When you go into the round pen, take your lunge line and keep it on the halter. Move your horse around and ask for the stop by saying "whoa," stepping in front if you still need to, and pulling gently to bring your horse's head towards you after he stops, not his body. You want him to stop and look to you for his next move. Now, lets go back to the beginning for a second. One of the most, if not the most, important lessons you will teach your horse is The WHOA. You must, must, must have a constant whoa that you can count on. When you're walking with your horse and you stop, he should stop. When you ask for it, you should get it. Not sometimes, every time.
Okay, now back to the round pen. Ask your horse to stop and turn his head towards you, ask him to turn and move off. Do this in each direction and in each gate. Make sure you are getting your whoa. Now bring him to you and pet him and ask him to move past you. Then ask for the whoa and bring him back and move him past you. Do this a few times. If he is accepting it great, if not work more with this. We are teaching him to move past you. You'll need this in many different situations, like trailer loading. You don't want to be in the trailer with him if something goes wrong. And you don't want to find yourself in front of him when he needs to go first into a stall, through a gate, or any number of things. He'll need to know to come back to you when you ask. If you're walking and need to stop and move back or turn around you can't afford to have him pull or set back on you. Or worse yet, drag you on through. Whoa is so very important. Okay, now let's work with him outside the round pen, if he is ready, if not, keep working within the pen. Remember, its okay to take your time. You have the time and you should use it to make yourself a great, trustable horse. Do the same thing outside the pen; moving him around, turning him, and having him come to you and past you. Make sure you have your whoa in place.
How does this work into trailer loading? Only if you and your horse are ready, walk your horse to the back of the trailer with the doors open and no concern of them blowing or swinging shut while you're working. Do your lunge work at the back of the trailer. Have him go around you so he will have to pass the back of the trailer as he is going around. Ask him to stop and turn while he is not at the back of the trailer. Then, move onto stopping him closer and closer to the back doors. Then, ask him to stop and stand at the opening of the trailer. Let him have his head to sniff and check it out. But don't let him walk off or into the trail (because you didn't ask him to). Then, ask him to move on. Do this a few times until he is comfortable with the trailer and the darkness inside. Now you can do this as many days as you need to but do not over do this at one time. If he starts to get antsy, stop and do something else. This does not mean if he is refusing to do what you ask, but if he is getting more excited then calm. If this happens, stop and go back to the round pen and start with a few of the exercises from some of the previous issues; there is a hole and something missing in his training, a trust issue or a lack of understanding on his part or yours. Remember, it's important to get things consistently correct at all points in your teaching. Okay, if all is going well to this point then ask him to step towards the opening of the trailer, then step into the trailer. This is a critical point in the loading process. Do not force him in. Do not get excited if he is acting like he wants to go in and start asking for too much too soon. He needs to be very comfortable with this little space and darkness. If, when you ask him to move towards the trailer he turns to move away, stop his movement by holding him with the rope, and bring him back to the trailer. If he turns to run over top of you use the end of the lunge line or a crop to stop him from coming towards you. Hold it up in front of him or touch him with it to stop him from mowing you down. As soon as he stops, you stop, and move him back into place. Let him relax. Then, ask him to move towards the trailer again or ask him to turn towards the trailer and stop at that. Having him turn towards the trailer and stand still without moving away are the baby steps that you are working towards. This is a big deal. Be glad you have it. Remember, don't force him in. If, while you're asking him to move towards the trailer, he loads up, that's great. If he steps back out, that's okay, because he surely needs to know how to come out, although you don't want him to come blasting out backwards. This is why you do this very slowly, without force.
Okay, this is a lot to work on and this is where you will start finding holes in his training. Don't worry, it is going to happen and it's okay. Relax and enjoy this time with him. You are both learning and growing together. So, take your time, teach, don't force the lessons and stay consistently correct.
Tip: When working with your horse, try using your hands as much as you can to move him around. Have him turn his head towards you when grooming using your hand instead of the lead rope. Keep him from throwing his head up to get away by using your hand. Move him over with your hands. This will work great when you go out to catch him or just pet him when you're doing other thing and you don't have him in a halter. Teach him to respect your hands as well as a halter and lead rope. Your hands should mean love and respect to him.
