# Anyone have a horse that won't *unload* from the trailer?



## winstonsgrl (Jan 22, 2011)

When I first got my horse he hated loading and unloading. He still paws while on, but he has gotten a whole lot better. Winston will not back out so I just let go of the rope and let him turn around & walk out. My trailor does not have a ramp either, neither does my trainer's.


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## VelvetsAB (Aug 11, 2010)

_What about swinging the divider over, and turning her around? Or swing the divider over and let her back out on a slight angle?_


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## iridehorses (Oct 22, 2007)

I use a stock trailer and simply turn my horses around and let them walk off.


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## bubba13 (Jan 6, 2007)

It's not conventional--and in the wrong hands, it could end very badly--but I've had luck attaching driving lines to the horse, standing behind it, and asking it to back off that way.


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## Cherie (Dec 16, 2010)

This is not all that uncommon. We teach EVERY horse to back out of any trailer. Many horse we run into have been allowed to turn around and then refuse to back out after that.

We simply put two lead-ropes on the horse's halter and run one back along each side of the horse. Then, Husband and I just pull the horse back out of the trailer -- no exceptions. After doing this 2 or 3 times, they completely lose their fear of backing out and just keep doing it each time.

We have two big stock trailers. One is 6 feet wide and the other is 7 feet wide, so they are plenty big enough for a horse to turn around. But, if the horse is loaded in a narrow trailer in later years, they will completely refuse to back out, so we just teach all of them to back out -- from the beginning. 

We go a step farther. We teach all of our horses to get in without us. We just lead them up behind the trailer and smooch. They all hop in and we just keep the lead on the outside, tying it to the left side when they are all the way up to the front or up behind the horse in front of them. 

When we unload, we untie lead-ropes, one at a time, and tell the horse to back out and each does -- again without anyone having to get into the trailer. We put 7 head in one trailer and 8 in the other and they all load and unload this way. 

Making them back out in the beginning certainly has no bad side effects and they are all comfortable doing exactly what we want.


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## kitten_Val (Apr 25, 2007)

When I had issues with loading/unloading I took my horse to the stall, made it narrow (by setting bunch of barrels inside) and made her walk in, BACK OUT the stall till she was completely comfortable (my stalls have a bar on ground so the horse has to learn to pick her hoofs to step over while backing). Then I moved to the trailer (BTW I had EXACT same trainer you have - 2-horse stock Valley - for 3 years). This suggestion I got from friend of mine who often works with problem horses.


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## eventerjumpergirl (May 6, 2011)

Turning her around is pretty dangerous, not to mention if its a tight trailer, she can actually crack the supports (unless its aluminum mb.) Have you tried using a crop to tap her chest, when she takes a step, halt and praise her, then try again? Or maybe at home, set up a chute and practice loading and unloading her. In the case of using a chute, your trailer should be narrow when she goes to back out. Time and patience, dont do it on days you have to rush.


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## candandy49 (Jan 16, 2011)

In all the trailering I have done in past years I have had only one horse who was a challenge to get to come out of my trailer. The trailer I had was a 3 horse slant goose-neck with removable dividers. Since I always started out for trail riding, camping with horses and parades with my own horse I stopped and picked up horses from friends requesting for a hauling of their horse. 

Even though the one horse that was being difficult to unload was facing the opening of the trailer he would not budge so I got my coiled lariat and simply laid it on his hind quarters with his owner at his lead rope. It was not a spanking, but a simple laying of that lariat on his hind end. Very successsful outcome!!!


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## Clayton Taffy (May 24, 2011)

This really works. Take your time, give yourself a couple hours.
This works best if he already loasds easily.
Have the horse face the trailer, ask him to put one foot in, don't let him go any farther than that, just one foot. then have him take it out. Do this several times, 10, 20, 30Xs. Next step ask for both front feet, no farther. Then ask him to take both feet out of the trailer, do that several times, 20,30,40Xs.
Next step if you can get three feet in great, but sometimes that can be difficult so four is fine. then ask him to get out of the trailer right away. He should remember the step is there and since he has gone up and down 50 or so times by now. He should not be frightened and get out easily, if he doesn't start again from the beginning. If he does get out easily, repeat all the way in and all the way out several times. 
My clyde wouldn't get out of the trailer and when he finally came out he would fly out and the last thing throw his head up and hit the top of the trailer, even though I had an 8' tall trailer this was scary to watch. I hired a John Lyons certified trainer to help me, and the above discription is what he did. It worked great. If I didn't trailer him any where for awhile I would give him a short refresher course.
Good luck!


