showqa
Well-Known Member
I am about to travel my horse to southern Portugal. Would welcome any tips/advice, especially when it comes to feeding. Cheers all.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
Advice on travelling horse to southern Portugal and feeding en route.
- Thread starter showqa
- Start date
Booboos
Well-Known Member
Mine are not frequent long distance travellers, but when they came to France they had no hard feed but ad lib low energy hay all the way.
paisley
Well-Known Member
Ditto just lots of hay, if you really must give a feed (eg for electrolytes), just make it with chaff and a handful of regular feed. You might also want to take several containers of water from 'home' as the water in a lorry tank can taste odd and they sometimes dont like 'foreign' water!
If it is safe/appropriate try and get your horse out of the lorry to graze for 20 mins or so-there is helpful moisture in the grass. Getting the head down should clear out his windpipe, as very long journeys with the head held up can give them a runny nose.
Obviously several different weight travelling rugs especially a Thermatex type on if he gets unexpectedly sweaty. Spare travelling boots if you can, and just a tail guard.
Hope it goes well- good luck!
If it is safe/appropriate try and get your horse out of the lorry to graze for 20 mins or so-there is helpful moisture in the grass. Getting the head down should clear out his windpipe, as very long journeys with the head held up can give them a runny nose.
Obviously several different weight travelling rugs especially a Thermatex type on if he gets unexpectedly sweaty. Spare travelling boots if you can, and just a tail guard.
Hope it goes well- good luck!
showqa
Well-Known Member
Thanks very much.
What I'm most concerned about is if due to stress he just won't eat hay at all, but it's back to the "you can lead a horse to water ...." situation isn't it?
Cheers.
What I'm most concerned about is if due to stress he just won't eat hay at all, but it's back to the "you can lead a horse to water ...." situation isn't it?
Cheers.
Lynette
Well-Known Member
Having travelled many horses down and back to Portugal professionally you need to feed hayledge rather than hay. It has more of a moisture content which helps with fluid intake. Do not tie the head up. You will find that most professional horse transporters these days use x ties to the front of the partitions which gives the horses plenty of up and down movement of their heads but limits sideways movement. It is important that the horse is able to put its head down for fluid to drain from the lungs whilst in transit.
We once had a big warmblood mare to take down to Alicante which we were warned was very hard to travel as she would not drink whilst in a lorry. To get over this I took a sack of carrots which were then fed every time we stopped as although water was offered as warned she would not drink. We stopped at Belin Beliot for overnight break and she took about a quarter of bucket of water but no more. The next day we went through the same routine until we got to Barcalona when she suddenly started to drink from the bucket. She still got her carrots though and the owner was thrilled at the condition she was delivered in. We also had the job of bringing this mare back to the UK and very glad to say that this mare is now a member of our family as our daughter brought her when the owners sold,
I would not recommend any hard feed until you stop for your overnight stops and then it is a case of sustenance feed of chaff and nuts with sugar beet.
If you rug up then be aware of the temperature difference as you drive down but professionally a lot of horses are travelled naked with just a tail bandage. Boots can cause sweating which in turn will cause your horse to be uncomfortable and may start to kick.
Unless your horse is an extremely good loader I would not recommend unloading for a brake en route until you reach your overnight stables.
Otherwise enjoy your journey and the lack of traffic on the motorways.
We once had a big warmblood mare to take down to Alicante which we were warned was very hard to travel as she would not drink whilst in a lorry. To get over this I took a sack of carrots which were then fed every time we stopped as although water was offered as warned she would not drink. We stopped at Belin Beliot for overnight break and she took about a quarter of bucket of water but no more. The next day we went through the same routine until we got to Barcalona when she suddenly started to drink from the bucket. She still got her carrots though and the owner was thrilled at the condition she was delivered in. We also had the job of bringing this mare back to the UK and very glad to say that this mare is now a member of our family as our daughter brought her when the owners sold,
I would not recommend any hard feed until you stop for your overnight stops and then it is a case of sustenance feed of chaff and nuts with sugar beet.
If you rug up then be aware of the temperature difference as you drive down but professionally a lot of horses are travelled naked with just a tail bandage. Boots can cause sweating which in turn will cause your horse to be uncomfortable and may start to kick.
Unless your horse is an extremely good loader I would not recommend unloading for a brake en route until you reach your overnight stables.
Otherwise enjoy your journey and the lack of traffic on the motorways.