Horse walks right in trailer... just wont stay

Question
Hello Jennifer!

  I have a 5 year old mare that i have only owned for over a year.  The
previous owners never took the time to load her... and if she was it was in a
large stock trailer.  I took her to 4H last year, but had to pay someone I didn't
know to transport her in their 3 horse slant trailer, since i did not own a
trailer at that time.  She loaded, but the transporter person had to scare her
in with a whip and I remember she was shaking like crazy.
  Recently I was able to purchase a two horse straight load with a ramp.  At
first my mare wouldn't go anywhere near it, but with patience of just sitting in
the trailer hours a day (sometimes twice a day), she began to walk in, each
day a little further with the help of knowing that there is grain awaiting.  Now
she's at the point where I can walk her up to the trailer, give her a cue, and
she hops right in.  No problem.... but the problem is that she is not
comfortable in there.  The instant she feels scared/threatened, she backs out,
but at a normal speed.  But if I try to encourage her to stay in by slightly
pulling on the lead when she starts to back, she panics, backs out really fast,
raises her nose high in the air and sometimes rears.  And she's the type of
horse that only learns if she's curious... she can't be forced into it.  So I have
learned that when she wants to back out, i let her, but when she stops, i
continue backing.  And that seems to be working for her, as she stays in the
trailer longer to eat her food, but she still freaks out if I pretend to shut the
top portion of the trailer... and with this, i'm a little scared to actually tie her
up in my trailer, as she freaks out, and i would hate for her to hurt herself or
break the trailer.
  Other people have told me just to tie her right up when she gets in the
trailer... but i don't want her to learn from fear, and look at the trailer as a
bad thing.  So do you have any tips on what i should do to get her to actually
stand comfortably and patiently in the trailer until i give her the cue to back
out?

     Thank you so much for your time!
          Have a good day!
               kristine

Answer
Hi Kristine,

First off, huge congrats to you for being patient enough to go slow and gain her trust. You've done a great job. As far as her backing out, I don't doubt that she's a bit nervous, but it's now a habit as well. So what I suggest you do, is follow the theory I have of making the right thing easy and the wrong thing hard. Start by giving her a refresher course on ground tieing, be sure you can walk well away from her on all sides and outside of the trailer with just the rope on the ground. Park your trailer in a safe place, with footing suitable for some quick lunging and get a soft cotton line atleast 12 feet long. Next pick her favorite grain and but a small bucket in the trailer. Ask her to walk in the trailer and allow her to eat her grain, the minute she starts backing out, remove the grain and ask her to back out yourself and immediately upon her exiting the trailer ramp, send her off in a trot or canter on the line, making her work hard, not just jog along. Make her go around as many times as it takes for her to start wanting to stop, might be 2 might be 20. Then when she stops, immediately send her back into the trailer and let her rest and eat in there. It usually doesn't take long for them to realize that when they exit on their own accord it means work, but standing in the trailer is relaxing and they get to snack. It might take days or weeks, depends on the horse, but it works great, it suddenly becomes their decision. You will want to follow the same steps when you start closing the trailer doors, if she reacts, back her out and work her, then put her in again and praise her. Remember horses learn from the release or reward not the pressure, so keep the lessons short, just a few times eash session. I would suggest you put protective boots on her, just to be sure she doesn't hurt her legs. As far as tieing, you want to be sure she stands quietly in there with the doors all shut before attempting to tie her, ideally she'll hardly know she's tied, as you don't want her to hit the end of the tie, before she feels the butt bar or door of the trailer. I hope this helps. Keep me updated.

Jen