Can some horses just not travel in a trailer?

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catherine22

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I took my mare out XC schooling last weekend (30 minute journey) we heard some stamping on the way but nothing unusual, she was travelling on the passenger side next to my other horse. When we arrived she had scraped the top of her quarters along her spine and taken one of her hind travel boots off.
She loaded fine to go home, I left her back boots off and she travelled back perfectly.
Loaded her yesterday to got to a HT, no travel boots behind (with my other horse again) and set off. Just to make sure she would be ok I stood in the front of the trailer while we left the yard (a right turn and a left turn) and both times she almost fell over by throwing all her weight to the centre partition. The second time the partition gave way so we had to stop and unload them and give up.
So now I have a broken trailer, a horse that apparently can't stand up in a trailer (even tho shes always been fine before) so once the trailers fixed what would your next step be?
I don't want to have to travel her singularly as often I take the two of them together, and don't know if she'll travel in a lorry better, but due to these antics I don't want to borrow one and risk her destroying it
Thought about getting the vet to check her over for balance issues but would they show up day to day, jumping etc, rather than just in the trailer?
Any ideas greatfully received
Trailer is an Ifor 510 tyre pressures etc all fine (and this is what she has travelled in ok before)
 
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Have you tried taking the partition out and just getting a full breast and breech bar? Mine used to fall over in the trailer, but would travel fine like this.
 
My friends horse won't travel on the passenger side, he only travels on the driver side, so we can never go anywhere together in the same trailer because mine is heavier and would have to go on the driver side.

Also check your tyre pressures, same pony was terrible travelling, she had her trailer serviced and her tyres were all different pressures, it must make a difference to the feel, he's much better now. She has an ivor and the tyre pressures were supposed to be 65 so check with the manufacturer of the trailer to see what they should be. I've driven behind her and he's much better now

When you say she's travelled in it ok before, is that on the driver side ?
 
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My mare won't go in a trailer - She fell over once on the way back from a show, had always been very reluctant to load. I had a NH guy help me (never thought I would go down the NH route) as I struggled to get her on the box sometimes taking 2 hours and only getting a foot on the ramp!
He started with the box (little 3.5t) and she went on travelled well - not 100% happy so we stuck with this for a while. Then decided to try the trailer. He stood in the back with her like you did just for the start and we drove round the car park - she threw herself on the floor almost passing out! Cut all her legs etc. She will now only go on a little 3.5t rear facing lorry and even then it is stressful for her!
Maybe try her the other side? Or see if she is more comfortable on her own for a while then try with your other horse if she is?
I know how frustrating it is! I more or less gave up on taking my mare anywhere!
 
I havent tried without the partition and am reluctant to just because I don't want to buy the full length bars and then find they don't work and would be reluctant to borrow them of some one just incase and I do often have to take them out together. As soon as trailer is fixed I will try her on the drivers side and see how she goes (can't swop them round as my gelding is much bigger than her)
Tyre pressures were only done on Friday and they are all correct
MB - I'm starting to think the same. She's been out on loan for a couple of years and I know they took her out a lot so I have just emailed them to find out if they only travelled her on her own/ on the drivers side and see how she was. She may have to go back out on loan and be part of a one horse family
It just seems strange as she travelled perfectly home from the XC on the passenger side without issue at all
 
I think many drivers underestimate just how much movement goes on in the back of a trailer. Every change of direction or speed needs to be done very gently. Once a horse has lost confidence in being able to balance himself, sometimes even the smallest loss of equilibrium can send him into a panic. If you have the time and a patient driver, try loading your horse and just going 50 yards. Even she copes well with this then try a gradual curve to get her used to establishing her balance herself. Once hr rconfidence is back you should have no more problems - providing the drier is sensitive to how a horse has to balance and what affects his loss of equilibrium.
 
I think you are okay to drive with them swapped round even if one is heavier as long as you are careful and very conscious of adverse cambers in the road. When my mare "forgot" how to travel we swapped her sides and travelled her in passenger side sometimes with no other horse in drivers and she was fine. She then forgot how to travel in left side & currently travels perfect crosstied (no breastbar) and no partition (we have a lorry due first wk of oct so didnt buy a breastbar for such a short period). Good luck they are funny beggars! :)
 
I hate to say this but after Many Years of having the worst traveller in the world, I took out the partitions and all was fine. Like me, you may just have to realise that it is going to be one horse or the other from now on.

