More Questions on Trailer Loading

Everett wrote to clarify some things on trailer loading. "I have several questions on trailer loading if you have the time to answer me. I own and have watched several videos on trailer loading and generally have no problems with my two horses, but encounter some problems when helping friends of mine with their horses getting in the trailer. Videos are great and have been my primary outside learning experience but you can't ask questions! (1) I've seen different trainers work their horses in different patterns before trying to load them such as circles or just going back and forth. Is any pattern okay or are their advantages and disadvantages with each? And if you are lunging a horse around a trailer then try to load her and she stops at the trailer and refuses to load, isn't she being rewarded with a rest anyway? (2) One problem I almost ways have with other's horses is a when you are asking the horse to get in the trailer she will move around the side of the trailer sort of hiding so how do you keep them straight? (3) Have you encounter a horse who won't step into the trailer because the trailer is too high? Will a ramp work better? Any answers you can give would be appreciated. Thank you for your site and videos as well. Respectfully, Everett".

Good questions Everett. The pattern that you lunge a horse in prior to asking him to attempt to load is really not important. What is are the reason for doing so and how you go about doing it. See diagrams before on two common patterns - although some people will lunge their horses in ovals on all sides of the trailer or lunge them from one side to the other - whatever you are comfortable with. I look at it these ways:

Although it often said or thought that the reason for working your horse outside the trailer prior to loading is to get him seeking that rest in the trailer. While this is pretty much true, I believe the primary reason for working the horse outside the trailer is to direct his feet therefore establishing leadership with him and getting him focused on listening to you, so when you ask him to enter the trailer it is an extension on what you just had been doing. Moving around the outside of trailer is useful on getting him sacked out on any anxiety with the trailer he may have. See figures 1 and 2 below - they are common patterns I do when working a horse into wanting to load.

I understand your point about working a horse then letting it rest at the trailer refusing to load. While it may be a physical rest for the horse (for a moment), as you are asking it to load it becomes mental pressure as the horse realizes you are asking it to do something it is wary of doing. Besides, you are not going to stay at this point for a long time. A few moments without an effort to load before you are back to working it. As long as the horse makes an effort, I'll stay at this point in the process.

As far as the trailer being too high for the horse to step into,....I think can't and won't are too different things, with can't stepping that high being a rare thing. The height of the trailer can add anxiety to the horse and the horse may leap into the trailer. This is why we don't stand in front of the horse leading them into the trailer. This can also cause additional problems if the floor is too slippery or not stable. I once refused to work a client's horse on trailer loading into his trailer because the floor would have likely cracked and it was looking possible for a horse to get his hoof through that floor. Can you imagine the damage if that happened on a moving trailer? All possible for want of a few dollars worth of 2x6 planks.

Anyway, before I forget, even if you have a trailer you can walk into leading your horse, it is a good idea in my book to also be able to send your horse into the trailer while you stay outside. On sending, sometimes the horse will turn around because it's hard to stop him from turning around while you are on the outside, so it's good to be able to back him out after sending him in. All good experience for the horse - makes him safer and more handier.

I don't have a trailer with a ramp nor have used a ramp much. I don't prefer them as you kind of need level ground behind the trailer for loading and un-loading. If you fashion a ramp for a ramp less trailer because you think your horse needs it to load, just make sure it is stable - won't move and will take the weight. A horse around 1,200 pounds becomes much more than that when stepping hard onto the ramp. I would think the 'sponginess' of some ramps may increase a horse's fear of loading.

I think your last question is what to do if your horse steps to the side of the trailer avoiding loading. If you are in the trailer (but off to the side) it's hard to keep a horse straight for loading that doesn't want to stay straight. I would likely go back to working the horse in circles or half circles, then going back to asking to load. Or you can use a lunge whip or just a stick to tap the horse on the outside of his barrel or butt to get him to move over and become straight again. Sometimes, I'll step out of the trailer and back the horse with energy, then walk back around to the trailer and ask him to load again. See figure 3 at left.

