Safety Before Comfort When Trailering Your Horse

All my life I have been told never to let a horse turn around and walk forward out of a horse trailer. I never knew why, I just always did what I was told. Last week I found out the reason.

I trailered a friend’s horse a few times and at first she let him turn around and walk out of the trailer because she thought it was easier on the horse to be able to walk out head first. I told her what I had always been told also explaining that the horse will feel its way out of the trailer with its hoofs to get out safely. So the next time she backed him out.

Last week when she went to get him out of the trailer she decided to let him out head first. As soon as she untied him, he reared up, spun around, came down on her foot nearly knocking her down and proceeded to bolt out of the trailer.

That’s reason enough for me to never let a horse turn around in a horse trailer, safety before comfort. Just thought I’d pass this bit of information on.

© 2005, Cindy Staudenmaier & UncommonHorseSense.com