Some horses just need a lot of room to stand and also i think can get a bit claustraphobic.

Before investing in the single bars, I suggest just trying her with the back bit of the partition taken out (ie leave the breast bar and the first half of the partition). Bet she is a whole lot better when she can spread her back legs.!!
 
We have a mare who cannot travel in a trailer anymore - she does exactly the same as yours and throws all her weight on to her left side when turning corners. She is quite an old lady now and used to be ok in the trailer but we always travelled her on the passenger side as my other horse is bigger & heavier however when she went out with a pony we put her on the driver side she couldn't stand up at all, fell over & broke the middle partition by throwing herself on to it.
She now only travels in the lorry herringbone style and she is absolutely fine. Apparently horses will always travel herringbone or backwards if left to their own devices with front facing being hardest to balance them selves.

Can you try her in a lorry and see how she goes??

Good luck!
 
We have a horse who is the same. We have owned her for 3 years and just saved up enough to buy a trailer. We had to take her to the vets and travelled her on the drivers side with the partition in, we drove really slowly and carefully but she couldn't balance around the corners at all and was nearly falling over! It is a shame as we have another horse and would like to go out and do things like fun rides together.
I have been advised to get the full length breast bar and travel her like that to see how she is. We are going to do this but it doesn't solve the problem of us being able to take two horses.
 
My old connemara travelled perfectly for 10yrs in any position in the trailer and with any horse. suddenly one day at a show he 'forgot' how to travel and was a nightmare to get home, since then he will only travel on the passenger side, bit of a pain as he either travels alone or his companion is much smaller than him, but we just travel as carefully as possible and he's absolutely fine. they're funny creatures!
 
Well Kali can . . . he just really, really, really prefers not to. I think he finds it claustrophobic. I'm afraid I give in to this little quirk and travel him in boxes when I can (have access to several).

I like the others' suggestions of taking out the partitions to give your horse more room.

P
 
CF - Thats why i stood in there with them just to check there wasnt something we were missing but I didn't even notice my OH pulling away and this was only over about 50m and she almost went down twice on very gentle curves
Damnation - Ears are what I first thought of but would that not affect her all the time rather than just travelling? Vets is due for jabs at the start of Oct so will get him to have a look
Canteron - I may try that as atm thats how the trailer is, as she destroyed the back partition. When I was watching her travel tho her legs were really wide and she still went but maybe they need to be wider
HC - My mare is only 10 and fit so she should be more than capable of standing up. i'd like to try her in a lorry but don't want to borrow one and her to destroy it and it would be an expensive test buying one to try!!
Katherine - exactly its nice to be able to go places with other people, but at the end of the day their safety is paramount

Thank you all
 
Catherine22 - I feel the same as you. Kelsi's safety is our priority and if she can only travel alone or not at all then so be it. I was a quivering wreck after we got her to the vets and was dreading bringing her home! We like you drove so carefully and she almost went down on gentle curves. I have bought her some premier equine boots recommended to me) so she can wear them when being ridden and they won't feel strange to her when she is in the box. Going to try a few journeys with a full length breast bar and if that fails she'll continue to be a happy hacker!
 
Hi

Try her on the drivers side and on her own - if neither of these suggestions work I think she has told you trailers are not for her.

I have a mare who travelled perfectly in a trailer - went with a friend one day so she had to go on passenger side and she could not cope even at 10 miles per hour. She just couldnt be on the passenger side. She loaded perfectly on way home - I think she didnt associate loading with travelling.

I had another BIG ID mare who had always travelled in a lorry and first time in a trailer she caused it to wiggle going down a hill so I never put her in a trailer again - not worth the risk.

You do see horses for sale which state wont travel in a trailer - I think it is failry common.

Totally stressful situation to be in :(
 
The problem is, and as harsh as it sounds she is much 2nd horse so generally she'll only be going somewhere with my 1st horse so I don't need a horse that can only travel on her own (if she can) and I dont have thousands lying around to get her a lorry, which is making me think what to do with her even more. And having just spent over £200 to replace my partiitions today I'm reluctant to even put her in the trailer again
Interestingly tonight tho she was really grumpy, shes got lots of grass so i'm sure shes not hungry and it hasn't been that cold but maybe she is feeling it and that could be making her grumpy. However she could be stiff as she's fallen over 3 times in the trailer in a week or was she stiff first and that made her fall?!
 
