CindyECC wrote:


Honestly, I hate the "park the trailer in the field and feed from it" suggestion.  It's NOT about the horse deciding that that particular trailer is ok.  It's about the horse accepting you as the boss/leader...not deciding, on her own, that, ok, she'll go in the trailer for you...because at some point, there'll be something ELSE that she doesn't want to do and you still won't be the one making the decisions...she will.

This does work with a horse who is genuinely afraid of the trailer and not just not wanting to get on or not accepting you as a leader. I know this because I have a mare who was absolutely terrified of even getting on a big truck. She'd been in a trailer accident and then just wouldnt get on after that. If she'd see you leading her towards the trailer from 30ft away, she'd go nuts. She's completely lose it and nothing you could do would get her mind back. She'd just flat out panic. So I put the float in a yard and had her food and water in it. It took her a while to go in there and she was dripping with sweat and shaking like a leaf just to walk in, in her own time and free will. After a couple days, the float was her comfort spot. She practically lived in it. It was her shade, her shelter, her food and water source, the place where she got tons of comfort.
Then I started working with her by asking her to load when I wanted. Only took a couple of sessions. Now she walks right now. She gets nervous about the centre bar coming across and making it more enclosed but even that she's getting over now. So it does work but only with horses who are genuinely afraid of the trailer itself and nothing to do with the handler.