There are few things more frustrating than trying to get your unwilling horse to load.
How about trying to train your boyfriend to be useful while trying to get the stubborn horse to load at the same time?
There were so many things to love about my beautiful Hanoverian mare, Belinda. But her ability to get up and go on the trailer wasn’t one of them. Her stubborn attitude toward the trailer (any trailer, mind you, not just mine) was just another reason for my boyfriend to be afraid of her.
Over the years of our relationship, Alex came to have an understanding with Belinda. He was there to give pats, a few treats, and watch from the sidelines. He wouldn’t ride her, and he wouldn’t put himself in a situation where he’d be alone with her.
Belinda was a stoic and brave mare. And she was big. She was rarely fazed by anything. Not the youngsters who occasionally tried to dethrone her as Queen in the pasture, nor the wide and deep ditch on a cross country course.
But when it came to the trailer, she just said no.
It’s hard to load and trailer a horse alone with one that’s happy to get on and go. With Belinda, I always needed back up. Alex begrudgingly obliged to help many a mornings, in the cold and in the rain, usually before 5 a.m. on almost always on a Saturday. He’s a good sport, I’ve got to give him that.
But for an hour or two on these mornings, Alex would fear for his life as Belinda would come hurdling out of the back of the trailer at him — rear first — as he tried to latch the butt bar without being run over.
He developed some pretty sweet ninja-like skills over the years. I’ve seen him leap off the back ramp of the trailer at a moment’s notice. He would get enough air to clear a four-foot oxer. Alex could spin out of the way of his oncoming trample death better than a barrel racer or rodeo clown.
But with time, Belinda grew savvy of his tricks. She’d enter the trailer half way, leaving her big hind end hanging out, and would flare her nostrils out the window vents, smelling for Alex. My boyfriend had started to hide from her on the side of the trailer when we realized she knew the second she spied Alex at the barn, she was going to be forced to load.
Eventually the trailering experience got easier. But I never stopped buying Alex, who is now my husband, a couple of beers after the three of us got to and from the horse show safe and sound. He deserved that, at least.