EC Question of the Week – Best Advice for Backing a Horse Trailer

We recently asked our readers:

Jennifer Steel Cansdale

Don’t turn around and look out your back window, just use your side mirrors. When it starts going towards one mirror slightly turn the wheel towards that mirror.

And go slow, little movements don’t over steer.

 

Sara Hauer

When all else fails phone a friend.

 

Jennifer Barbee

Meredith Marlow Biasca is the Parking Concierge for California Paint Horse shows. She prowls the barns looking to help people. She works for frozen yogurt 🍦 lol.

 

Ann Jones

Spend time at home learning to back your trailer. It is a skill that everyone who pulls a trailer should have and in actuality NEED! If you cannot back up you shouldn’t pull a trailer until you are proficient at this skill. If you must pull without knowing how to back up, park leaving so you only have to go forward. #gunpowderandlead

 

Clea Bobbitt

And in-lines are the hardest!

 

Running Springs QH & Cattle Co

Don’t have your Dad watching!!

 

Cindy Monroe Young

Steve Lackey gave me the first advice that stuck with me…bottom of the wheel goes where you want the trailer to go!

 

Holly Usiak

If you can manage to do it with your dad sitting next to you, you can survive anything.

 

Dawn Walther Petersen

Holly Usiak, or my truck driver husband.

 

Sherrie Holder Smolek

I say if you can smile, your trailer can get backed in…. Just smile and admit your backing challenged someone will be happy to show off their skills!!! ☺️

 

Linda Hansson

Practice makes perfect. Learned to turn the trailer around our small yard at home long before learning to actually drive forward on the road ✌️ and turning around meant bucking into a narrow space between two fences.

 

Bailey Carwile

Put your hand on the bottom of the steering wheel. The back end of the trailer goes the direction your hand turns.

 

Laurette Gaylord

Each spring, I hook up my trailer and find a large vacant parking area. There I practice backing it between the lines. I have been driving with a trailer for over 45 years, but give myself this annual confidence booster/refresher.

 

Dorothy Blair

As a 30 year 4-H leader I’ve helped countless Mom’s, teenagers and even Dad’s learn to pull and back all sizes of trailers. My best advice is when they get their trailer leave it hitched up and take it everywhere with them empty to get comfortable with it. That’s grocery store, etc, etc. This takes the stress of having a horse in there out of the picture. I walk beside the window instructing them while learning to back. In a pinch, I’ll jump in if it’s a time crunch or a very difficult place to get into, however they never get better if they don’t do it themselves. And on simply driving, I tell them to imagine a wine glass sitting up on the dash half full. If it spills, your horse might spill too. And right turns, those are critical to slow down and creep through. I’ve had to go pull horses out of the floor for new drivers because they took a right turn too fast.

That is all. Safe towing folks.

 

Ellen Deming-Jumper

Find a big empty parking lot and practice until you are comfortable that you can put it anywhere you need to.

 

Bobbi Finarty

Longer trailers are easier to back than short ones. 🙂

 

Whitney Romanoff

Bobbi Finarty my husband says this too. I prefer backing a shorter trailer. It turns when I need it to 🤣. Long trailers are like asking a toddler. It’ll probably happen but it’s rarely ever the first time you ask.

 

Shannon Moeller

I practiced with our trailer in my driveway (which is not really big enough for our trailer 😆) when my husband was gone. 1000% best way to do it, but keep an eye on the back window of your truck. If my husband is watching, he gets to maneuver the trailer because one time he tried to “help me” (when I didn’t ask) and I’m just saying, that is anti-help. The exact opposite of help. 😆

 

Kim Fullwood

Have a father who was a truck driver; if you can’t back up to park & parallel jack it…you don’t need to drive it. THEN patience & slow practice using side mirrors 😊

Rose Mason

My advice is don’t over turn the steering wheel. Back slowly and don’t over steer, just turn the wheel enough to get the trailer going in the direction you want.

 

John Wayne

Put your hand on the bottom of the steering wheel. Then move it the way you want the back of the trailer to go 😊.

 

Erin Dreyer-Baumgartner

Hand on the bottom, if you don’t know how at all and have both a short and longer trailer to pick from the longer will be more forgiving to your more novice wheel turning, use your side mirrors.

