Hi

Never tie a horse up with an open door, as you say, accident waiting to happen! She will be able to turn round, they can bend pretty well and it's a lot safer than going out backwards on a step up I feel however it's always good to teach them all the variations! :-) 

I would suggest putting some food in the trailer so that she recognises the trailer as a nice place to be, this will help her to want to stay in there. I personally prefer horses to travel loose so that they have space to balance themselves but it is a personal choice depending on your horse and what they like.

Yes, go with your plan of getting her to feel very safe turning round but I would face her to the food /forwards while the door is closing at first so that she doesn't watch the door coming towards her if that makes sense.

Just take it at her pace, sounds like you are doing well. The less complicated the set u the better but if you are thinking of getting a lorry/trailer I would suggest one with a ramp rather than step up 

Thanks for your help. I agree a ramp would be amazing and so much easier! But since I don't plan to take her anywhere off the farm probably ever it's not practical for me to buy one. She's still very jumpy in the trailer even standing in it so I will work on that for now and leave the door out of the equation. It's really big and loud! The only way for meto  close the door is to tie her up in the trailer and squeeze by her to get back out to shut the dooor and I'm afraid if she's alone she will rear up or go ballistic and I won't be able to get to her. Since it's a friends trailer I have to return it each day since it's not a huge rush maybe I should just take it slowly and borrow the trailer every month and load and unload her and once she is super calm with that have someone else start to shut the door and hopefully I don't get squished while I'm in there. Very frustrating when you don't have the right tools or equipment. 

Hi Markie;  you used the operative word [CALM] when you spoke of your filly while inside the trailer.  I would suggest that you remove the thought of closing the door and the dilemma it is imposing on you.  Work with the calming aspects with your filly and the new invironment of the inside of the trailer.  Vicci`s suggestion of placing food is crazy, good, and would most likely bring about an ease of adrenalin for both of you  Remember,  if horses are being led, they will mirror any spike in our emotional confirmation.  In the end, the MOST IMPORTANT aspect of a horse being in the trailer is the calmness that it feels.

With a stock trailer, noise can be a major distraction with your horse because the trailers are longer based between the areas of support.  In my experience. the different parts inside tend to come loose and become noisy.  I always try to soften that potential problem with sponge rubber of Styrofoam to help the noise factor.

I would try placing some hay in the front  part of the trailer and allow her walking in the trailer with you to become a very good time for her because she followed your leadership.

As far as tieing or not tieing a horse while in the trailer, that is YOUR call as there seems to be many thoughts on both sides of the conversation.

`hope this helps

Bud

Thanks for your advice. In the end I didnt bother shutting the door. I only had the trailer for two days.  I wanted to end on a good note.  It is hard because I know that I need to remain calm but I get nervous as soon as she starts to crowd me which makes her nervous.   I have heard horror stories of people getting crowded and pinned against the walls that it makes me so much more nervous.  I did put some grass in a buck at the front of the trailer and let her eat it .....it did seem to calm her down a lot more.  In the end I had her following me in the trailer standing quietly for a few minutes and then turning around CALMLY (The first few times she started to panic and almost squished us both I watched the lesson on step up trailers and went and got a longer line so i could squeeze be her before she started turning around which seemed to help) and came back out. So I think we will leave it at that this summer. she only just turned a year old. So maybe next summer would be better when i can locate a real horse trailer although draft sized horse trailers dont seem to exist!  At least she got some sort of an idea about them.  And honestly it is the worst trailer I think in existence. It rattles has chains that bang. The floor is a bit wonky and is generally probably the scariest trailer a horse has ever been in. Plus the step up is very high. Especially for a yearling.  I think we did okay. Hopefully this will help the next time i can get a trailer.  Its a hard thing to teach when you dont have one and have to rely on other people to borrow them and then take what you can get! 

AMEN Sis!!  You did good and found your way to a win for both you and your filly.  `Going and getting the long line was especially important.  I personally know all about borrowing equipment that is needed, but you don`t own at the time of need.  That day will hopefully come into your life with that RIGHT piece of equipment.

All the best 
Bud