The first show of the season is right around the corner, and that means trailering. We all know that, when trailering, safety is the most important thing, and we all know what to do to protect horses from trailering injury. What do you do if your horse is a willing trailer-er, but is incredibly loud and annoying once in the trailer? The title of this post is a translation of the deafening shriekings and whinnyings that happened at every traffic light on a recent trip through Ann Arbor. The shameless behavior of a certain mare, inspired us to try the following things, to make trailering less annoying.

    While always taking every safety precaution, you can try these tips:

The same treats that motivate your horse to enter the trailer can be used to fill his or her stomach a bit before the trailer ride. A chewing horse with something in the stomach is less likely to whinny at a red light.

Those apple flavored chew thingies that were developed to stop cribbing also stop nonsense in the trailer. Mount them (very securely) where your horse can use them, and even the hottest Police horse will go un-noticed.

Trailer each horse by himself and make two trips. This one gets a "No Duh," but you'd be surprised how much bad behavior is just your horses trying to impress each other.

    OK, I've been a bit flippant, but anyone who has ever trailered a horse knows that horses dearly love to embarrass their faithful human guardians at every chance they get. And we love them for it!