Be patient with yourself and practice alone somewhere where the eyes of others won’t make you feel self-conscious, you’ll be able to put it wherever you want it soon enough:)

 

Lisa Gardner

Take a deep breath. Think it through and take your time.

 

Miranda Fackler

You need a dad that was a trucker to teach you when you are 16. If you can do it with him watching, you’re good. 🤣

 

Courtney Sustaire

Deep breath, take your time (trust me everyone understands), and small corrections. If all else fails, a smile, snacks, and a coffee will get it taken care of!

 

Renee Hemingsen

Besides practice which is obvious….PATIENCE is needed. Getting frustrated and in a hurry turns backing up into a nightmare!

 

Patty McCartin

Have a qualified person help you learn 😜.

 

Alice Goeldner Stewart

Patty McCartin that does not include a spouse! No matter how qualified! 🤣

 

Trina Day Copeland

Just don’t do it. Make sure you can pull through everywhere and if you can’t pull through then pretend you are sick and ask someone to park for you.

 

Joy Onopiuk Bail

Turn the steering wheel slightly and gradually, not sharp or drastic and go slowly. Don’t worry about who is watching because we’ve all been there. The jokes and wise cracks are part of an initiation process. It will pass.

 

Dawn Walther Petersen

Use your mirrors!!! Don’t look over your shoulder and follow the back of your trailer. Set yourself up for success make sure the end of the trailer is where you want to start turning. So hard to describe for sure.

 

Mary Wigginton

Go somewhere with it, empty and practice by yourself. For me, if my husband or any men watched, I could NOT do it. As soon as I would send them around the corner, I had success.

 

Marah Kay

Make your husband do it.

 

Nadene Lange

Practice if possible and take your time. My place wasn’t trailer friendly at first. You pulled in then started backing with a 90° turn about 150 ft. Later built a new barn and put in a circle driveway!

 

DavidandCarol Campbell

Do not have your husband teach you how to back up the horse trailer! Wait until he leaves for work and then try to back it up. Lol

 

Rachelle Croy

You’ll never figure it out or get better constantly asking someone to back up your rig! Keep practicing.

 

Morgan Weisser

Place your hand at the bottom of the steering wheel the direction you hand moves as you turn the wheel is the direction the back of your trailer will go.

 

Katie Korsack

My husband Billy Korsack can back the 43’ gooseneck anywhere with precision. But he can NOT back my 3-horse bumper-pull to save his life, he just gets out & throws me the keys 😂

The trick to backing either one for me is to pick your line for the trailer tires & focus on that. Works like a charm for me every time 😁.

 

Amanda Conn

Just get someone to help you, find someone you trust and go for a ride , pull into a place you can practice (fairgrounds, truck stop, empty lot, even just at home or where you park it) learn and practice just like anything else ! It’s really NOT that hard 😜

 

Chesna Wertz

Take your time,go slow, and practice when not in a hurry/leaving for a show. Just having some time to ‘play’ with it, when there’s no rush/stress helps a lot. Having someone who has patience to help you is a big help too.

 

Kodee Miller Napier

Leave an angled block where your back tires are going. Helps with perfect alignment and keeping it straight.

 

Jennie Schut

Have friends and maybe a husband who are all fantastic at backing.

 

Syble Crain

Put the trailer straight to start and watch the Rear to where you want to go.

 

Ginger Leeper

Practice with a hay trailer and tractor! If you can back that up, you can back anything up!

 

Barbara Jean Saltsgaver

Think opposite direction for the first turn of the steering wheel, after that, just “drive” the back end of the trailer where you want it to go.

 

Allison Pickles-Ott

When I showed as a youth and my first years of Amateur, I’d pull in in the middle of the night and just leave it, then I would go find a Woodson or Steve Sauder. Now, I have a larger trailer and I can manage but boy do I prefer my hubby to be there as he is a SUPER star at parking (and driving).

 

Nicole Layaou

The Horse Screamer can help ya out😆😆😆.

 

Jenni Johnston

Point the nose of your car the way you want the trailer to go.

 

Lauren DeBoer

Practice practice practice.  As nervewracking as it can be to do it, even in front of people it’s the only way you will learn and the more you do it the better you will get!  If it’s a small trailer, little movements at first.

 

Shannon Reynolds Keller

Find someone that needs help hauling cattle to pasture … back up and get a load, drive a few miles then back up and empty said load and repeat 😁you get all kinds of practice with everyone watching 🤣.

