dont leave horse alone in trailer

debsflo

debsflo

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at a show this morning with daughter.someone had left their horse in a trailer .it was getting increasingly unhappy stamping and rocking the trailer culminating in jumping up and getting a fore leg over the breast bar.owner was watching a friend i presume and was oblivious.i just dont understand why you would do this.luckily i suppose the bar actually broke but this could have ended so badly.our little horse travels in a trailer exactly the same and this made me feel really sick and anxious
 
oh i know i have seen this far too many times and one horse got both feet over the bar and was getting really really distressed had to tanoy for owner to get there quickly..luckily it didnt injury itself.

why is that also ...that people travel their horses in a trailer with weatherdoor open so horses head is out?...this really really aggrivates me
 
Second that. I have seen some very serious injuries due to people leaving horses unattended in boxes and trailers.
 
When you go to shows on your own, you don’t have much choice! However both mine are perfect in the box. Give them a hay net and you don’t hear a peep, literally!
 
I think i'd rather leave my horse in the trailer/ box than leave it tied up, i go out alone alot and ihave no choice in the matter, he has to stay on the box unsupervised, luckily he is a star though, i think i would feel uneasy leaving a horse i didnt know as well on the box.
 
Yes I agree, but I think that some people take it for granted that their horse is quite and wouldn't get up to no good as it is standing quite munching hay, and its not until somthing awfull happens that they take heed to these warnings, I am always quite close to trailer, at times when raining i have even put my chair up in trailer and sat with horse, but on one occasion when I went for a coffee and a pee, the stupid horse got into trouble, so now under no circumstanses does the horse get left alone.
 
How do you enter if you don’t leave the horse alone, or do you never go on your own????
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Although I understand how accidents can happen - it's harsh to suggest people shouldn't leave their horses unattended on a trailer/wagon - At the end of the day many of us compete on our own - how on earth can we enter (or go to the toilet!) if we don't leave them? I try to ask a neighbouring competitor to keep an eye open for trouble and let them know where I am - but still, she has to be left alone
Kate x
 
Wasn't being harsh at all, I know that it is difficult when competing on your own , but I am sure there is always somone about to hold a horse for a while,(not talking hours) and as I have learnt the hard way I always stay with my horse, while she is tied up to trailer or on it, but like I said above it only takes a moment of sillyness, for them to get into trouble, and dont be fooled by the "it wouldn't happen to me"
 
I've always thought it common sense never to leave them alone. However, I must say that I thought at affiliated competitions it was actually not allowed......
 
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I've always thought it common sense never to leave them alone. However, I must say that I thought at affiliated competitions it was actually not allowed......

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Of course it's allowed! I'd never event if I didn't leave my horse alone. I do everything on my own, and he stays on the lorry on his own, end of. You know what (not aimed at you specifically, just in general), horses are stupendously stupid and extremely capable of thinking up new and inventive ways to injure themselves. They'll do it in a lorry/trailer/field/padded cell. It's the way they are. Accidents happen, and you can't watch them 24/7. I would never compete if I didn't leave the horse unattended on the lorry, and equally, they are just as capable of hurting themselves if left unattended tied up on the yard whilst you 'pop and get your tack' or whatever.
 
I've not got my head burrowed in the sand - I am fully aware of what can happen - but accidents can (and do) happen right in front of people - As I said, I try to ask a neighbouring competitor to keep an eye out - not everyone has the time to spend holding some stranger's horse
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Kate x
 
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I've always thought it common sense never to leave them alone. However, I must say that I thought at affiliated competitions it was actually not allowed......

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LOL! Just had an image of events having to hire an army of horse holders/ watchers!
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I've always thought it common sense never to leave them alone. However, I must say that I thought at affiliated competitions it was actually not allowed......

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LOL! Just had an image of events having to hire an army of horse holders/ watchers!
tongue.gif


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LOL, guess I'm wrong then
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I'd rather they were in trailer than tied to the outside as sometimes its unavoidable. I do remember chaos when the air ambulance landed not that far from the box park= panicing horses and no owners in sight.

Having said that mare gets in a tizz so its preferable not to leave her too long 15 mins or so she is fine but couldnt leave her to walk the course as you would come back to a sweating/shaking wreck which isnt ideal before competing.

My boy is much easier to deal with!
 
It doesn't always happen to unsupervised horses.
A 3yr old next to us at a show a few years ago got its front legs over the breast bar and was stuck with the bar by its stifles with its head pinned on the floor. The owner was with the horse the whole time but couldn't stop it panicking and trying to jump out.
We helped them free the horse by using allen keys to release the bar. Ifor Williams trailers have this.
 
