Update on Harley's progress with the trailer. He is now standing at the trailer eating quietly. The first few days, he would take a bite, turn and run halfway down the arena, then sneak back up to it. He still seems a bit tense when a loud noise, like me banging the buckets:), which I do frequently, but he's not flinching so bad.
My son is here today, so today is the day I believe we will try tying him to it. Maybe at his afternoon feeding. I am going wrap his front legs with some polo wraps. I don't know how much protection that will give him, but it can't hurt. He's never gone down in the past when he threw his fits, but that was always a worry for me.
Becky
I think, like anything else, ensuring a positive experience will lower the tension next time... If it were me, I'd tie him for meals and untie him when he's done, before he can get into trouble. If you did that, it'd be three tries a day, and if nothing goes wrong, I'd think after a few days he'd be well on his way to relaxing about it.
Polo wraps will help. When my Thoroughbred mare was getting used to the trailer again after her awful trailer accident, I put loading wraps on her and they were too big and she just kind of stepped out of them!