If you never have attempted trailering your horse, it can be a stressful activity and a lot of things may not go the way you have planned. It’s a challenging thing for both humans and horses, but if your horse believes in you, and you are a rational, safe driver, you have nothing to worry about. In order for you to ship your horse safely, we have prepared some useful tips that will help you prepare for a safe and easy journey with your horse. Keep reading!
- Good things take time
If you never have trailered a horse before, keep in mind that this process takes time and you have to take things slowly. Being impatient and rushing things will only cause difficulties for you and your horse.
- Bring another companion
As you know, trailing can really scare and make a horse anxious. In order to make this experience easier for your horse, it’s best if you bring another horse or another animal because horses are very friendly creatures and they like to have company.
- Plan everything in advance
Before trailering a horse make sure to plan everything you can in advance. Start with the load-up, the route, break time and everything in between.
- Understand your horses
In case you’re trailering many horses, it’s better if you know their personalities, so you can load them properly. A horse who has the traits of a leader may want to be the first one loaded whilst shy horses may be simpler to load once the top horse is on board.
- Prepare your horse for this experience in advance
In order for you to evade problems loading, get your horse ready in advance. Put the trailer in a place where your horse can see it some days before loading. Tie the horse close to it whenever you are grooming and saddling him. Feed the horse outside and inside the trailer too so he can get used to the thought of loading up.
- Let the horse decide things
If you are only loading one horse, and he is not used to being trailered, try just placing the horse’s feed in the trailer to the port and leave the door open so that the horse can easily walk in whenever he is able to do so.
- Some horses can be tempted with food
If you are carrying foo with you, it will be easier for your horse to follow you. You can even wave it a little bit to push them to move ahead. If your horse is like this, you can directly step into the trailer bringing a pot of food, and your horse will most likely follow you. Be cautious with this approach because you will then be in the front of the trailer with your horse preventing your door. If you feel you can carefully move past the horse and out the back door, but if you believe you might get stomped or hit, this is definitely not a reliable method.
- Practice a lot
If you haven’t ridden with a trailer in tow, practice with a clear trailer before you hit the road with a horse. Don’t load up and drive off with your valuable load until you are fully adequate maneuvering in every position while pulling a trailer.
- Mainly practice backing up
It is very important to avoid having to back up, but sometimes even the best plans sometimes go wrong. You may find yourself in a difficult situation where you have no other option but to back up. In this kind of situation, you need to be very skilled. Learn to progress gradually, firmly and carefully. You can’t stop as fast as you can when you’re just driving your truck. Be steady while driving to keep your horse protected and safe.
- Stay calm and cool
Don’t exaggerate if your trailer begins to fishtail, and don’t attempt to fix it by steering. Rather than that, keep the steering wheel constant and move straight forward. Brake slowly and lightly to bring your trailer under control. Make sure not to quicken if your trailer begins to snake or fishtail. This will only make things worse.
- Stay organized in case of a wreck
It’s very important to prepare for everything and keep all your things organized in case of a malfunction. If things go bad keep in mind that it’s very risky to unload on a busy roadway. If really you must unload, it’s better to first call the police.