Some other important things are going to be:

When you lead a horse to a trailer to load, expect him to load just fine, otherwise he may sense your hesitancy and not load;

Remember that you can't pull a horse into the trailer - you can put a little pressure or hold on the lead rope momentarily so he understand you want him to come forward, but he needs to load on a loose lead - Good Lord this is likely the most common mistake - continue pulling on the horse trying to get him to load;

If he load's then back him out before he backs out under his own decision - then build on the amount of time he can stand in the trailer. It's okay to turn around if you can do it safely in the beginning but eventually he needs to be able to back out. I like to back a horse out under a loose lead when I'm inside the trailer and use the verbal cue "step" to help him identify the edge.      

Horses with Trailer Confinement Issues

Several people in the last couple of months have sent e-mails with the same basic issue that they are having a hard time resolving - horses who are okay at trailer loading but are anxious when the trailer is stopped. Some just move around and others kick and paw, and when unloading - some try to leave the trailer in a fast manner.  The common question is "should I leave my horse in the trailer until they calm down?"  

Different trailers and different circumstances, such as trailering with or without other horses, are going to affect some horses. A small, two horse straight load trailer may be too confining for horses used to a open stock trailer. Slant loads with the panels may seem too confining to some horses, especially larger horses - you may know horses like this.  If you have the chance to load your horse in different trailers, by all means do so. Doesn't mean you'll resolve problems down the road, just gives you a better chance at it.

Some horses are fine by themselves, or loading with other horses, and others get anxious when in a trailer next to others. The good news is I think you can minimize all these issues by loading and unloading, and/or trailering to some place over and over. I had a three year old Paint horse who took some time getting him to load. I hung a hay net up so he could pick at it once he loaded.  Once I had him loaded, I had him back out. Then I loaded him and kept him in the trailer for increasing amounts of time and we're talking about starting at around 10 seconds once his feet stopped moving.  When he was good with that, standing still for a few minutes, I loaded him and drove a few minutes in a wide circle, stopped, unloaded, mounted and rode for a couple minutes, then dismounted and loaded the horse and did it all over again for almost two hours. After that his first trailer ride was over an hour and I never had another problem with him - but all horses are going to be different. What is the same with all horses is that repetitions loading and unloading are good for all horses.

On a horse who loads good but is anxious about just being in the trailer, increasing the amount of time staying the trailer is also good for him. The first few times you may not get him relaxed, but my rule of thumb is to wait until there is some sign of relaxing, even momentary, and capitalize on that moment - timing is important. If you can safely be in the trailer with the horse and he is comfortable with your presence then sometimes that helps. I did this to my horses, talking to them softly, asking the horse to drop his head, rubbing on him, asking for one step backwards then one step forwards, but these were horses experienced in other trailers.




While you may enter a trailer with the horse, leading him or sending him in order to close a slant load or tie his lead up, please don't loiter in the trailer unless you can do so safely and have a reason to do so. A buddy of mine was loading a fairly bomb proof horse and lost half his finger then tying the horse's lead and the horse spooked and back off quickly, tightening the rope on his finger - and you can imagine the rest.

Another thing common to all horses is that if the horse really isn't broke to lead and can't back off a lead rope then he ain't going to do well backing out of a trailer. Some people I highly respect allow a horse to turn around in the trailer (if it can) and go out head first the first few times. I've done that before and I'm good with that, but eventually he needs to back out, calmly, and the sooner the better.

The trailer - staying quiet in the trailer - has to be a good place for the horse. He has to see and feel it as a place to rest. It's the same process we use when we get a horse to load, making the area outside the trailer work and at/in the trailer a rest spot - or a release from pressure. Many people, and I do this as well, will lunge the horse in a circle where the edge of the circle is close to the trailer, then stop him here and ask him to load. It's kinda like standing tied. Tired horses will stand tied better than fresh ones.

As far as leaving a horse in a trailer until they calm down - I would think they ain't likely to calm down over time if they are too amped up to begin with. That mental pressure is more likely to increase until maybe the horse hurts himself. Remember the horse has a soft spot just forward of his poll and some horse's have hit the trailer roof hard enough to kill or badly injured themselves. They make little padded hats for horses to protect themselves from hitting their head. I have never used one instead relying on having the horse totally comfortable with loading, staying in the trailer, and backing out. This just takes time, that's all.