 

Cindy Hull Voss

Have to jump in.. have been driving all kinds of trailers for over 60 years….I was taught that the rear of the trailer goes the opposite direction as the rear of the tow vehicle. Use your side mirrors rather than the rear view mirror and place your hands on the steering wheel wherever they are most comfortable. Goose neck is not as precise as a tongue pull but pretty much the same premise. Born and raised on a farm so lots of practice in the hay field. Have backed my way out of some pretty hairy places over the years. Good luck. 👍

 

Renae Wesenberg

Cindy Hull Voss yep i use my side mirrors and keep my hands on the same place in the wheel as I do when I drive. After getting my class A and my school bus endorsement backing a horse trailer became easy peasy!

 

Amy Hoover

Don’t do it if ANYONE is watching!

 

Shelby McBurney

“It’s not in how you back up, it’s in how you pull up. Pull up straight, any monkey can back up straight.” Blaine Clark, washed up drunk of a bull hauler that never missed a chute !!

God rest his soul, these words, as told to me at the age of 10, echo through my ears every time I go to back up a trailer!

 

Sally Saur

Don’t watch me. Lol

 

Marchelle Everhart

Pray… remember your left from your right😆😆

 

Anthea Arnol

My grandpa taught me to back a trailer. Hand on the bottom of the steering wheel and where it turns is there the trailer turns.

 

Jordan Lea

Bottom of the steering wheel controls the wheels on the trailer. It’s not a race you can go slow. Small movements make a big impact.

 

Pam McDonald

Get out and let your trainer do it.

 

Anita Clanton Westfall

Use cell phone on speaker phone to direct the driver.

 

Melanie Carney

Get there early so you can pull thru 😜.

 

Regina Rae Herbert

Take your time and go slow!

 

LeAnn Olley

Go slow!!! It allows time for correction.

 

Stacey Nuding

Take your husband with you. He backs everyone’s trailer in 🤣. In all honesty, he taught me not to over correct. A little goes a long way. Don’t make any turn corrections more than 1/4 turn of the steering wheel.

 

Kim Hibdon

Use your mirrors. Watch your trailer tires.

 

Kayln Epperson

Let someone else do it.

 

Christal Sivils

Use your mirrors. Slow and steady.

 

Kathy Murray VanCauwenbergh

Make sure your sons know how to back it for you!

 

Sally Saur

Have your husband guide you….a divorce story.

 

Laurel Walker Denton

Sally Saur, my mother always said two things you never do with your husband, back a trailer and tow a vehicle 😆

 

Blaise Runyon

Step one: accidentally pull the manure spreader past the stall you want to clean in a narrow aisle.

Step two: learn quickly and don’t knock down the whole barn in the process.

(I always thought of it as point the wheel towards whatever you don’t want to hit and go extremely slowly. Eventually I was also given the advice about using the bottom of the steering wheel.)

 

Lexi Heney

Make friends with someone that can park the trailer for you 😆.

 

Renae Dudley

Arrive first. Leave last.

 

Courtney Stankiewiczz

Don’t argue with the person helping u. And make sure your tailgate is up.

 

Brister Shum

I was so bad at parking my living quarters that when Mark Harrell ran all the big shows, he used to meet me at the gate and park it for me!!

 

Amy Engelskirger

Ask Chad Piper or RJ Jacobs to do it for you. Makes life so much easier 🤷‍♀️.

I can back my 48’ trailer. Some days it’s pretty and other days it’s not so pretty.

 

Kendra Carr

Don’t ask your dad for help.

 

Mary Henry

After backing horse trailers for 40 years I still get in and turn the wrong way. Then I catch myself and it’s a breeze. Something in my head always starts that way. It’s so weird….

 

Thomas Albert

Practice with no one helping to direct you. You’ll figure it out.

 

Bethany Tod

Thomas Albert, and with no one watching you!

 

Megan Pendleton

Hand at the bottom of the wheel. Move your hand right to turn your trailer butt right. Hand Left = trailer butt left.

 

Margaret Hilarides

Park after dark, less chance of funny photos ending up on FB.

 

Laurie Bayer

The bottom of the steering wheel goes the direction you want the back of the trailer to go.

 

Shannon Moeller

Laurie Bayer, a farmer told me this one time and I’ve never forgotten it. Very helpful when in public if I don’t want to sit there for 90 seconds trying to remember which way to turn the wheel 😆.