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## MacabreMikolaj (May 9, 2009)

I went through this with my Arab mare for years. She grew up being accustomed to big stock trailers where she was led off, and refused to back up. Then my grandpa got it in his head he was going to TEACH her, and basically just beat the crap out of her until she freaked, half trampled him, spun and leaped out of the trailer anyway. It took me YEARS to teach her to back up, and it still terrifies her - she hunkers WAY down and takes tiny stomping steps all the way back until she finds the edge.

It really just was time and patience and finally owning a trailer where she COULDN'T turn around, whether we wanted to let her or not. It helped her greatly having someone reassure her from behind, petting her rear end and legs and just letting her know people were there and she wasn't going to fall into oblivion.

Jynx also hated backing up, the first few trailer rides were fun trying to get her OFF the trailer (no problems going in!) It only took her half falling/stumbling off the back 3-4 times and she's pro at it now, no problems. 

We always always teach our horses verbal cues as well - we loudly tell them to step when they reach the back, and they learn to wait for the cue and trust us.


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## equiniphile (Aug 16, 2009)

Thank you all for your replies! She is great to back out of a trailer with a ramp; she went right in and out of my mom's ex-boyfriend's 6-horse slant. She just has major problems with the unloading from this trailer. Her loading isn't great anymore....it's gotten progressively worse since she found out how scary it is to back out. We lay a lead line around her butt and she walks right in, but we've never had to encourage her with other trailers. The first time we had her back out of the trailer, she was a little nervous feeling her foot on the edge, but she did it and got lots of praise. Since the first time, though, she refuses to back out. I've tried swinging the back of the divider over so she has more butt room to use when she gets out, to no avail.

Lately when we go to ride, we have to take the divider out completely and then turn her around, which works...but it's not the most convenient thing.



kitten_Val said:


> When I had issues with loading/unloading I took my horse to the stall, made it narrow (by setting bunch of barrels inside) and made her walk in, BACK OUT the stall till she was completely comfortable (my stalls have a bar on ground so the horse has to learn to pick her hoofs to step over while backing). Then I moved to the trailer (BTW I had EXACT same trainer you have - 2-horse stock Valley - for 3 years). This suggestion I got from friend of mine who often works with problem horses.


This is the trailer we have....yours is the same? It's a great trailer for us, but my mom eventually would like to get a 4-horse with dressing room and LQ. We're thinking about mounting collapsable saddle racks on the inside of this one, as when I put a stand in there the saddles sometimes fall off.

Trailer Sales from Congelosi Trailers: Detailed Stock Trailers

When I work with her on the ground, her back is phenomenal. She gives me haunch turns, pivots, backs, sidepasses, etc, from the ground. I know she would give me the same in the trailer if she wasn't so afraid. 



Taffy Clayton said:


> This really works. Take your time, give yourself a couple hours.
> This works best if he already loasds easily.
> Have the horse face the trailer, ask him to put one foot in, don't let him go any farther than that, just one foot. then have him take it out. Do this several times, 10, 20, 30Xs. Next step ask for both front feet, no farther. Then ask him to take both feet out of the trailer, do that several times, 20,30,40Xs.
> Next step if you can get three feet in great, but sometimes that can be difficult so four is fine. then ask him to get out of the trailer right away. He should remember the step is there and since he has gone up and down 50 or so times by now. He should not be frightened and get out easily, if he doesn't start again from the beginning. If he does get out easily, repeat all the way in and all the way out several times.
> ...


I would try this, if she hadn't been so reluctant to load lately. I think making her back out when she's decided to come in would be detrimental for her.



