When you start hauling your horse away from home, you’ll likely notice that he’s more reactive and doesn’t ride as well at the new locations. This is especially true of young and inexperienced horses and is completely normal. As prey animals, horses are aware of their environments and notice every little change. So when you take your horse to a new location with a lot of distractions, don’t expect him to behave as he does at home.
The good news is that every time you take your horse away from home, if you’re consistent about practicing groundwork – moving the horse’s feet forwards, backwards, left and right – to get the horse in a good frame of mind, it’ll take less time for him to start using the thinking side of his brain from the time you unload him from the trailer to the time you feel he’s prepared to be ridden. In fact, while a seasoned horse might get excited when you unload him from the trailer, it won’t take much work at all to get him back to his calm, relaxed self.
I remember one time when Diez was a 2-year-old and I took him to an event in California. He’d had about seven months of training at that point and I was taking him to a show to expose him to the environment. He was a complete fruitcake and embarrassed me to no end. When I had him tied up to the trailer, he reared; he whinnied out to every horse he saw; his eyes were big and white—he was a mess. It might be hard to imagine the good old, dependable Diez you’ve seen on TV and at tours like that, but believe me at one point in his career he made the craziest horse look sane.
That first day at the show, it took me an hour of groundwork to get him to relax and focus on me. The next day when I took him back to the showground, he was just as wild-eyed, but that time it took me only 40 minutes to get him to use the thinking side of his brain. On the third day, it took only 30 minutes. And now, I can take Diez anywhere and he steps off the trailer like he’s been at the location for years. If he does ever get nervous, it takes minimal effort to get him to return to his normal calm, relaxed self and to remind him to use the thinking side of his brain. I was able to accomplish that with him by using a consistent training method.
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