26/06/2024
Bästa jag läst på länge!
We need to be way more appreciative of horses being willing to get into trailers for us.
Have you been in the back of a trailer while it’s moving?
It’s loud.
It’s rattly.
Cars come flying by.
It’s warm in the summer, even with windows open, plus the open windows make everything louder.
You constantly have to balance.
Even as a human with the context of why trailers are used, an understanding of their purpose and the capacity to realize we aren’t being trapped with the intent to cause harm, it is unpleasant.
Trailering is one of those regular skills that many humans just expect of horses.
It’s all too common to “teach” horses to load through really coercive and harsh methods instead of a rewards based mindset.
Horses who don’t want to load in a trailer possess an intelligent level of self preservation because it is that unpleasant, scary and dangerous feeling.
Going into a small, dark, hot, rattly box that teleports them to somewhere new and scary isn’t something any flight animal should want to willingly do.
Their choice to fight going into it and attempt to advocate for themselves is a normal one that should be expected from a flight animal.
So, us humans need to be gentler.
More appreciative.
More understanding of the absolute trust and sacrifice the horse is offering us by getting into that trailer.
Just because we view it as a necessary skill doesn’t mean that the horse understands it.
Nor does it justify anger, frustration or roughness in the event the horse doesn’t want to load.
So be patient.
Be more rewarding.
We are asking them of something that goes against ever fibre of their being and deliberately asks them to do something that makes them feel unsafe.
We need to be more grateful of what horses are willing to do for us and more understanding of why they say no when they do.