A million and one questions! Please help!

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bluehoofprints

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So, after 6 months of being at uni and going through several riders for Blue, it has been decided that I get him back and in a month he will be moved up to a livery stables near where I study. This has left me with tons of questions as I have never transported him that far with transport company and I have never liveried before. So here is my huge list of questions!

Would the vet sedate him as he is an awful loader or shall I just get instant magic?

The company says that I cannot travel with him, do you think they could maybe bend the rules?

He is on four shoes and is ridden on gravel and tarmac. Where he is going there is a bit of tarmac and sandy woods and a sand school. Does he need all four shoes?

Whats the point in buying a leather headcollar? I have the urge so please give me a reason haha

Whats the point of a martingale and a breastplate? Blue doesn't keep his head high, he just has a very muscular front and thought might need a bit of holding back. Also, how do I get him to really engage his back end? He doesn't lunge so any lunge aids wont help me.

Do you have any good ideas on how to keep my bum stuck to the saddle in canter? Blue has a very bouncy canter and I can't sit still unless I hold onto the saddle.

Can you lock tack packs by ifor williams?

What would you suggest for foot wear around the yard? I was thinking yard boots

What are the rules of horses on beaches?

For, show jumping training up to 3 ft, hunter jumping training up to 3 ft and xc training up to 2 ft what shall I kit him out with? I am aware I need a body protector for xc and a hat without a peak (mines removable/collapsible)

Right I think that is all my questions :) Good luck answering all them if you choose to endeavor!
 
Well for starters it is against the law to travel a horse which is sedated - and very dangerous, they can't keep their footing very well and although they realise something is amiss they don't know how to react, so can panic.
When you say "travel with him" I presume you mean in the cab? Probably an insurance issue I would suspect, as also travelling in the body of the lorry would be.
If you want to work him without shoes, he will need a few weeks at least to acclimatise and get his feet hardened and calloused. Can be done but you also need to look at diet if you want to go down that route.
If you are struggling with your seat in canter you probably need some lessons from a good instructor, including how to get him more balanced as well as how you can sit to it.
Beaches are subject to local byelaws so you need to investigate the ones you have in mind.
Foot wear around the yard depends on the yard and the season - if the yard is hard surface and you don't need to go ankle deep in any muddy fields I think muckers are hard to beat - not expensive, water (and muck!) proof and last well. Depends on your budget.
I'll leave the rest to others lol, don't want to hog it all!
 
Leather head collars are preeeetty! Surely thats all the reasons you need? Lol. On a functional note they are safer if leaving on in the field.

Re boots I would recommend either yard boots (for example i have the dublin river boots) or, like my friend uses the Mountain horse winter jodhpur boots with steel toe caps and half chaps. I would recommend steel toecaps. The Dublin river boots only have reinforced toes and i am looking to change for this reason, most likely to the mountain horse ones too. They are about £70 i think.

Are you gripping with your knees in canter? When i first started that used to be what had me all over the shop. Agree with getting a good instructor to help you, they will be able to see exactly what is going on up there.

What are his feet like? My connie has feet like concrete and is much better barefoot than when he was shod (goodness knows why i ever asked to have shoes on feet like that but thats a different story!) however my old pony couldn't cope without all 4 shoes on. I reckon a farrier that has seen your horse will be able to help most.

If it is just the loading that he is bad with i'd just give yourself plenty of time to load him. There is a saying "Act like you've got 10 minutes and it'll take you all day. Act like you've got all day and it'll take you 10 minutes". Will he be on his own? My pony is much better travelling with another on the lorry. A hay net will keep him occupied on the journey too.

Personally with the tack if you are not sure what he needs id strip him back to just a plain bridle and saddle and work your way upwards if and when you need to :)

Hope some of this may be useful!
 
Well, what JillA said for most of the above!

Not sure exactly what you are asking by what is the point of a martingale and breastplate - has he got both and you are questioning it, or has someone suggested you use one/both? Martingales should only come into contact/use when the horse raises his head too high to be easily controllable. If your horse doesn't do this, you don't in theory need one, but most people like to ride with a martingale, not least because the neck strap gives you something to grab in an emergency. But plenty of people don't bother with them.

Ditto breastplate - it holds the saddle in place, and is more common on skinny/fit tb types than chunkier types, although if your horse has a strong front and is slimmer behind the saddle he might benefit from a breastplate. Some people just like them. If you use both then the combined 5 point breastplates are lovely, but only you can work out if you actually NEED one, rather than just like one.

Leather head collars are lovely - they last longer and are safer because if they get caught, they break. Nylon ones don't tend to break so easily so I think you should buy one :)

Only a good instructor can help you with getting a deeper seat although riding without stirrups is good practice. Perhaps ride for five-ten minutes every day without stirrups in walk only, learning to feel your seat bones and allowing the leg to relax down. Trotting without stirrups is a minefield - don't do it without an instructor would be my basic rule, until you know your horse is safe and you aren't bouncing up and down causing him pain!

One thing occurred to me - it's March, so will you not be coming home in April for Easter, and then for 3 months in the summer? Would he not be better off at home, or will the livery look after him while you are away? If he could stay somewhere local then it would save transporting him up and down a few times, and perhaps you could then take him to uni in October.
 
If you search Chan's recent threads you will see she has just moved Ned who was difficult to load and she was worried about the transport. Her post is reassuring in that she says how well the professional horse transporters managed, so if you are using people who are used to loading and transporting horses, trust them to know their job. Has the transport company been recommended to you?
 
Thank you for the input :) I was aware it was frowned upon to sedate for loading but didn't realise illegal! I actually ride bareback a lot so if I make a point of riding without stirrups ever so often then hopefully that will help my seat. The stables has an associate instructor, so I will look into lessons, but being on a student budget does limit me. I am doing a nursing course and get 7 weeks off each year, so I am living full time at uni and so he would be. The transport company, we have previously used but I was rather young at the time, its eric gillie, if anyone had input that would be great :) His feet a large but have a good deep instep, he isn't flat footed and he was barefoot for 6 years before I bought him.
 
If he has been barefoot before unless anything has drastically changed I'm sure he would cope fine. There is lots of information online Re fiddling with his diet to support him :)
 
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