Aaaagh, what do I do now. Trailer dilema.

L

Louby

Well-Known Member
Joined
7 July 2005
Messages
6,591
Visit site
My horse was petrified in my Ifor which I sold without ever moving it off the yard so this year we bought a 2 yr old Richardson in excellent condition with a wooden floor. (Think the Alloy floor was an issue in the Ifor but thats another story
blush.gif
) My boy went straight in was reasonably calm so we ended up going for a short drive and he was great. Next time we put him in he kept running out backwards. So for the last month Ive been feeding him in it and hes been great although nervous of anything behind him. Tonight we tried to progress to getting the ramp up but he nearly trampled me. Hubby did up the breaching strap (Ive took partiotion out) and that was it, he freaked. Then he wouldnt go back in it, kept running out backwards so we eventually got him to walk straight through a few times and left it at that. Thing is he is fantastic in a lorry but I cant really afford one and wouldnt use it enough.
Do some horses really not travel in a trailer? Im begining to think its just not worth it, friend says we should get him in and leave him to sort himself out. I just dont agree, I feel he would do some serious damage to himself. He is a brat and he is irrational.
I was looking at the Equitrek as its more wagon like but it was just too expensive and they dont seem to come up 2nd hand very often.
Any advice please.
 
oh how annoying that u get so close and yet he is still not comfortable. My only advice would be to keep on looking for a second hand equitrek as they do occaisonally come up. I had a pony years ago that hated trailers but never had any trouble with my equitrek. - to a horse it looks like a lorry because of the side ramp. he obviously finds normal trailers distressing and personally i wpuldnt want to leave him to sort himself out either because like u said this could do more harm than good.

Good luck hope you find a solution
 
Theres loads of places that you could hire a little lorry from **cough,cough,wink,wink***
Like you say if you can't afford an Equitrek and you don't go out enough to justify the cost of buying, keeping and maintaining a lorry then why not just hire a small 3.5 tonne lorry, built exactly like an equitrek..
 
Any ideas
grin.gif
blush.gif
cool.gif
wink.gif
how much it costs to hire one out for the day, morning, afternoon or however its done.
Im only doing unaffiliated dressage locally so it could turn out very expensive for a 15 minute jaunt down the road for 5 minutes dressage test.
Im going to sell my trailer hopefully and think I will save up over the winter to try and get an Equitrek. Old freind has one so I will see if they will lend it me to see if the little so and so will go in that.
I cant bear the thought of even trying him in my trailer again.
frown.gif
frown.gif

Ive seen ads for horses saying will travel in lorry, do you think some horses will genuinely not travel in a trailer?
 
I think given time and patience pretty much any horse will travel in anything you ask it to. The issue is confidence and respect for you from the horse.

Personally I wouldn't give up just yet but you might be as well to find a student of Richard Maxwell or similar in your area and leave the horse with them for a couple of days training, then go along and be trained with the horse.

Sometimes it is the little things we do without knowing it that can put them off, blocking with your body as you lead in, not giving enough praise and reassurance, not enough work on the ground. I am be teaching you to suck eggs here and apologise if you have considered all these things. I thought I was pretty good but two days training from an expert made me realise that I was doing things wrong.
 
Dare I say look at my profile you may find a website that would be useful in regards to charges for a lorry....
blush.gif


My older horse, decided one day that he would stop going in the trailer so what we did was open up the front and back, take the partition out and feed him in it, now he walks in without a problem and when we are travelling we can see that he stands on an angle..
confused.gif
confused.gif
but it seems to suit him that way.
Perhaps some horses don't have quite the same balance as others or perhaps its the open feeling of a trailer that yours doesn't like..
confused.gif

Maybe he is running out backwards because he is frightened of what he can't see behind him, so before anything happens he gets out..maybe a lorry or motorbike went very close to him on your short journey and now he is like

'no way am i going in that trailer with all that noise that creeps up behind me
shocked.gif
' - just a thought..
 
Some horses find the trailer enviroment just too claustraphobic. we would have to go through alot of trouble to get my old pony on a trailer which was stressful and didnt make the day out enjoyable. On a lorry/equitrek he always went straight on. Very strange but i think alot of horses are the same
 
Thanks for your reply. I know someone who sent there horse away a few years ago, I dont know who to though and they havent had a problem since. I spoke to a lovely man down south who sold Fautras and he put me on to a man who does the Richard Maxwell thing. He said that obviously without seeing my horse he couldnt really say for sure but from the sounds of it my horse had a deffinate problem with trailers, he thought he sounded claustophobic as he is quite a big boy. The sad thing is he will load every time but just panics when hes in there and runs out backwards. I lost my rag a bit today and I feel bad about it now as hes not refusing to go in, he just wont stay in.
frown.gif
frown.gif

You are right about the respect issue. Although hes not bargy or anything, he is spoilt and does need to see me as a leader more. He is better than he was but does think hes boss at times.
 
I will have a look, thanks.
We have done what you did for the past month, starting with the whole trailer opened up and progressing to the front all shut up to the breast bar in tonight but he freaked when the breaching strap was being done up.
He travelled fantastic in it so its really disheartenning. We shut the top roadside so he couldnt see anything passing as he really is a wimp.
Im going to borrow the Equitrek and give it a whirl.
Thanks for your advice.
 
my old pony did exactly what you describe she nearly killed herself once by running out backwards after the back bar was put up and nearly broke her withers as she managed to dip down underneath and keep running - took all the skin off her withers! - i eventually got it sorted - this is how i did it - it may work for you - i would have some one with apples and carrots cut up in the jockey bit so that she wasnt left on her own - they would feed her but sort of make her search for the treats so it took her mind off what was happening at the back end of her - i also never ever unloaded her out the rear so she eventually didnt theink she could go out backwards - it took about 6 months to sort and she eventually would load herself and i was able to do it on my own but used the same ritual every time - never varied it - good luck keep trying it is very scary at first i know - the times i used to depart the trailer on my back feet first hanging onto tthe end of the lead rope!!!! but it came right in the end x
 
I was going to say that! Which then leaves your budget free to hire a lovely little horseboxfor the few days when you need to go further!

We do similar in that we hire a modern lorry for long distances!
 
Thanks for your replies.
Hacking to the local venue isnt an option as the short road route is a motorway. The road way would take me about an hour an half at least and isnt horse friendly at all especially as my boy isnt great on the road. I would like to go to other places too.
Thanks everyone
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top