trailering

Hooray, my Norwegian Fjord is finally refusing to go in the trailer at home. This may not sound like a good thing, but actually it is because now I can TRAIN her to go in when she doesn't want to, like when we are somewhere else and are hot and tired and really eager to get home. She still goes in easily at home when the trailer is in restaurant mode, but when I act determined to get her in, she refuses. So then I do as my trainer/instructor told me. I hold her with a halter so she faces the trailer and tap her behind until she steps forward. Every time she takes a step I stop tapping immediately, and then repeat.

My 4 year old fjord loves trailers. To her they are fine restaurants and fun places to go, at least if they aren't moving. When she was little, I trained her to go in a trailer by tapping her behind. Eventually she loved trailers so much I didn't worry about loading her. She just went in. There is often food there. But I didn't take her very many places and driving made her so nervous she ended up dripping sweat. I recently had to take her to a saddle fitting clinic about an hour and a half drive away. We did a short trial run with her a few days before and she ended up dripping wet. Then I decided to get her a mild tranquilizer from the vet.