A Detailed Look at Loading Part 1

Loading is one of the most common issues that people face with their horses and is certainly one of the most common issues that we come across when people approach us. Normally, it’s at the beginning—because they have a problem with it.

The main thing that I find to be the most rewarding and interesting about loading is that it effectively involves most elements of horsemanship, all in one go.

Think about what we're actually asking of our horses when we load them. The horse is asked to leave its herd. It's asked to be able to stand tied in isolation in a box that moves, and it has no idea where it's going. It's asked to go through various squeezes—the ramp is a squeeze from below, the roof and the sides of the box create a squeeze from above and the sides, and the partition is also a squeeze.

There's noise involved, which could be things touching the side of the box, the sound of the box itself, the noise of cars, and the noise of you moving around the box in different locations. The horse is asked as well to deal with squeezes that are visual, both in terms of the elements inside of the box—seeing the partitions moving, seeing different parts of the box moving. Lots of people travel with things inside their boxes, as well as being able to see out of the windows of the box, but not really be able to see everything.

There's also the idea of it being a restriction of vision. When they go into the box, they can't necessarily see everything, but they can hear things, which can be really difficult for a horse.

Then there are added complications within their movement.

They have to be able to balance on a moving platform - if you have ever been to London on the tube and tried to stand without holding the rail it can feel pretty unsafe and unpredictable.

Stepping onto the box, which, for some horses—certainly older horses or horses who might have hind limb issues—can be really difficult. Getting the horse to bring its back feet onto the box can be quite difficult. 

A lot of horses experience only going to the vets or only going to a space that can be quite a big ask when they get there. And so as a result, the horses can find loading to be a negative experience because of the fact that the only time they get in the box, they experience something that is either really difficult or the kind of experience that leaves a bit of a bad taste in the mouth.

So I thought I would break down the different stages of training a horse to load and think through each part of it, so that you could approach your loading with an analytical eye and start to think a little bit about which part (or parts) of the loading experience your horse struggles with. That way, you can better prepare them for an experience that isn’t just about enduring it, but is actually about being confident and able to be present when they are loading or travelling. So that when you get your horse off of the box, you don’t have to deal with a horse that’s already triggered and instead feels ready for what you are both doing next.

The first thing that we do when we think about loading is to start to break down a few key concepts. All of our horses go through the same programme, and so that looks like us picking up in Stage One.

Can the horse first of all release through its body?

If the horse is not able to loosen through the three parts of its body—the hind leg, the shoulder, the head and neck—then already I’ve got a horse that’s a little bit tense. I want to start the training with a relaxed horse thats ready to learn, I don't want to take that tension in to the magnifying glass that is the trailer. I want my horse to understand the concept of - move through your body somatically to find relaxation, before I add any more complexity. 

This is going to be really important information, because what I really want is for my horse to have a feeling around the box—and in the box—of relaxation.

A lot of people, when they work on loading, tend to approach it by saying, “Well, let’s make it hard outside of the box and easy inside of the box.”

So, for example, I might move my horse’s feet, lunge them, make them walk, trot, canter—make them work—and then when I put them in the box, I make it a space of rest.

My issue with that is that even though that can quite often work, it basically makes the box the least worst place to be.

It doesn’t make the box associated with a positive experience.

It just makes it a less negative experience for the horse. And sometimes it works—but sometimes it also just creates and accentuates the negative experience that the horse is already having.

And with an explosive horse—a horse that’s already hyper-triggered—that really doesn’t help them.

All you’re doing is adding to their trigger stack, running off adrenaline, and teaching them effectively to go into a low-level state of learned helplessness.

For me, as long as the horse understands the concept of somatics, I can use that technique to take them away from the box when they’re tense, help them release, and then recondition the feeling of the box to match what we build in our release work. So rather than making the space away from the box difficult, I use it as a place to discharge tension and then reapproach the box with a lower trigger stack.

The trailer and loading process is made up of a few different squeezes and a few different complications. The second stage we look at, before we introduce the trailer, is how the horse handles those different types of squeezes.

One of the first squeezes is about going over things — for example, laying out a tarp, poles, or different obstacles that the horse needs to walk over. I’m really paying attention to how the horse feels about that squeeze.

A lot of horses will blast themselves over something like a tarp. They’ll look at it, walk straight over it. Maybe they won’t really acknowledge it — they’ll just walk through it. And that can give the impression that the horse is okay with the tarp, that they’re really good with things like that.

But the way you can check whether your horse is actually okay is to feel their body before and after. Are they able to isolate through their body beforehand? And then how does the body feel after they go over it? If there’s more tension on the way out — if their muscles feel tighter or their energy has shifted — then you know the horse is actually more affected than they first appeared.

That’s why I really love and champion the somatic work — because sometimes we misread our horses. They’re excellent at hiding how they feel about things.

The second set of squeezes we introduce is more obviously claustrophobic — a tunnel or something that feels like pressure from the sides. The horse’s midline becomes really important in these types of squeezes.

What often happens is the horse will back off. Let’s say we set up two or three cavaletti against a fence line, leaving a gap just wide enough for the horse to pass through — but narrow enough that they feel a little claustrophobic. Often they’ll hesitate or back away as they start to process it. That’s because the pressure from the squeeze sits in front of their midpoint.

Then, as they pass through, they’ll rush or explode out — because the squeeze has now moved behind their driveline. The pressure is now chasing them from behind, and that just adds extra stress to a mind that was already unsure.

If the horse can’t handle that yet, we break it down. We reduce the challenge by widening the gap. We give them more time — just like we would with the tarp — and we ask them to engage with it more thoughtfully.

Can they explore it with their nose? Then with their neck? Eventually, if they stay soft, the feet will follow.

With all of these squeezes, one of the most important things is the line of their shoulders. It’s not just about whether they go through. It’s about how they go through.

Take the tarp again. I’d like the horse to be able to touch it, explore it. But if I feel their shoulders are pushing into my space — if their line, the line they’d follow if they panicked or bolted, is heading through me (which it often is) — then I’ll take them back a step. I’ll ask them to re-establish a clearer, safer line.

Then, whether they go over the tarp, through the squeeze, or even under something — once they’ve done it — I release. I go back into the somatic work. I explore relaxation again: through the hindlegs, the ribcage, the shoulders.

That way, they begin to associate the feeling of relaxation with the experience of going through a squeeze. And that becomes a huge part of how we prepare them for loading.

The final part of our preparation before bringing the box in is making sure the horse understands how to take food — because one powerful way to make the box, and the experience around it, feel positive is through the use of positive reinforcement.

If your horse gets a bit charged up, muggy, or over-aroused when food is introduced, that’s not a trait of the horse — it simply means food hasn’t been introduced in a structured and consistent way. All horses can be trained using food. It can be hugely beneficial in building confidence, particularly with challenges like loading, and it can be a very effective tool in encouraging them onto the box.

The danger, though, is using food as a lure. When we bring food into play to get the horse to go on the box, the horse may follow the food rather than follow the instruction. It becomes a bribe. And what often happens is that the horse walks on — but they’re tense. They’re doing it despite how they feel, not because they feel safe.

It’s crucial that food is used as a reward for an action — going forwards, backing up, moving sideways, repositioning — rather than a bait. That way, the reinforcement builds understanding, not just compliance.