Question: I recently acquired a 15 year old mare who had been originally used as a broodmare and then a riding mare. I plan to trail ride her. When I bought her, they told me of her fear of 2 horse stall type horse trailers, mostly during unloading. She loads well, but runs backward when getting off, unless you can turn her around. Then she walks off. I brought her home in a 2 horse open stock trailer. She went on well, but kept racing off backwards about 4-5 timesuntil we finally got the door shut.

They said she also does not like cramped places like small aisle ways. Could she be claustrophobic? I have her with another mare in a 3 acre pasture with a 10 foot doorway into a 20 foot by 10 foot area in my barn. She only sticks her head in and won’t go in. This is where I feed them. So I put her hay be the doorway. Is there anything I can do to get her over this trail problem so I can load her beside another horse without her hurting someone?

Answer: Horses instinctively flee from a situation if possible, and will fight as a last resort. It seems rather obvious that your horse is frightened by enclosed spaces, but this may not be the case. It is up to you to determine what is actually causing your horse’s resistance to loading onto the trailer. Does she appear frightened? While this could possibly be due to some traumatic occurence in her past, it could also be a combination of other things, including reinforcement of the behavior by past owners. For example, if she refused to stay on a trailer, past owners may have given up and not loaded her. However, due to her background, I’m assuming she hasn’t been loaded as frequently as a show horse or trail riding horse that gets trailered long distances every weekend. While this is a frustrating and dangerous situation for you, you can most likely get her to load and unload in a reasonable and safe manner with some patience and effort.

Horse trailers are often dark. Most horses do not like to enter dark areas, especially unfamiliar dark areas (which probably also encompasses your barn, but we’ll get to that in a bit). Make sure that your trailer is well illuminated on the inside. Some 2 horse trailers have a small door at the front that can be opened to let in light, but make sure that your horse cannot rush to it and try to go out that door. Another option is to place a light inside the trailer. Just make sure that the horse cannot reach the light once loaded and that any necessary wires are out of the way. You might want to get a shatterproof lightbulb with a cage over the bulb itself to help protect it from being bumped.

The first step is to make sure your mare’s groundmanners are in tune. Make sure she knows your cues for walk, stand, back up, and stop or whoa on the ground before trying to work the trailer. A lot of older horses will lead, but don’ necessarily behave WELL on the ground. Start with some simple ground training, get your mare to walk, stop, back up, and stand still with you. Make sure she’s comfortable in your presence and is executing the commands you ask. If her ground manners need work, then she will be even harder to load. I suggest working on her ground manners for a few days (or more, depending on the mare) if this is the case, then moving on to the next exercise. You should be able to get her to move each foot independently when asked, be able to get her to move forward, backward, and laterally, and be able to redirect her if she behaves inappropriately or unexpectedly on the ground. Here’s a link to some exercises for you and your horse while on the ground and getting started loading.

Since your mare ran backward off a stock trailer, I suggest starting her trailer loading behavior modification using a stock trailer for the safety of your horse and yourself. Because your mare does get onto the trailer, take note of how she loads. Does she rush on and then fly backward? If this is the case, try slowing her entry onto the trailer. Make sure that your trailer is well blocked so that it rocks as little as possible when she loads. You may wish to wear basic protective gear (leather gloves and a riding helmet) as well as appropriate footwear. Get her to place one foot up into the trailer and just stand there. Give her time to sniff the floor, look around, etc. Praise her for standing there without backing away from the trailer. Don’t punish her if she backs up, instead lead her back to the trailer and ask her to put one (or both) front hooves on the trailer and let her stand for about 10 - 30 seconds. Let her get accustomed to the trailer, again letting her sniff and look.

Next ask her to bring her hind feet up onto the trailer. Don’t even attempt to close the door. Just ask her to stand. Praise her for good behavior and very gently ask her to back off. Be aware that she may fly backward, rather than step backward at first. After she’s been loaded, reload her. Your goal with this exercise is to get her to load and stand inside the trailer without the door being closed. Remain calm and praise her when she does the right thing. Quiet, precise cues are the key here. Once you’ve loaded her successfully several times and gotten her to stand for at least a minute or so without the door being closed behind her, try loading her and then closing the door. You are teaching her that being in the trailer is not a bad thing, and that she won’t immediately be closed in. Keep her closed in only a few minutes, open the door, and unload her. Repeat the process, but try and keep your overall session to about 20 minutes.

It may take several days to get to this point. Expect to work with her every day or every other day for at least a week to get her to load and stay loaded without flying backward. Calm consistency is a must.  Here’s a link to Tips on Trailering Your Horse, published by the University of Tennessee Extension team.  Getting your mare to load in a 2 stall horse trailer can be accomplished in much the same way. I suggest loading her by herself several times before attempting to load with a buddy. The reason I suggest working with her without another horse in the trailer at first is that she needs to listen to you and be focused on the tasks you are asking her to perform.

I once bought a horse that had never been inside a barn. She was four years old, and had never been separated from her dam, halter broke, been in a barn, or trailered. Needless to say, she was a teensy bit difficult to get into the trailer, as she wasn’t used to being handled at all. We did get her loaded and hauled home safely, but once there, she refused to enter the barn! It was dark when we got to the barn, so we turned on all the barn lights and eventually got her to step onto the concrete aisle way. From there, it took quite a lot of convincing and gentle persuasion to get her into her shavings bedded stall. Once in her stall, she settled in fairly well and began making friends with an old gelding that was stalled next to her. The issue with your mare not entering the barn could be several things. First of all, it may be dark, which may make her uncomfortable. Also, your other mare may be dominant and she may be leery of entering the space, considering it’s not really that large for two adult horses to eat in without stall walls. I generally place feeders at least 20 feet apart in open spaces. See my previous post on feeding multiple horses in small areas. It is also possible that your mare cannot see as well as you think. You could ask your veterinarian to evaluate her vision next time he comes to your farm.

Good luck!