Matt Feerick
Aug 9

A Detailed Look at Loading Pt.4

Over this 4-part blog series, Matt takes a detailed look at loading — helping you break down your training and troubleshoot common loading problems step by step.
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Final Environmental Testing
I start to ask: Is the horse okay with noise around the box?

If I know they’re sound-sensitive, I’ll start to introduce environmental noise in a gentle, intentional way. That might involve asking Hannah to make some soft noise with clappers or maracas. Sometimes I take branches and rub them along the outside of the box. I’m watching closely — not for tolerance, but for genuine ease.

If I need to reduce pressure to help the horse handle this step, I do. I might open the partition again. I might keep the horse on my line. I might go back inside the box with them to reward and regulate in real-time.

The goal here is not to overwhelm them, but to show them that even when unexpected things happen, the box is still a place where they can stay grounded, soft, and safe.
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Closing the Box
So now I’ve gone through the full checklist for loading:
 • Can the horse move into the box willingly?
 • Can they park mentally?
 • Can they release physically and somatically?
 • Can they handle the squeeze of the partitions?
 • Are they okay with me at a distance?
 • Are they okay with noise and movement?

If the answer to those is yes, then I feel pretty confident that the horse is ready to be closed in.

At that point, I close the box. If I have a camera, I’ll watch them from outside. I wait and observe — I’m looking for signs that they’re relaxing, not just standing still.

If I see them go from not eating to starting to eat, that’s a good sign. Licking and chewing, shifting into a softer stance, breathing more freely — these are all indicators. When I see that, I open the box and take them back out.

I might do that once, or I might do it many times, depending on the horse. The goal isn’t to rush. It’s to make being shut in feel unremarkable.
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The Travelling Phase
Quite often people say that they have travelling issues, but the horse loads fine. Most of the time we find that the issue for travelling tends to show up in the detail of the loading, rather than it actually being specific to travelling, but in the rarer occurrences where there is a travelling issue, I think about taking the horse out in a few different ways.

First: is there a local place I can drive to where the horse can get off, move around, maybe do some somatics, settle their nervous system, then get back in and return?

We’re lucky — we have a neighbour who lets us do this regularly. It’s a huge help in building confidence.

Before even doing that, we might drive around the arena, a field, or a car park with the horse in the box. Every time the horse shows signs of relaxation during the drive, we stop. We let them off, reward the mindset, and help them reassociate travelling with release, not just pressure.
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The Bigger Picture
By this point, we’ve gone through the entire process. And I’m pretty confident that if you’ve got a “travelling problem,” one of the earlier stages we’ve covered will turn out to be the real source of the issue.

But the really important thing is that you're really noticing whether your horse is just complying—going into the box and then effectively being trapped in there and complying? Are they going into the box mentally present — or are they stepping in, shutting down, and enduring what comes next?

Because that matters.

Loading, at its core, is a moment that forces you to assess everything about your horsemanship. It’s not just about getting from A to B. It’s a mirror for the relationship, the training, the communication, and the emotional readiness of the horse.

And if you’re not ready to load — then the work isn’t in the trailer. The work is in the foundation.

That’s where it all begins.

Good luck.