By the end of the day, he was > loading and unloading by himself. I also left him > there because I could control his food and water > intake better.
Perfect! I've heard of plenty of NH types who talk about how horrible it is to leave the horse w/ the trailer and put food and water in the trailer so the horse needs to go in to get it. I say, if it works, is safe, and is humane and kind, then that's the way it ought to be done for that horse. I had a similar issue w/ my Icey colt--my trailer is a step-down, and he had only been in a ramp trailer AND was turned around so he could go out front first. I wanted him to be handy enough to back out of the 2 horse trailer, and clicker training was what worked for us. His problem was that he simply didn't understand that he COULD back out. (He'd load fine, backing out was the issue). I wonder if he thought that he would fall if he backed out. But the clicker training worked great! Robyn S.
