a trailer girl girl some of them are going to be a little more at ease to begin with if you're kind of up here with them just a bit just obviously need to stay safe with that and maintain your space again making sure you have your body language working for communication so that your space is something that they're more aware of would be a really good thing back back good girl good girl good girl a nice big step forward having a good look around in here back back back good girl good try to get those hinds see those when those hinds freed up then she was inclined to do a little bit more than what was required of her good girl back good girl good girl good back i like to get to where i can work it from both sides of the horse um from along the side but also from the front just different ways of getting them loaded right now i'm not too concerned about her sort of moving from side to side along the ramp but a couple of times you notice she started to think about being just a little bit evasive if your horse starts to get his hind right around here and really try to point his nose out the other way it's a matter of redirecting and letting them run into those those places where they're thinking the wrong direction you're blocking those thoughts and trying to redirect those thoughts