Day Nine - It's Not About theTrailer

My horse, Sonny, is a pretty confident horse. Nothing much bothers him and I have never had a problem loading him in a trailer. Coming down here to Florida, he didn't hesitate a moment before climbing up the steep, woodened walled ramp to get on to the Brook Ledge trailer. This was despite the fact that he had never seen such a rig before and there was a crazed thoroughbred already loaded who was making a hellacious racket while trying to dismantle the stall he was occupying. So when Sonny wouldn't load in the small green Parelli trailer during our on-line testing, he stuck his head in and looked around but declined to climb aboard, I knew it was not about the trailer.
Trailer loading can be a problem for many horses. Being prey animals, horses are naturally claustrophobic and climbing into a trailer would not be the first choice of a safe haven for most horses. Trailers are, as Pat Parelli often says, metal caves on wheels. In nature, you might find a mountain lion living in a cave but you probably wouldn't find a horse. I've seen horses so terrified of the idea of getting into a trailer that they have thrown themselves over backwards in order to escape.
The trailer on the Parelli Center playground is an old fashion, small two horse trailer that has been put up on blocks to make it stable. It has no doors and because it has no ramp, a horse has to take a step up enter. Sonny is a pretty big horse and the first time I saw the trailer I wondered if he would even fit in it. But John Barr had assured us during one of our earliest classes that he had seen two draft horses loaded simultaneously at a trot into this little trailer and he was sure that no horse in our class was too big for the trailer.
I had been taking Sonny to the trailer every day and he had progressed to putting both front feet and most of his body into the trailer but he still hadn't stepped into the trailer with his hind feet. I had been very patient with him because we had been told never to ask a horse for more effort when he was already trying but after a week, I wasn't sure Sonny was trying. He would get most of himself into the trailer and then just stand there looking bored. I wasn't sure if I should encourage him or not. So Wednesday morning, while Sonny appeared to be napping in the trailer, I flagged down Ryan, one of Parelli coaches and asked for help.
Ryan told me that if I thought Sonny wasn't being unconfident, I should go ahead and encourage him to try a little harder so I tapped Sonny on his butt with my carrot stick. This caused him to back right out of the trailer. Ryan said that now that I had started, I needed to keep asking until Sonny gave me a positive response so I kept tapping him on the butt until he climbed back in the trailer with his front feet. He didn't step up in the trailer with his back feet but he moved them much closer so I stopped tapping. I thought that was a pretty good try from him so I moved on to other challenges.
First thing Thursday morning, I took Sonny out to the trailer and asked him to load. Just like every other day, he climbed on with his front feet and moved most of the way in but didn't step on with his back feet. I waited a moment to make sure he wasn't still trying and then tapped him on the butt with my carrot stick. With out any hesitation, Sonny stepped on with his back feet and stood comfortably in the trailer while I walked around to the front and fed him a treat through the window. With Sonny, it wasn't about the trailer, I think it was about how good a leader I could be for him. I think he had been waiting for me to tell him clearly, it's OK to be inside that trailer.
Fresh off my success loading Sonny in the trailer, I went to the day's demonstration which turned out to be about trailer loading. The entire class gathered at bleachers that had been placed behind the green trailer and John Barr asked the class if anyone wanted to volunteer a horse for the demonstration. Several students jumped up and after some conversation, John chose two horses for the demonstration.
The first horse, a cute little Arabian, was nervous about being away from his buddies and fearful about getting on the trailer. He was a high energy horse who needed to move his feet and he was looking for a leader. John took him through a number of exercises around the trailer, working first to focus the horse's attention and then to gain his trust. At first the horse wouldn't even look at the trailer. After each exercise, John returned with the horse to the trailer. First the head went in and John retreated, asking the horse to do something else before returning to the trailer. Each time John asked the horse to make a little more effort and slowly but surely, as the horse became less fearful and more focused, he put more of his body in the trailer. Finally, after about 50 minutes, the horse loaded completely on the trailer.
The second horse had a completely different personality. He was more dominant than fearful and it was clear from the start that he wasn't afraid of going in the trailer. According to his owner, every time she tried to load him into the trailer, he would turn sideways to the door and refuse to straighten out his body. John told the group that the horse was probably not thinking about going into the trailer. He said that once a horse was thinking into the trailer, his body would line up so it could go into the trailer.
With this horse, John worked primarily to establish himself as the leader. The horse kept bracing against the halter. It was as if he was arguing with John about who was actually in charge. John worked to overcome each brace. Every trick the horse tried, John countered. John wasn't even asking the horse to get in the trailer. After about fifteen minutes of "non-verbal dialogue" the horse just hopped up on the trailer. John dropped the lead line and came over to finish talking with the class about trailer loading. While John finished up, the horse stood on the trailer. He made no attempt to back off, he just stood there. The whole class just laughed in agreement when John pointed out that this horse's issue was "not about the trailer".