 

Kristina Laska Webber

I just tell Emiley Roebuck to shut up and hold the flash light lol.

 

Emiley Roebuck

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣☠️☠️☠️☠️

I’m an expert so anyone that needs my services just know that it’s 89.99 for the first 5 min of flashlight holding and 9.99 for every min after that.  Extra $30 add on if you want me to shut up.

 

Karen Johnson

Give yourself plenty of room. And learn to use your mirrors. Go into a big field where you have plenty if room and not have to worry about hitting anything. Do it without husband or boyfriend yippy yapping at you so you don’t get nervous.

 

Eleanor Harowicz

Go practice in a wide-open parking lot with some cones to get comfortable before you’re in a situation where a mistake costs $$$.

 

Debbie Arnold

Make sure no one’s watching.

 

Susan Parke-Alligood

Practice practice practice. Sorry – no hack!

 

Casey Caldwell

My mom taught me to put my hands at the bottom of the steering wheel and then you turn the wheel the way you want the trailer to go . This works for me well but I’m odd that way. 😂😂😂😂

 

Scott Reinartz

Have a stranger help you.

 

Ginger Leeper

Don’t overthink it, small slow movements. Or if ppl are around fast dramatic movements and lots of yelling.

 

Nancy Ellis

We once had 3 very large round bales of hay delivered on a long flatbed. Was told to return trailer after we unloaded them. Husband sent me to return trailer with our 24′ long Diesel truck. Asked where to park the returned trailer, 2 old guys there said, “In the Corn Crib,” a long narrow shed.

#1) I swung the truck and trailer around and pulled forward a long distance til both truck & trailer back ends were square with the opening of the shed.

2) I back up very “slowly” to the opening of the shed. Only about 14 inches of clearance on each side of trailer.

3) I was mindful to “slowly and gradually” (no big sharp turns of steering wheel, “turn the top of steering wheel just a little in the opposite direction of the way I wanted the back end of the trailer to go.” Got out and checked several times during the process. Total length of truck and trailer about 44 ft.

In sideview mirror, I saw the 2 old farmers standing inside the back of the shed laughing between themselves. Figured they were joking and enjoying the upcoming demise of this “woman driver.”

Now, more than ever, I was determined to do it. 3) I prayed for help!!

Continuing with steps 1,2,3 above, I got the trailer in perfectly, on 1st try!!

4) I thanked God!

When i got out to unhook the trailer, I saw one guy hand the other a $10 bill. They subsequently told me they had a bet between them. The $ winner bet I could.

All things are possible with prayer and to those who believe!

 

Cor Inne Sabrina

I think this is the real reason people feel the need to be at the horse show 3 days early… so they can park.

 

Amanda Martin McHollan

Go slow.

 

Beth Chapel

Go slow and steady. Small corrections. Do it yourself (whenever my better half corrects me I mess up).

 

Amber Nichole

I’m a professional hauler my best advice is ALWAYS pull ahead way farther than you think you need to. This sets you up to be able to back your rig into any hole without having to back up & pull forward 100 times.

Also don’t be afraid to practice, hook up empty, go find a big parking lot, take some cones if you want and have fun learning to drive your rig. I’m planning on hosting several hauling info clinics around the country in 2024. These clinics will be geared towards women, we will cover everything you need to know about hauling from how to hook up, how to change a tire, how to back up and so much more Follow Magnolia Equine for more info.

 

Mandi Thompson

Sometimes you just have to get out of the truck and see where your corners are and make a mental note of what that looks like from the driver’s seat.

 

Teah Kirby-Frazier

Get divorce papers ready when helping a spouse.

 

Connie Jarve

Hand at the bottom of the steering wheel for the direction you want the trailer to turn. But of course hay wagons have their own minds. LOL

 

Eric Brandenburg

Don’t pull in what you can’t back out of.

 

Lauren Daggett

Go slow. Little movements in the steering wheel.

 

Martha Schwabel

Get a toy truck and trailer, practice on the kitchen floor, to learn how it works.

 

Michelle Mckay-Swanson

Make your husband walk away before you start backing up 🤣🤣🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️ flailing arms never help!

 

Renae Wesenberg

To back straight turn the wheel towards the mirror that has too much trailer in it.