How do you get a scared horse on a trailer?

Answer 1

The first thing you need to find out is what is scaring him. If it is that the horse has had a bad experience with horse trailers, then it will take quite a while before you can get him/her back up to confidence. The thing i find helps is putting a treat, such as carrots, or other forage in the end of the box, see if that persuades him to get in. If he proves to be stubborn, and it isn't a serious importance that you move him right now, then simply a few days, to a couple of weeks building up to getting into the horse box is needed, e.g getting him/her to walk around the trailer for a couple of days, get him/her used to it, then poking his head into it, maybe with you in the trailer, and gradually build him/her into it. It is generally advised to have a head coller on him/her, with a lead rope on, just in case. If all else fails, you can get some sedative from the vets, that worked for me, it was fine after that.