There are MANY techniques for teaching horses trailer load. I don’t believe there is only one right way. The more techniques and options that we have the more we can adapt to every horse and every situation.
This video doesn’t explain the initial training – I plan to do another video of that soon. This video just explains a few strategies to get horses more confident about staying in and not panicking when they feel the butt bar.
There are additional things that I do to prepare horses before I would feel that a horse is confident enough to be locked in and travel. I will make a video of those other techniques soon too.
However for those of you who already have your horse going in, have done training with me before and are familiar with the concepts used here, this video will give you some ideas on how to progress. It is only safe to go in the trailer with your horse as I am, if your horse is very sure that backing out is the exit route if they are not confident enough to stay in. If horses are not pressured into the trailer and have learned through approach and retreat, they will have learnt that they can back out when ever they feel they need to. If your horse tries to turn around in the float / trailer it can be very dangerous. So be sure they know backing is the way out and and pay attention to keep their neck straight and nose pointing forwards whilst they are in there. If they start looking back they may start thinking about turning around.
If you have not previously done training with me before but would like to find out more about the foundational concepts you can learn more at www.melfleming.com