MacabreMikolaj said:


> I went through this with my Arab mare for years. She grew up being accustomed to big stock trailers where she was led off, and refused to back up. Then my grandpa got it in his head he was going to TEACH her, and basically just beat the crap out of her until she freaked, half trampled him, spun and leaped out of the trailer anyway. It took me YEARS to teach her to back up, and it still terrifies her - she hunkers WAY down and takes tiny stomping steps all the way back until she finds the edge.
> 
> It really just was time and patience and finally owning a trailer where she COULDN'T turn around, whether we wanted to let her or not. It helped her greatly having someone reassure her from behind, petting her rear end and legs and just letting her know people were there and she wasn't going to fall into oblivion.
> 
> ...


Molly has the cues for back up down--pressure on the chest or nose, mental pressure towards her chest, or saying the word "back" all work.

I think we've tried just about everything mentioned. Crop tapping on her stomach, lead ropes on her halter with two people applying pressure from behind, lunge line around her chest and pulled backwards, holding her tail and squeezing to encourage her back end to move, carrots, another horse in the trailer while she backs, no horses in while she backs, horses outside the trailer so she wants to get out and join them....etc.

Like I said, taking the divider out completely _works_, but I would much rather have her comfortable backing out.

Molls next to the trailer she so hates :roll:


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## Clayton Taffy (May 24, 2011)

I think you should take another look at my suggestion, I believe it would help in the loading process also. Entering and exiting after each progressive foot helps reinforce the idea that she is not trapped once she is in the trailer, and you are practicing loading at the same time you are teaching to unload. You might do the lessons over several days, instead of several hours.


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## equiniphile (Aug 16, 2009)

Taffy Clayton, I'll try your suggestion tomorrow and see how she does.


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## kitten_Val (Apr 25, 2007)

equiniphile said:


> This is the trailer we have....yours is the same? It's a great trailer for us, but my mom eventually would like to get a 4-horse with dressing room and LQ. We're thinking about mounting collapsable saddle racks on the inside of this one, as when I put a stand in there the saddles sometimes fall off.
> 
> Trailer Sales from Congelosi Trailers: Detailed Stock Trailers


Yep, exactly the same except mine was white (had to special order it, white stock is not very common around here). Nice little trailer I used for several years and never had issues. I just sold it last month to get one with dressing room.


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## equiniphile (Aug 16, 2009)

kitten_Val said:


> Yep, exactly the same except mine was white (had to special order it, white stock is not very common around here). Nice little trailer I used for several years and never had issues. I just sold it last month to get one with dressing room.


 Yep, ours is white too.


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## anndankev (Aug 9, 2010)

There was a place at the edge of the driveway that dropped off a good 10-12 inches to the dirt, there was always a puddle there after rain... I was working with a horse who I felt had a fear issue backing out of trailers so I started backing him across this edge daily. Maybe 10-15 minutes a day for a couple of weeks or more, also figured maybe working on backing in general would be good for him so backed through every gate we came to, backed out of his stall, backed back into the stall. Backed up and down the driveway edge, backed under low hanging tree branches.... He greatly improved, so much so that he was actually half-stolen from me !!

Let me explain - he was given to another woman and me because of his trailering and rearing issues. We shared his expenses 50/50, the plan was to get him over his issues and use him as a lesson pony wherein we would both end up with earnings from him. I was in charge of the first part, the other woman was the lesson instructor. 

So anyway after a couple of month's and he was being used in lessons and would literally trot into a trailer, the other woman comes in the middle of the night leaves her trailer down at the bottom of the driveway on the main road, gets Pepper, loads him up and drives him to her place. Later I was informed she changed her mind, and no longer wants to be the instructor in my program, and did not need me anymore (after all she had her own lesson horses).


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## Sahara (Jul 23, 2010)

This probably is NOT the best solution for all situations, but it worked for my mare. I bought her at an auction and she loaded into our step up 2-horse bumper full and traveled like a champ. Once we got home, it was pitch dark and she wasn't stepping out of the back of that trailer for anything! We got a piece of plywood and put it in front of her face and slowly worked her out. No one pulled on her or used scare tactics. We just kept saying "back, back" and everytime she stepped back the board went forward, closing the gap. Like I said, this wouldn't work for all horses, but worked for her. I mean, she could have leaped forward and trampled my dad, but she didn't. She never had a problem backing out since then either.


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