Ponying a Horse in Training

Today was a beautiful day to ride a horse. It made me very thankful to be training horse in Snohomish Washington where the sun was shining. I took this opportunity to work with one of my colts in training on trailer loading and ponying at the Pilchuck Tree Farm.

This particular gelding knows how to load and really doesn’t have a trailer loading issue. He does have some ground school issues that sometimes come out when presented the trailer. I played with him by sending him around the trailer, back and forth. I placed him nose on the sides and on the gate. I then opened the gate and sent him around by the back of the trailer. In a sense I built his confidence to be in the presence of the trailer. In that moment, it was not about getting in the trailer, it was about moving his feet under my direction in the presence of the trailer.

Once he let down and relaxed he began to seek the trailer. He was wanting to put his nose on it, his feet in it and he wanted to load. This is exactly the response I was looking for. I don’t want my horses to get into the trailer, I want them to want to get into the trailer. I want to send them from a distance, out of harms way, into the trailer. The gelding loaded and stayed. Door wide open, slack rope. He wanted to be in the trailer.

After a while I caught and loaded The Red Baron and down the road we went. Once at the trail head I saddled them both. The gelding has the inclination to pull on the lead when he becomes resistant. I worked his feet left and right, disengaging his hindquarters when he got stuck.

We went over bridges, logs and trees. We went under branches and through bushy ground cover. We crossed running creek water and boggy mud. It was a great day for both geldings, the The Red Baron got more practice ponying on his second trail ride and the gelding got outdoors exposure.