As Salsa got in and out of the trailer on his own today, with me standing to the side and just sort of gesturing and running a load/unload video loop in my head, I realized that I get some credit for this.
The first time he loaded with the divider up — it’s a two horse straight load — he folded in half to come out nose first, started to panic as he got wedged under the divider, tensed himself and exploded out. So it’s not that he came to me perfectly trailery.
I set it up for him to learn. Straight in, straight out, goodness happens all around. There could be hay in the trailer. Or maybe a cookie after a nice soft backup out of the trailer. Or some grazing. Or maybe a cookie in the trailer. Sometimes the human walks along on the other side of the divider, sometimes she hangs out at the entrance. But no matter what, it’s easy and painless to walk in and back out.
Next week when I’m out of town, there will be a dentist in the trailer, but that’s Erin’s problem. Heh.
Horsegirl on a Journey 