Could you leave a trapped horse in an overturned trailer?

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pipper

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I had my usual e mail from H&H with news. And read the story about the trailer that overturned with two polo ponies on board. One pony was thrown from the trailer and the other was trapped inside - motorists helped rescue the trapped pony - but one of them got kicked in the leg in the process. The rescue spokesman said that passers by should not have moved the trapped pony in case it bolted into the traffic, but should have waited until the proffesionals got there.
What do you all think - personally i hear what he is saying - but there is no way on Gods green earth i could leave a trapped and frightened horse in a trailer - even if it wasnt my own precious baby!!!
Discuss.........
ps - sorry i have absolutly NO idea how to post the link - maybe some clever clogs could help???
 
I have no idea at all what I'd do to be honest! If it was me I'd be a ruined wreck and be taking the trailer to it's component parts to try and get my horse out!
 
Damned if you do and damned if you don't in this case. How would you feel if you rescued a horse and it bolted into traffic causing a multi-car pileup and several deaths, including that of the horse?

Personally I like to think I'd have had the presence of mind to sit on its head and restrain it whilst waiting for the emergency services to turn up.
 
Depends on if the horse was panicking and what position it was in, and what damage had been done I think. I'm a pretty calm person so I think I'd be able to wait with the horse until professional help arrived - they have been trained to deal with the situation at least.
 
I think I would cover its eyc/sit on head and try to keep it calm until vet etc arrived.

Do the same with the other one thrown from the trailer if its down.
 
jemima_too said:
Damned if you do and damned if you don't in this case. How would you feel if you rescued a horse and it bolted into traffic causing a multi-car pileup and several deaths, including that of the horse?

Personally I like to think I'd have had the presence of mind to sit on its head and restrain it whilst waiting for the emergency services to turn up.
Click to expand...

^^^^^^

What she said - until at least the police arrived to close the road.
Slightly different if it's your own because at least you have a fair idea of how they'll behave and you also know how to handle a horse!

Concerned motorists might not be horsey and could get themselves, the horse and other members of the public seriously hurt despite the very best intentions.
 
See, I know someone who got into a trailer to try and calm a stressed horse; she ended up being kicked out through the jockey door and dragged about half a mile before the driver realised. She is very lucky to be alive.

If the horse was panicking, then I would probably not go in the trailer, but instead talk to it until it started to calm down,and then I would go in and try and help rescue it.
If it was calm would go in and help.

Problem is, no one knows how they would react until they are in a situation like this; sometimes its better to look after yourself first and then the horse.
 
First and foremost the risk to people has to be considered. the only way I could see would have been to either cordon off the roads as you would for an RTA or sedate the animal and have it cut free. a loose paniced horse can do so much damage to others or themselves.

We had a similar incident where a lorry on the way to our yard went into the soft verge and was hanging at a 45 degree angle threatening to topple down a small (big enough) embankment into a field. it was terrifying. The emergency services wouldnt allow the ramp to be taken down for the same reason of the horses getting loose and into the A96 which was close by, however at that angle, i don't know if the horses could have righted themselves to get out anyway.

Several local peoples 4x4's were lashed to the lorry to help stop it going over until the firebrigade got there, then everyone stood about for what seems like forever umming and ahhing. in the end, the middle horse actually kicked itself free through the SIDE of the box (fortunately wooden) and fell into the field, the other 2 followed although one had to be cut free from it's headcoller by the vet as it was hanging itself. They all just stood there in shock and were quickly caught with no trouble at all.

unbelievably, all 3 were fine. minor cuts and scrapes. mostly to the one that made the hole then got landed on by the other 2. they were walked the remaining mile or so to our yard and nursed. one needed an over night drip & a wee holiday with us as a bit shocked. they all loaded beautifully to go back home a couple of days (and replacement vehicle) later.
 
Copy and paste the link from your web browser.

I attended a semniar earlier in the year at my vet school, about rescuing horses and the role of vets and the emergency services. It was made very clear by all invovled thats people should NOT attempt to rescue a trapped horse, however distressing it may be to witness and have to wait.
For public safety more than anything else, a trapped horse that is freed and then bolts up a motorway could end up costing people their lives. People can be seriously injured or killed by a trapped, panicking horse.
 
