We bought our
gelding as an 11 yr old that had been trail ridden & trailered extensively.
So, when we tried to get him in the trailer to take him home, I was shocked by
his behavior. He resisted getting in for about 10 minutes, pulling back &
forth, getting in a few steps, then quickly backing out. His owner said he had
always been like that, several of his friends tried to "fix" it, but only made
the loading worse. When he finally got in, he was biting wherever he could get a
grip on the trailer & danced the entire hour drive home. He continued this
behavior for a few months, until I did two things....backed the trailer up to
his paddock & fed him in it for a couple of weeks, AND had some body work
done on him. He immediately changed his attitude, but wasn't entirely "fixed".
It has taken 1 1/2 years to get him to load calmly & stay calm in the
trailer. I may be wrong, but I think he was afraid of the trailer RIDE.....maybe
he'd had some bad trips in the trailer. Now, every once in a while he has a
little flashback & will swing side to side a time or two before hopping in,
but usually it's just a matter of throwing the rope over his neck & getting
out of his way.
