I groomed Magic and walked him to the trailer. I opened the door and he walked in. I paid attention to what I did. I left the whip out of sight leaning against the trailer. I did not cluck or coax. He obviously knew what was expected of him. I believe that when you train, especially with pressure, a horse or dog to do something and you fail to get him to do it, then you have trained him how not to do it. That was our situation Friday but Magic did not learn the wrong thing. I am happy to be wrong this time!
Magic is smarter than Mark Twain’s cat. The cat sat on a hot stove. He learned a lesson but it was the wrong one. The wisdom was not to sit on a hot stove but the cat learned not to sit down at all.
It must be something else, not just the height. Maybe he sees a “gaping black hole” under the trailer rather than just a step up. A loading ramp might work but will be a lot of time and expense just to test. It might work if I elevate the tongue somehow. I could easily solve the problem here at home by just always loading at the present location but I could then run into the problem when I am away and have no option to park favorably.