Make sure your trailer is safe as well.  I was asked to help a gent get his horse loaded.  I told him I would teach him how to do it and showed up only to discover his trailer floor unsafe.  If  person can see that the trailer floor is unsafe, then the horse is certainly going to feel it and this will erode his confidence and will result in him having "trailering" problems when it really is "owner and  maintenance" problems.     

A final note:  If you drive with quick accelerations, fast lane changes and/or hard braking on stops then you are likely to undue much of the trailer work you put in on your horse.  I heard a long time ago that a horse is only has good as his last trailer ride. 

Trailering Horses Using the Functional Tie Ring

I have had several people purchase my Functional Tie Rings then write me to ask if they can use the Functional Tie Ring to tie horses in a trailer. It dawned on me that I did not do a good enough job in early videos or articles on using the Functional Tie Rings so I made this video on how I use the Functional Tie Ring in a safe manner to trailer my horses.

There are any people who may think tying horses in a trailer in a solution to a non existent problem and there was a time I did not tie horses in a trailer. I'm sure you can certainly be safe not tying horses in a trailer and I have loaded horses side by side in stock trailers without tying, but these days I'm all about reducing potential problems so no longer will I trailer horses who are not tied, and by tied I mean using the Functional Tie Ring.

The problems with hard tying horses in trailers, especially horses that are not good about riding in trailers, is that they can pull back and break snaps or halters then their head flings up into the trailer roof which can prove fatal to the horse. I have had a horse or two do that, but thankfully not hit their head very hard. But I also know people whose horses have died from an accident of this type.

My trailering steps, as shown in the video below are: 1 - load the horse with is lead rope through the Functional Tie Ring as normal and snapping the Functional Tie Ring into an inside trailer D ring. At this time I do not do anything with the excess lead rope except get it out of the way and where I can reach it from outside the trailer. If the horse pulls back before I can shut the slant load partition or can shut the trailer door, he'll get his controlled release from the Functional Tie Ring. 2 - I close the slant load partition (if necessary) and door. 3 - I move around to the side of the trailer then I normally daisy chain the excess portion of the lead rope to keep it out of the way of the horse. 4 - When I get where I'm going, I reverse the steps, first untying the daisy chain, then opening the trailer door, unhooking the horse then backing him out of the trailer.

I hope this helps someone be a little safer about using the Functional Tie Rings and/or trailering horses using any tie ring. Drive safe and give your horses a safe trailer ride.

How Are Your Horse Trailer Tires?

Two recent events gave me the thought to write this article:

One - I blew out a trailer tire coming home from an event and when I took the tire and rim into be be changed out, I noticed that the tire was 8 years old. I thought that the oldest tire I had on that trailer may have been 5 years old, but I was wrong, and.....


Two - A friend of mine who sometime trail rides with my wife and me, but mainly competes in dressage where she has to trailer quite a ways to events asked me to look at her trailer tires to see if I thought she was safe until she had a chance to replace the tires. She mentioned that the tires still looked good, but someone had told her she needed to replace them. 

I think it's probably pretty common to people to run tires way beyond their life span and to under-inflate those tires as well. Both risk a blow out, and when one tire blows out it places more stress on the other tire, then you have a potentially bad accident.

Most people are going to have trailers tires that have outlived their life span before they run the tread down where it's becomes obvious that the tire is old and needs replacing. The sun, heat, rain and snow plus the pressure of the trailer's weight all degrade that tire over time, particularly on the sidewalls.

Tire pressure should be checked when the tire is cold. Just because the tire pressure was good last week doesn't mean that they have retained their pressure today.....there are just some mysteries that won't be answered until we meet our Maker,....how come you put three pair of socks in the dryer and only get five socks back,....how come vampires don't like garlic,....and why a perfectly good tire without any holes in it loses air.

Use a tire gauge to check pressure. If you routinely trailer horses then setting up a permanent air station to make it easier to top off air in your tires sure makes a difference. Under inflated tires hampers handling and decreases tire life. Don't forget to check your spare tires as well.

