Training Tip: Horse Trailer Preferences

Question: What type of trailer do you prefer and why? Do you train horses to load on one type and travel with veteran horses in another? There are so many types of trailers out there with all the bells and whistles, so I am curious to know what you like for both training and traveling, and why.

Answer: My personal trailers are all slant loads. I think horses travel better in them. As far as having a particular trailer to teach horses how to confidently load in and out of, no, we don’t. We use whatever is available. A horse should get on any type of trailer.

For the purpose of the Academy Horse Program, I added an old trailer to the obstacle course for students to practice trailer loading with their horses. I braced and cemented the trailer into the ground so it wouldn’t move as we worked horses on it, and it was in good working order, meaning it had a good floor and wasn’t dangerous for the horses.

I purposely went out and got the biggest piece of shit trailer I could find. It’s a two-horse straight-load, and it resembles a tin can on wheels. If you can get a horse confident about getting into and out of a trailer like that, he’ll get in anything.

Once the horses are great about getting in that trailer on the obstacle course, then the students practice loading them in and out of one of the ranch’s trailers. Their job is to make sure the horses are absolutely confident about getting in a trailer, no matter what type it is or what it looks like.

From a trainer’s perspective, there’s nothing worse than having a great lesson with your client, where you get to show off everything their horse learned and can do, and then, when the day is finished and it’s time for them to go home, their horse won’t get on the trailer. It totally ruins everything up to that point.

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