I'm pretty cool in an emergency. Unless it was my own horse, I would not attempt to get the poor thing out. If it was injured, being on its feet could worsen the injury and as people have pointed out, it could get loose in traffic.

I'd be more apt to try to keep the horse and the people around it calm, get on its head to keep it down if I could, and wait for help.
 
As a rule I'd hope so. As others have said no horse is likely to be better off loose on a motorway and/or making existing injuries worse by tearing round in a panic. There aren't (m)any I'd be strong enough to hold on to if they were in a true blind panic and wanted to run.

Does depend on circs though.

The only time I've been trapped in an overturned vehicle (fortunately only two people, no horses!) we'd rolled up a small embankment, though a hedge, down into a ditch and up again, through a fence into a field.

So, we were in an enclosed (except for the damage the car did) field not directly next to the road. If it had been daylight and I was sure any horses weren't severely injured/there was no other livestock in the field they'd have been better out of a lorry from a fire risk perspective (a trailer is presumably less likely to catch fire though).

But, as a rule, I guess keeping them as still as you safely can wd be best.
 
I'm another one for the "sit on it's head" crowd.

Something I learnt from a gypsy (god forbid!) was that strange horses can be just as stressed by strangers trying to help them and do some serious harm.

That, and who's to say what is in the trailer... a shetland yeah, I'd probably help get out, but a large stallion I'd not even go near until a vet turned up to sedate him!!!

It's harsh, and I often put animals welfare before my own (sorry, thats just me!) but I'll never forget that warning!
 
Hmm, I don't know - you can say one thing and do something completely different if you're in the situation.

My sister was in a similar incident when the trailer being towed by the discovery she was in overturned and flipped the car over with it - they slid a fair way down the road (oh this was on the M1!) and hitt he barrier. From what she said (after her and her friend, friend's mum etc) had crawled out of the car, all the traffic that had been behind them had stopped and people were running down the motorway. Between them the managed to open the ramp to find one horse laid down and one stoo up across her.

The one stood up got out, was caught and taken to the side and then the other one managed to get up and scrabble free and remarkably both were fine other than the odd scrape. Typically someone who came to their aid was an off duty fireman i think and then someone else was another off duty something. Always the way! Lol

I just think it depends on the situation - you want to do the best for the animal at the end of the day. I am not sure it'd be safe to get in the trailer and try and keep the horse calm by sitting on it's head/neck etc. I mean, what if it still panicked? You're putting yourself in more danger then. It's a difficult one.
 
The thing is, when it happens to you, your reactions are automatic. About four years ago, I was bringing home my new horse, in trailer, my husband was driving, along the M4.

The chap in the car behind us fell asleep at the wheel, and hit the back of the trailer. The first we knew about it, the trailer started to snake, then went over on its side and tore itself free from the car. The car spun, then came to a halt at right angles in the slow lane, the trailer was now in the fast lane. I got out of that car and ran across three lanes of the motorway without even thinking (luckily all traffic had stopped).

All I could hear was Indi banging around in the trailer. In those few seconds I had images of awful injuries, broken legs, etc. I got to the top of the trailer and Indi was thrashing about under the partition. He'd pulled free from the bailer twine and was struggling to stand in all the wreckage. I didn't even think about not letting him get up, there wasn't any way I could stop him, because of course his head was at the other end and I wasn't going in there with him! But he carefully picked his way through the wreckage, squeezed out the top of the ramp, and stood with me on the hard shoulder.

The police firstly told me I shouldn't have 'got him out', well there wasn't a huge amount of choice, we're talking decisions made in seconds here. And besides, he stood as calm as anything on the hard shoulder with huge lorries thundering past! And then they wanted me to put him back in the trailer, which was now back on its wheels and standing on the hard shoulder looking decidedly lopsided, the inside somewhat like a bombsite (and of course not attached to anything!)

We walked away, completely unscathed with a few very minor scrapes, but boy did I have a severe case of the 'what ifs' afterwards!
 
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