Probably another common practice is to put passenger tires on the trailer as opposed to trailer tires. The difference being that passenger tires have more flexible sidewalls that can increase trailer sway. Trailer tires have stiffer sidewalls to help reduce sway. Most tire experts will tell you not to use passenger or light truck tires on a horse trailer.

When it comes to choosing a bias or radial tire how you use the trailer will help you decide. I use bias ply tires as they are intended for rougher terrain and generally have thicker side walls to help against punctures from cactus, mesquite thorns and sharp rocks. I have blown two bias ply tires on my horse trailer in one day,...several times as a matter of fact,....so I always carried two spares and sometimes I threw a third spare into then bed of my truck when my spidey sense told me to.

Radial tires are recommended for mostly paved road travel at higher speeds and when you trailer many miles and tread wear is important to you.

How to Read a Tire: 

What ST225/75D15 means:

ST
Type of Tire: P = Passenger, LT is Light Truck, ST is for Special Trailer

225
Tire Width, sidewall to sidewall in millimeters

75
This percentage compares the tires section height with the tires section width. For example, this aspect ratio of 75 means that the tires section height is 75% of the tires section width.

D
Indicates the construction used within the tires casing. R stands for radial construction. B means belted bias and D stands for diagonal bias construction.

15
Diameter of the wheel in inches


What DOT 6WVX 3410 means:

DOT (certifies the tire manufacturer’s compliance with U.S. Department of Transportation tire safety standards

6WVX (Manufacturer’s Code, tire size and tire code optional)

3410 (Date of Tire Manufacture - 3410 = 34th week of 2010)

So take a look at your trailer tires.  May attention to the date of manufacturer and if your tires are 4 or 5 years old, chances are you'll want to consider changing them.  Safe Trailering is essential to a Safe Journey. 

Hauling Horses - Service Your Truck's Tranmission

Truck and Trailering Tip - Service Your Transmission.  I see many people that are under trucked when pulling horse trailers. SUV's pulling a two horse trailer; a half ton pickup pulling a three horse slant - all very common and you have probably seen the same. With the price of 3/4 ton and larger pickups hitting just south of where the price of a starter home begins, many people don't have much of a choice if they want to keep trailering to horse events.

A few years ago it came time to buy my wife a new pickup. She was not fond of my truck of choice - a Ford Super Duty - so we looked at other options and settled on an new 2011 Toyota Tundra. The 10,000 lbs rated towing capacity seemed adequate for her two horse stock combination trailer which was around 5,000 lbs when loaded with two horses. And this truck trailer combo was pretty much going to be driven on flat, hard ball roads to and from events so I was pretty comfortable with her choice as we'd use my Super Duty for hauling horses anyplace else.

Recently we were using her truck to trailer a couple of horses to a team penning event and the maintenance light came on. I took the Tundra to Alamo Fleet Services who has kept my vehicles running all these years and whose general manager is an old friend of mine who broke horses for a local rancher until he was forced, like a lot of cowboys, to get a job that paid the bills.

Alamo told me what I pretty much knew, that the Tundra wasn't made for routine trailer pulling and if I want that truck to last for the short range, flat ground hauling that I had in mind, I would have to have the transmission serviced more often, and they recommended every 20,000 miles. They also told me that the majority of transmision failures are from worn out old fluid.

Normally, most transmission are serviced by draining the fluid, dropping the pan, replacing the filter and re-filling the fluid. According to my mechanics this not allow the fluid in the torque converter to be replaced, leaving several quarts of old fluid in the tranny and the contaminated transmission fluid can cause gear grinding, delayed transmission response, or stalling.

Alamo Fleet Services uses the BG PF5 Power Flush and Fluid Exchange System which removes the old automatic transmission fluid completely while at the same time adding new fluid in a method that does not allow for the intermixing of new and old fluids, meaning the new fluid will last significantly longer and protect the transmission.

They also recommended I use a transmission additive from BG called BG ATC Plus Automatic Transmission Conditioner, PN 310, which restores seal pliability and prolongs Automatic Tramission Fluid life by protecting it.

