Trailer Loading and Butt Ropes

I receive what seems to be a lot of questions about trailer loading. In my experience horses don’t want to get in trailers for two reasons: 1 – because they have had a bad trailering experience, and 2 – they have learned that they don’t have to get in – that they can get away with balking to enter the trailer. And with some horses, getting in a box is just too frightening, especially for the first time.

When I was managing a large horse stables I had a boarder need help to load his horse to take him to roping. After the roping concluded he tried to load his horse back into the trailer, couldn’t get it done, so he had to ride the horse about 20 miles back to the stables. So the lesson learned here is that don’t go someplace with your horse unless you are sure you can get him back in.

I don’t know how many times I get asked to help someone trailer load their horse only to find out that they have tried for 4 or 5 days before they called me. Then the horse has learned pretty much that they don’t have to get in the trailer. So the lesson is not to try to load a horse, who has problems loading, if you don’t have the time to see it through. And when you get him to load, just don’t stop there, get him in and out a few times and see if he isn’t easier each time.

A new trailer can cause a horse to balk at entering as well as can competing interests for their attention while trying to get them loaded. If the trailer is old or otherwise has suspect flooring then the horse may have some anxiety associated with that. Sometimes it may be a lower height trailer and the horse has bumped his head.

When I lead a horse up the trailer I make sure I’m not in front of them but off the side and My body language reflects that I am expecting that horse to walk right up and into the trailer. If they balk, I’ll give them a minute and have them drop their heads to smell and look at the trailer floor then when I see their attention on the trailer waiver (you’ll see their head set and ears slacken), then I ask them to step up.

When I have trailered a young horse, that wasn’t necessarily really good at loading, out to a remote area and was on patrol by myself, I have had to use some props, a butt rope or lunge whip, to help that horse get back into the trailer, but for the long term it needs to be the horse’s idea to load and he should load easily. Even though I don’t like to use other aids like a butt rope or lunge whip, sometimes it is necessary to tap the horse on his butt to move up into the trailer. I have had success in really balky horses by tapping on the leg below the hocks. And I mean tapping, not hitting,…just a light, repeated tap until you see some progress. If they move forward even one step I removed the tapping (pressure and release), then start again. The horse learns that to move forward and continue to move forward into the trailer is where they find the release. In the trailer they find out that it ain’t the big trauma they thought and they are a better horse for it.

The below video shows how I position up and use a butt rope to help with getting a horse to move forward into the trailer.