17hh horse - bad traveller - ideas

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Hizzo28

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Hi everyone,

I purchased a 17hh medium weight hunter in September and had him collected by a professional horse transporter. He was in a 3.5t and in my opinion she must have pinned him in, anyway he panicked and smashed over the tack lockers etc! He is only just sound now after having surgery.

I’ve sold my 511 as I was too nervous to travel him in it, but as I’m only really going to be going out 2-3 times a month I don’t really want to buy a 7.5t for it to seize up.

I’ve been looking at the equitreks as an option. Any ideas? He’s big, but short (6’6)......
 
You won't like this but - big horses need big trucks. My big horse was a bad traveller until he had a big space. With the herring bone angled wide and his quarters facing the driver, head towards the ramp he travelled all over the country without a problem. They need to spread their legs.
 
I suspect you’re right! We’ve taken him to the vets in a HGV to be safe & he stomps about but is generally okay!
No idea when I’ll be able to do my test ??‍♀️??‍♀️
 
I have a 3.95 tonne, but had it made for a big horse. It has more space than most big boxes. The height is 8ft, the length is 8'9 I think, nose to croup (so more generous than most big boxes on a herringbone). The stall width is 4ft, but they have another 6 inches to spread legs under the partition.

Sadly, shortly after buying, I gave up on big horses and have a 15.3 :p but she has space to stand herringbone with loads of space.

Other considerations, I had the ramp 6" taller than usual so it is substantial and not likely to buck a leg over, but because it was also built strongly, it needed special springs to make it easy. It also has a mega enforced area between horse and rider.

For a big horse in a 3.5 tonne (which mine was before I uprated) it just means there is only space/weight for one horse, so it may as well be a big space.

Mine also has no breast bar or tack lockers. The space is free for a big horse.
 
i travel my 17.2 in a 511 trailer but we don't have the partition in. he is tricky to load, but travels well. i have found it works well for us. he can move about, we have even been up to aintree twice from warwickshire and i can tack him up inside. i find not having a partition no problem. he has a full width front bar and i just put the back up once i have him on. i don't use a back bar (not something everyone would agree with i know and completely understand) but he ran back through the back bar a couple of times before i could put the back off and really scared himself. as a consequence i don't risk it. it should also be said we go everywhere on our own and we do what works for us
 
Our 17hh boy has plenty of room in our 511 and loads & travels well with partition. We are thinking of getting full length bars and taking partition out as we will probably only ever travel solo anyway.
 
If you have a bad traveller then the best thing you can do is try out different transport methods/directions to see if they have a preference. Extra space is usually the answer too.

There are plenty of trailers and 3.5T out there that have more than enough room for 17hh, often more so than a herringbone lorry. If going herringbone you really do have to angle backwards to get them the room and it often limits how many others you can put up.
 
A friend and neighbour had a 17hh long-backed ID, who was not a good traveller in a trailer, to the point where she stopped taking her. Then friend needed to move her horses from W.Yorks to N. Cumbria, we took her and her 16hh WH and shetland companions in our 7.5 ton . The hunter went on the box first, the mare followed happily and the Shetland went on last. They all travelled well for 5 hours, unloaded and settled to graze happily at their new home.
 
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