Teaching Your Horse to Load

Horsecity.com - Full Article

by Dr. Edwin Goodwin
www.southernstates.com
Posted: Tuesday, June 29, 2010

You've heard it. Maybe you've even said it: "He'll load. He just doesn't want to right now!" And with that, your balky horse has saved himself the trouble of traveling to wherever it was you planned to go. He was rewarded for his disobedience by going back to his stall or paddock and doing his favorite thing-nothing.

Letting the issue of loading go unresolved violates one of the fundamentals of dealing with horses: if you ask, the horse must respond correctly. Any less, and you've taught him a bad habit. That's true when you ride him, when you work with him in his stall and when you invite him to go traveling. Not all horses are bad loaders all the time, of course.

Some horses load easily by one of several common methods.

Some can be led on. This is fine if it woks all the time ... although there are some drawbacks. If you are using a trailer with either no escape door or a half-door, he might try to keep following, smashing you painfully up against the metal wall or door.

If he's being loaded into a slantload or stock trailer next to other horses of unknown temperament or habits, it could be dangerous for you...

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