Hi Krista Jane. Welcome to the forum. You are both in danger from the gelding exiting the trailer as you describe, as is the gelding himself. I'd think this horse has had a fright & everytime he executes his escape he's reinforcing his fear - this behaviour is going to get worse & will probably manifest itself in other areas like running back during mounting, failure to tie up for grooming etc. I strongly advise addressing the horses fears without delay or violence of course. I see you have done some study on the Uni. Even if your friend has some issue with using a Dually ( I'd love to know specifically what that would be by the way ) I'd suggest working both horses in the same way. Do not use a bridle. Bits are ineffective to stop running backwards & you'd run the risk of hurting the mouth & making matters worse. Use your fella as an example. Put his front feet on the ramp & back him off repeatedly until he needs no coaxing whatsoever. Work like this, progressively until your horse loads really willingly & calmly. It may take a few minutes or several sessions. Be generous with praise - rubbing not patting. Hopefully, your friend will warm to the concepts when she sees your success in improving an older fella who you regard as not a problem with the trailer. Use the same methods with the other horse. Remember, being really patient will reap huge rewards. Control your breathing throughout - the calmer you are the better response you'll get. Any sign of panic or distress & you simply revert to a point where the horse is calm & comfortable & then slowly build back up. A little food or treats, in a bucket, can be really useful to get cooperative, calm & slow reversing as the horse wants to stay with the bucket & will move backwards as the bucket is moved. Good luck. I'm sure you'll have fun & both horses will improve. I'd suggest you don't travel the 8 year old until this issue is resolved as a negative experience will only set back your progress. Looking forward to hear on your progress. Cheers, Jo.

Hi Krista Jane,
The advice above from Jo is very sound, I'd only like to add, that tying a horse in a trailer before the door/ bar is closed is a very dangerous thing to do!
So train the horse of your friend as described above, but do not tie the horse before the door is closed! Having some hay inside the trailer may make it a more pleasant place to be. More inportant is learning to come off of pressure by the Duallyhalter.
Please watch all wonderful lessons this UNI offers about the Dually and loading.
It'll help you tremendously!
Stay safe and keep us posted,
Miriam

Hi Krista Jane, completely with the girls above. My bit would be to have a relaxation time period before the first feet hit the ramp, breath and have a fuss. Getting to stand near the ramp with your gelding and the 8yr old and make that a pleasant place to stand.
A couple of questions.
Does your friend practice any reversing with the horse at any other time?? Think of how many steps backwards he has to take to come off of the trailer and make sure he can back up that far on the ground first before attempting in the trailer. Does he back up in a straight line on both sides or does he have a bend? Asking to back up from each side of the horse will be asking him to start on a different leg. for him to back off a trailer he needs to be able to back up straight from either side.
Our recent rescue can't back up in a straight line from his right side and ends up swinging his bottom around to the left, so he has weaknesses in the back. When I rescued him and asked him to reverse of the trailer he ended up stepping off to the side of the trailer, so I had to keep asking him to come forwards then back a bit each time. So make sure the 8yr old can back up in a straight line on the ground.
Mel
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