diff --git a/activerecord/lib/active_record/base.rb b/activerecord/lib/active_record/base.rb
index a18b681a610e7..0cb0358a3ed38 100644
--- a/activerecord/lib/active_record/base.rb
+++ b/activerecord/lib/active_record/base.rb
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+begin
+  require 'psych'
+rescue LoadError
+end
+
 require 'yaml'
 require 'set'
 require 'active_support/benchmarkable'
diff --git a/activerecord/lib/active_record/fixtures.rb b/activerecord/lib/active_record/fixtures.rb
index 921e7faefd31e..fb4d366650d45 100644
--- a/activerecord/lib/active_record/fixtures.rb
+++ b/activerecord/lib/active_record/fixtures.rb
@@ -1,4 +1,10 @@
 require 'erb'
+
+begin
+  require 'psych'
+rescue LoadError
+end
+
 require 'yaml'
 require 'csv'
 require 'zlib'
diff --git a/railties/lib/rails/commands/dbconsole.rb b/railties/lib/rails/commands/dbconsole.rb
index 14d245ab2ed44..300fd6da0573d 100644
--- a/railties/lib/rails/commands/dbconsole.rb
+++ b/railties/lib/rails/commands/dbconsole.rb
@@ -1,4 +1,10 @@
 require 'erb'
+
+begin
+  require 'psych'
+rescue LoadError
+end
+
 require 'yaml'
 require 'optparse'
 require 'rbconfig'