Help with nervous traveller: recommend a good calmer?

[Bugly]

My youngster has sweated up travelling in a trailer/lorry since the first day I picked her up. 3 years on, there is no improvement.

She has no hesitation to load, she walks straight into the trailer and stands there happily, but as soon as we set off she starts to sweat with anxiety/anticipation.

She travels regularly, 2 times a week during the winter as she hunts.

We have tried everything, horseboxes, different trailers, different sides in the trailer, front door open, going out in the trailer every day, eating her feed in the trailer etc etc and no improvement either way.

Even with a full clip, she arrives where ever we are going dripping in sweat which is a total nightmare, especially in the winter.

She has Brewer's Yeast supplement which is good for anxiety but I'm wondering if you guys have any suggestions for a calming supplement that suits anxious mares and may be beneficial for her?

She's a great horse, not dangerous at all, but can be quiet spooky out hacking too. She's fine with all kinds of heavy traffic, but jumps a mile at a flappy pigeon or sparrow!

She suffers from mild shivers too.

Any suggestions gratefully accepted.

Sweaty mare of Gloucestershire!

 

[Iwantcandy]

Have you tried traveling her without (or wider set) partitions in the lorry or remove the partition out of the trailer (using a full width breast bar)?

One of ours once had a real issue with traveling - fine to load but as soon as we'd set off he'd panic and sweat up aswell as try to get down. After trying many different ways we found he liked to have a bit more room to spread his legs to brace himself. As soon as we allowed this in the lorry he hasn't had anymore issues.

Hope you can get to the bottom of this

 

[LickettySplit]

I totally agree with Iwantcandy - my mare also sweats up in the trailer and the only way she will travel is without the partition.

Give it a try and let us know how you get on

 

[applecart14]

I totally agree with Iwantcandy - my mare also sweats up in the trailer and the only way she will travel is without the partition.

Give it a try and let us know how you get on

That was going to be my suggestion too!

Think about when you are standing on a bus and the bus moves. You have to spread your legs wider to keep your balance. Same with a horse. Interesting you say about the shivers too. I'm no expert but I would have thought neuro deficit which is what shivers is, would almost certainly pose a problem with balancing.

Just try it and see. Also do you have rubber flooring down? My first horse fell in the trailer which was only 18 months old at the time and had hardly been used, the floor was hardwood tongue and grooved and it was the winter. The condensation from the inside of the trailer caused by warm horse and cold air outside dripped onto the floor making it freeze and slippy! We put rubber matting in, altered the breast bar by moving it forward (horse long backed) and changed the partition from 50%/50% space to 75%/25% space, the greater area in the horses favour. Never looked back.