I go out competing on my own and both of ours stand and wait. If I have mates at the comp with their horses, I always check theirs too when I check ours, then the favour gets returned. At the last ODE I checked ours and 4 other boxes then let the owners know while we were waiting for results.
 
this happened to at a show i went to a few years ago. her normally very calm arab decided to climb over the breast bar and got stuck in the small area at the front of her ifor (she had a head grill in the front). we tannoyed and tannoyed for the owners but nobody could hear it. it took 3 big guys to lift the horse up and for me to lift the bar out from under it before we could walk him off.
eventually the owners back (finding me walking horse around) and got an update from the vet. her horse had never done this before and has never done it since - luckily he walked straight back on the trailer and just stood their munching his haynet.
accidents happen.
if i leave my girl when im away with another one, im with H's mum, i ask the next door people to keep an eye on her, but shes got to learn she can stand quiet on the trailer with a net.
 
Probably safer for the horse to be by itself, at least it isn't going to kill the owners when it has a freak out. Stupid owners trying to save the thing and then get themselves hurt.

In the real world horses get left on lorries and trailers and if they decide to do something stupid it is just bad luck - you stood there watching isn't going to stop it happening.
 
Sorry but i often leave my girl on the trailer on her own. When i am on my own it is that or tied up outside and I would never do that.

Lots of people compete on their own, if I saw a horse panic I would help out, like wise I would expect someone to help me. Most people have had to go somewhere on their own at some stage and understand the difficulties and compromises that people make.
 
how ridiculous to suggest people never leave their horses alone in a trailer!

many, many people go eventing by themselves and the horses have to be left alone- and 99.9% of horses are perfectly fine with this.

what are you mean to do- walk the course with the horse in tow??

i leave mine on the trailer alone- Pilfer is absolutely fine, Millie occasionally bangs around.
i am happy to leave Pilfer for a reasonable period, Millie is checked every 15 minutes.
 
I've seen some terrible accidents regarding horses in trailers at shows recently and in the past... At one show one horse was panicking so much in the trailer he managed to break through the panels at the side (it was a fairly new Ifor at the time too) and injured himself badly
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i'm another that goes competing alone and so my horses have to get used to being left- sometimes for well over an hour if i'm eventing and waiting for a prizegiving or if i'm at a show jumping comp and am waiting for a class to finish. fair enough if you know your horse is going to be a fruit loop in the trailer/box then don't stray too far away but otherwise they have to learn to deal with it.....yes acidents happen but they also happen in the field and in a stable but we don't spend 24/7 with them?!!!
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Just an idea, and dont know if it would work, but maybe someone could invent a remote one way listening device, somthing like a baby intercome?? Maybe somthing allready on the market could be addapted?
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I've always thought it common sense never to leave them alone. However, I must say that I thought at affiliated competitions it was actually not allowed......

[/ QUOTE ]

Of course it's allowed! I'd never event if I didn't leave my horse alone. I do everything on my own, and he stays on the lorry on his own, end of. You know what (not aimed at you specifically, just in general), horses are stupendously stupid and extremely capable of thinking up new and inventive ways to injure themselves. They'll do it in a lorry/trailer/field/padded cell. It's the way they are. Accidents happen, and you can't watch them 24/7. I would never compete if I didn't leave the horse unattended on the lorry, and equally, they are just as capable of hurting themselves if left unattended tied up on the yard whilst you 'pop and get your tack' or whatever.

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Hear Hear!!!! At the end of the day, isn't it better that the horse is IN the box rather rather than tied outside??????? as above posters have said, not all of us have the luxury of a groom....I am having a TUI bar fitted so IF horse puts a leg over the breast bar, I can drop it from the outside.....I feel a horse is just as likely to injure it's self in the stable, field or where ever as it is in a trailer or lorry.
 
I could be wrong but weren't the BHS trying to bring in some rule that horses couldn't be left tied outside the box unattented.

We all know accidents happen when animals are involved, but I always leave mine on the trailer or lorry (whatever I happen to be using at the time) with a big fat hay net to keep him entertained.
 
This is something I expect my horses to do and if they couldn't, I would train them by leaving them for increasingly long periods until they did. But both of mine are very happy and calm to be left alone for reasonable amounts of time while I compete on the other, walk the course, enter, go to the toilet, etc. Unfortunately I don't have a doting mummy or daddy to come along and run around after me and its the only practical way of doing it.

A trailer is not that much more risky than a stable, and yes of course, accidents do happen but they also happen in the stable! I leave the back door open with the breach bar up and also the jockey door so they can look all around them. Because I stay calm they take their cue from me and are nice and relaxed, and if I leave them in the trailer or lorry after the competition, they invariably have a nice snooze. Mind you, I don't travel them together in the trailer, I give them the whole space each and only take one if using it and not a lorry. Obviously I always leave them with a haynet.

Theres no way you would get me hooking up a baby monitor so I could keep an eye on my horse!

It is banned at BSJA shows to leave horses alone tied up OUTSIDE trailers and lorries.
 
I have experiance of this, My mare was left in the trailer for about 5 mins, she was usually so good. My sister went back to her and found her under the bar, she had to be pts because of a crushed pelvis, don't leave you horse unnatended no matter how good they are.
 
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