Help - Transporting a weanling for the first time

Rhandir

Rhandir

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I've towed adult horses for many years and for some very long distances ... however, I've never transported a really young horse and it scares me to death.

I need to pick up my very new filly next month from the breeders (friend) in my trailer (Bateson Deauville), obviously we are going to do all the preparation for loading with her, I plan to take my trailer over and leave it there to do the trailler loading practice.

Now then, do I take the partition out and have her loose in the trailer or do I leave it in, I'm not too keen on the idea of tieing her up, is this good idea or not.

Any help or suggestions gratefully received
 
I've transported 2 pretty much unhandled weanlings. The latest one had a 6 hour journey for me to get him home.
Take the partition out, put down a nice deep straw bed and leave him loose. Give him a hay pile on the floor too...no haynets or anything he could get caught on. Make sure you shut the top doors on the trailer too, its not unheard of for a weanling to try and climb their way over the top of a trailer door :rolleyes:
He'll be fine, both mine travelled like that and got to the other end calm and in one piece. Good luck :)

(Also can't remember if you said it was a boy or a girl...apologies if it's a filly and I've been calling her 'him' throughout!!)
 
Same as above but do make sure the jockey door is either lockable or unreachable (you'd be surprised how young ones can contort themselves to get where they're not meant to be!) and do take off the headcollar for travelling just in case it could get hitched up on something.
As long as you give her a nice smooth ride you shouldn't have any problems at all but I do hope you have someone else travelling with you for moral support if nothing else! Good luck, we DO need to see pics once she's home of course.
 
starbar said:
I've transported 2 pretty much unhandled weanlings. The latest one had a 6 hour journey for me to get him home.
Take the partition out, put down a nice deep straw bed and leave him loose. Give him a hay pile on the floor too...no haynets or anything he could get caught on. Make sure you shut the top doors on the trailer too, its not unheard of for a weanling to try and climb their way over the top of a trailer door :rolleyes:
He'll be fine, both mine travelled like that and got to the other end calm and in one piece. Good luck :)

(Also can't remember if you said it was a boy or a girl...apologies if it's a filly and I've been calling her 'him' throughout!!)
Click to expand...


echo what starbar said ^^
 
I'd echo the above. I placed two straw bales stacked on top of eachother at the nose of the trailer to help with balance and add cushioning for the foal, who will undoubtedly turn round to face backwards...

It also paritally blocked the jokey door which meant that I could poke my head in to check foal was ok on the journey with minimal risk of them jumping out. - I could just about slide in and ourt through the gap too.
 
My girl had to be transported in a livestock trailer with a tractor when we weaned her!!!!

We had a disaster of a day. We were supposed to be using a friends trailer but she let us down at the last minute and then the oil indicator light in the car kept flashing at us even though it was full so we thought we had an engine problem.

As I don't drive and it was the only day my hubby was available to do it (he works away) we decided to go for our last option - the tractor and trailer. We just lined the bottom with straw and closed the vents. My girl just walked straight on - no bother.

The journey was noisy but uneventful. We only had to go two miles. She coped very well. She trotted down the ramp the other side and went to say hello to her new field mates. She was completely unscathed by the event and loads easily - although we have our own proper horsey trailer now.

As others have said, as long as there is nothing she can catch herself and there's no exits for her to climb out of and you drive carefully, she should be absolutely fine. As others have said, as long as she is not big enough to get stuck sideways don't tie her up. She should be able to spread her feet out and find her own balance.
 
starbar said:
I've transported 2 pretty much unhandled weanlings. The latest one had a 6 hour journey for me to get him home.
Take the partition out, put down a nice deep straw bed and leave him loose. Give him a hay pile on the floor too...no haynets or anything he could get caught on. Make sure you shut the top doors on the trailer too, its not unheard of for a weanling to try and climb their way over the top of a trailer door :rolleyes:
He'll be fine, both mine travelled like that and got to the other end calm and in one piece. Good luck :)

(Also can't remember if you said it was a boy or a girl...apologies if it's a filly and I've been calling her 'him' throughout!!)
Click to expand...

Absolutely this ^^ remove everything and block all exits!
 
Fergus was travelled 100miles home in a 511. Front blocked (we have a custom made wooded insert for when travelling tiddly ponies) and all doors closed. Fergus was loose but with a leather headcollar on (nothing he could have hooked himself on, even if he tried.) He travelled like a dream and spent the whole time trying to watch the world out the tiny little gap at the back.
 
I traveled mine loose from March cambs to cheshire about 160 mile A roads and motorway.. yes ditto what others said, I also got pipe insulation and coverd all the edges, and put a extra bolt though the grooms door so there was no chance of it busting open!! I rigged up a cctv so we could watch him he stood most of the way with his bum forward I also took a WES instructor with me!!!! and drove very steadly oh and glad you have a bateson they ride well and are much quieter than brand X...
 
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