Horse panics on the Trailer

by Isabelle
(Norway)

Hi,

One month ago I purchased a two year old Lipizzan gelding. He is very awake, gets upset with just about everything. I have been lead training him in Monty Roberts Dually Halter and this works fine. The horse seems to trust me, but gets very excited with the slightest thing; any type of moving object, trees, cat, car, leafs, etc. You might say he is a hot blooded, hot headed horse.

To the main problem; the trailer. I wanted to drive him to the pasture a few days ago and the man who owned the pasture said he could pick him up for me. (For the record I have never transported the horse, the former owner came with him.) He had brought a pony for company, but the trailer looked rather used and old, with no proper bars behind the horses butt.

We tried a few times, and he actually went in, but then threw himself back out again. The second time he was in the guy was rather impatient and tried to close the back door, which resulted in my horse totally panicking, throwing himself backwards and falling on the ramp hurting is leg pretty bad.

After this it was no use. Now I am borrowing a brand new, two horse trailer so that we can practice, it has a door to unload in the front as I thought it would be good to make the horse think forwards. We removed all the interior the first day and after a few tries he went through a about four times. Today we put the interior back in and he totally freaked out. In the end we managed to get him in, stand there for a a little while and then back him out again. Now, for some reason he is dead scared to unload in the front, throws himself out and then he hits himself on the door, which doesn't help...

I'm scared to close the doors on him as he totally panics, the former owner said he had tried to jump over the front bar before. It's 'arms and legs' everywhere with no thought for what or who is in his way. It takes nothing to excite him and I do not believe in drugs or force.

I am not sure how to go from here, I want him to feel relaxed and calm when being transported. He knows how to back up, go forward and stand still, I'm trying to use the same ground techniques when working with loading/unloading him.

I also make someone else walk with him, as my first horse died in a trailer accident and I try not to project my feelings on him.

Hope to hear from you.

Best Regards,

Isabelle





Hi Isabelle,

Well, you certainly got a firsthand experience on how claustrophobic horses are by nature!

Unfortunately the experience for the horse will not be forgotten anytime soon. I know that your heart was in the right place but too many things were expected from this youngster and done too quickly that now you are going to need to do double time on many other tasks to undo them.


Let's back up and fill in some teaching experiences this horse needs way before learning how to get on a trailer. First he is only 2 which is very much a baby in Lippazan time! Then you have only had him for a month which is a few hours in horse land! He is a hot blooded, easily excitable, very sensitive horse which equates to incredibly easily frightened (which you have observed). These kinds of horses need extra time having them learn that the world of humans is not a scary place. This was your primary problem, not him getting on a trailer. It's kind of like asking a child to solve an algebra problem before they have learned to count with numbers.

We need to teach him more than just back up, go forward and stand still to accomplish trailer loading well. So for a while, please leave the trailer loading aside. Instead let’s help him learn to do many other ground training tasks to build a larger language for you both to work with. Plus in your case I would definitely utilize Clicker Training. This was the best and frankly only method that saved another highly fearful horse from hurting himself that I worked with. In addition learn the difference between negative reinforcement (that is what the dually halter does) vs. positive reinforcement (that is what clicker training does). This will build your confidence and understanding on how a horse perceives and learns information.

Your primary goal is to create confidence in this young horse and targeting objects (discussed in clicker methods) is a fantastic way to do this. He will be positively rewarded for his efforts even if all he can do the first time is look at the thing!, which is exactly where I had to start with the above mentioned scared horse I worked with.

Trailer loading should be looked at as a high school task and needs to become the horse's idea not ours when it comes to getting on. I break down sessions in tiny parts depending upon the horse at hand, never forcing them any further than what they can do. So if the first day all they can do is stand in the entrance way and look in, then they are positively rewarded for this effort and we leave and come back the next day. By doing it this way and in every case, the next day brings further accomplishment because the horse was not left feeling frightened about the situation. Instead they are feeling curious. Here’s an example that will help you when dealing with a highly fearful horse.

Lastly, I am glad you recognize that your feelings can be projected and felt to the horse, but if you want this horse to really trust you, then you will want to work on your confidence too so you can lead him everywhere and I promise learning positive reinforcement does that too! We can never have enough tools in our belt!

Elaine Polny
Training Horses Naturally