I have one horse that will only travel in a float if I have the partition open accross the other side of the float, or he scrambles, he has his legs spread right out when he travels, or does not cope, so can only travel one horse a t a time when we take him out. I do two car trips. (Sometimes three, if taking 4 horses).

If I had a three horse angle load, he could take two spaces, and the other horse one space.
 
catherine22 said:
The problem is, and as harsh as it sounds she is much 2nd horse so generally she'll only be going somewhere with my 1st horse so I don't need a horse that can only travel on her own (if she can) and I dont have thousands lying around to get her a lorry, which is making me think what to do with her even more. And having just spent over £200 to replace my partiitions today I'm reluctant to even put her in the trailer again
Interestingly tonight tho she was really grumpy, shes got lots of grass so i'm sure shes not hungry and it hasn't been that cold but maybe she is feeling it and that could be making her grumpy. However she could be stiff as she's fallen over 3 times in the trailer in a week or was she stiff first and that made her fall?!
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more than likley she has injured her muscles, I had a horse fall in float (as panicked) and he was off 4 months from muscle damage, it was a day or so after the fall that he got stiff and sore
 
Some horses just cant handle it . When all is said and done ,its a very strange thing to ask an animal to do.Some just cant face it.I have a lot more sympathy for horses that hate trailers than women who are afraid of spiders!:D:D
 
I just had to reply as I have had the same issues with my boy. I was sure you were going to say it was an Ifor Williams, and I was right!

I originally bought an Ifor 510 when I'd had my boy 6 months - perfect traveller, and perfect loader until that point. He travelled ok for a couple of months, then one day the breast bar broke and he ended up travelling right in the front of the trailer! After that happened, he would always kick quite badly when travelling in the trailer, but I just took it as normal.

In 2009 he had an unexplained lameness in the summer, but it was never bad enough for us to figure out what was wrong with him, so we carried on as usual. He continued to kick whenever we travelled, but other than that he seemed fine. Then in March 2010 we were travelling to a lesson when he fell over in the trailer. He properly fell over - there was a massive bang, that everyone in the vicinity heard, as we were going round a corner. Luckily we had arrived at our destination, stopped and opened the door to find him absolutely shaking. He had pulled a shoe half off, skinned some of his legs and wrecked his travel boots. Tried to reload him, but as soon as the trailer moved he fell over and was leaning against the centre partition. We managed to get him off again, got a farrier to come and take the shoe off, and took him v v slowly home (15 miles an hour max!)

Tried to travel him after that, but he would kick out and make the trailer shake and jolt forwards. A couple of weeks later he went lame again. This time x rays showed a bony spur on the coffin joint of his left fore. What we think had been happening was that he had been sore for 2 years, and going round any corner made him put more weight on the front legs. Left hand corners must have been excruciating :( We fixed the coffin joint, but couldn't fix the kicking - he would load fine, but was absolutely petrified of travelling, shaking, pooing, rolling his eyes.

A lot of people here said to me to try him without the partition - I was sceptical, but desperate, so I bought full length breast and breech bars, and although still terrified, he could now travel without falling over and kicking. It took me 6 months, but I got him travelling properly again, but I have never travelled him with the partition in again, it just took too much effort to get him travelling nicely. I'm not sure if now that his coffin joint is better he'd travel with a partition, but I am not willing to risk it.

Sorry for the huge long message! But I know several people whose horses have had problems falling over and then not being able to travel in Ifors. Some of them, even after travelling fine in them for years, fall over one day and then can never stand up in them again. I have heard that it's because the suspension is not as good and the ride not as smooth as other trailers. I am planning to get a rear facing trailer at some point, so I can take 2, as I miss not having company when I go out. Sidney travels fine facing backwards or herringbone.

Cookies for reading all that, hope it helps someone! BTW, I have full width breast and breech bars if you would like to try them out?

Isabelle
 
Thanks Isabelle, I will pm you
I think I will have to try her without the partitions on her own and see how that goes, just to see if she can do it. If not, then she just wont be travelled anywhere
Thanks everyone
 
IsabelleJ- that's very interesting about your horse. Our horse was the same when travelling her to the vets and she was diagnosed with arthritis of the coffin joints. I am saving up for the full length breast bar and going to try travelling her alone. Looks like my OH and me and will have to decide which horse we are taking and where, will be alone from now on.
 
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