Alamo also recommended a couple of more additives as well. A fuel system cleaner called BG 44K, which they said is helpful in cleaning the fuel injectors and carbon off of the pistons tops nd improves performance.

The other additive they recommended was BG EPR Engine Performance Restoration which helps to restore, fuel economy and power.

So consider doing yourself a favor and find a vehicle maintenance place that is knowledgeable and that you can trust. A little money spent, more often, will usually save you big in the end. Safe Journey.

Trailering Horses Across Distances

Stephen sent the following question: ”How far, at one time should a horse be trailered. In my case, a mare. I know geldings require some special needs to urinate. Just wondering about a trip from Central Texas to Central Missouri , about 700 miles.”

Stephen, thanks for your question and you previously told me that you were a service member in the Army - thank you for your service to this Nation. 700 miles is about 14 hours or so of driving if you drove straight through. I think 14 hours in a trailer is unnecessary and unpleasant for a horse, especially if hauled by themselves. I would look up “horse hotels” which are stables that provide overnight pens for horses in transit. Baring any of these available on a route you can travel, I would look at planning an overnight stay where you can un-load the horse and either put her on picket line or maybe have some temporary travel panels to erect a overnight pen.

Makes for a much happier and sounder horse to consider her on the trip, maybe stopping at a rest area to un-load her every 3-4 hours or so. Much of this is dependent upon your trailer, your driving tendencies and your horse. One of the best suggestions I ever heard was that people need to go for a ride in the trailer (as a horse would) before they ever haul one, so they can feel what the horse feels on quick stops and sharp turns.

Newer trailers have a torsion bar suspension, rather than a conventional axle, which is much easier on horse as I believe it absorbs more shock. I have thick rubber mats in my trailers to provide better footing and more shock absorption. Make sure you pull your mates from time to time to clean out underneath and ensure your wooden trailer floor doesn't rot out.

Protective shipping leg wraps for your horse is a good idea.....consider these as well as even bell boots on the front end of your mare.

Some horses won't urinate in a trailer because of the splatter from the wooden or mat covered floor. While I don't do it, my wife always puts shavings in her trailer when she transport one of her horses. Good luck and safe journey.

Safely Hauling Horses – Working Trailer Lights

A few weeks ago I went to a roping and noticed more than half of the horse trailers coming or going with non-working trailer lights. Ask yourself “how many times have I trailered someplace without checking the lights or, worse yet, knowing that the trailer lights didn’t work?”

This apparently is a common problem so you aren’t alone. I think half the time (or more) the problem isn’t with the lights or the wiring,….it’s with the plug connections. In the dusty dirty world of dirt roads and parking lots these connectors, be they 4 flat, or, 6 or 8 round get dirt and mud caked in them so that the necessary connection between trailer lights and the truck just don’t happen.

Another problem is oxidation of the metal connection ends. Sometimes a knife to scrap off the oxidation is all you need to make a good connection.  Some of these connectors are also made of “pot” metal and can get bent out of shape or compressed enough not to allow a good connection.

One of my solutions to this problem is to give the connectors and adaptors and good cleaning with a small toothbrush and alcohol, which evaporates quickly and does not effect your connections. Sometimes, I have ran very hot water in the sink and used the sprayer to flush out dirt and debris. But I do this when the wife is out shopping as it gives me time to clean up the mess.

Make sure you always place the protector on the truck connections as well. These are harder to clean since you can't dunk then in a cup of alcohol. Some WD-40 and a brush works okay. Best to keep the rubber protector on the 4 flat inserted, and the spring loaded cover on the 6 and 8 round connectors in place.

A can of D-Electric grease, available from an Auto-Parts Store is a good idea. A small dab of this electrical connection enhancing grease makes the connections surer. Keep an in-expensive can of this in your trailer.

When not in use store your connectors and adaptors in plastic bags or place plastic bags over the ends of the connectors and rubber band them or tie them shut. At worst it’ll make hooking up your trailer easier and les messy. At best, it’ll allow trailer lights to function and keep someone from running into the back of your horse trailer and hurting your horses.