Advice on calming my "stresshead" in the trailer

michellepearson1

michellepearson1

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In Feb I took Minnie to a dressage comp and when she had finished her test I put her back in the trailer and left her there chomping her hay. After about half an hour I then set off back home. I heard a loud bang coming from the trailer - I stopped and looked and at that time I could not see anything. The drive home is about an hour and the whole time she would not settle - this was very unusual for Minnie as she has always travelled very well, I can load and unload her on my own thats how good she is.

However when we got home and took her out of the trailer she had managed to get one of her shoes off - hence the banging and being unsettled.

NOW she will not settled at all in the trailer and sweats up into a nice lather. I now drive between 25 - 30 miles an hour on the road to see if that will help settle her but it does not.

HELPPP!! - we go out regularly in the trailer and the showing seaon is nearly upon us and I dont want to take her to a show wet through.
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Aww poor wee horse she sounds as though she has given herself a real fright and is now remembering it every time she travels.

Mine was the same, we used to arrive at places with her looking like she had done a few hours schooling! It's not ideal to say the least.

She got better after time and lots of positive practices but she still used to thrash around when we went round corners.
I also stopped using her travel boots and she is now silent in the trailer (I gave her loads of time wearing them to get used to them in the stable and walking her around in them but she obviously hates them so who am I to argue!).
Perhaps your girl feels a bit claustrophobic now, experiment with using no boots, would be a simple solution!

She can still occasonally be sticky to load now though, as in it will take a few minutes rather than walking straight in, but she's fine once she is in thankfully and it's getting better all the time.
 
how about cctv to see whats going on? or...a bit cheaper.. a baby monitor. whenever she moves about either talk to her through it ..or yell! or put a cheap cd player in with her and play her some music.
 
A mirror might help, also try travelling her without the partition. We have CCTV in our lorry, and I wouldn't travel a horse without it now.
 
Ditto a mirror? What about giving her some rescue remedy before you travel her? ( Not entirely sure if it works but it makes me calmer knowing my horse has had some!!!!!)
 
Thanks for some brill ideas. After she trashed two sets of hind leg boots I got the idea she dont like them. What I thought of today was to get some over reach boots for her back hooves as the last time she caught herself and made herself bleed - im still traumatised from seeing blood coming from my baby girlie.

I will def get some intercoms cos when I do yell she does stand still.

Im taking her out tomorrow in the trailer so I will remove the partition to see how that goes.

Thanks
 
Try bandages instead of boots, some prefer them as fit to their legs better and not as bulky.

Try travelling her blindfolded, this may not be a popular suggestion here but it really does work, they concentrate on keeping their balance instead of bashing. Take it off to load and unload though!!!
 
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