Horrific trailer accident

BuckingHorse

BuckingHorse

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I've just got back from my yard and there has been an awful accident. The hunt were meeting down the road and I was in the school with my horse when a lady came up the drive and said there was a problem with a trailer, I just thought it was some divvy woman who couldn't reverse or something so carried on schooling and OH went to help. It turns out that one of the horses going to the hunt had put its foot through the floor of the trailer and had broken its leg and severed all the tendons so it was hanging off. When the chap opened the jockey door to see what was happening the horse came out of the jockey door (this horse must have been 16.2 middleweight hunter type) and landed on the main road.
OH managed to get the horse back on its feet and into the yard and YO sorted out a stable and someone came and shot him about 20 minutes later.

The horse wasn't wearing any travelling boots which maybe wouldn't have stopped the accident but would probably meant that he could have been saved.

God I feel sick. Please don't ever travel your horse without boots and check the floor of your lorry/trailer regularly.
 
Oh hell, how awful.
The old yard I worked at had something similar happen to them, going through the town in their lorry.

I doubt very much that any travel boots would have saved the leg too much tbh, although it may have limited the amount of trauma, pain the horse was going through.

Poor thing. Not suprised youre in shock.

((((hugs)))))
 

OMG, Thats awful !! I feel sick now aswell.

That sounds about as horrific as what happend to my horse, when he got his leg stuck in a cattle grid!
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Do you know no one apart from me travels in boots at my yard and it makes me CRINGE.

That is terrible and testiment to why prevention is better than cure.
 
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Please don't ever travel your horse without boots and check the floor of your lorry/trailer regularly.

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How awful.
I agree that floors should be checked regularly and NEVER travel mine without protection on their legs but in something so severe, I doubt they would make much difference - they are more to protect against knocks and scratches and other more minor things.
 
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I doubt very much that any travel boots would have saved the leg too much tbh, although it may have limited the amount of trauma, pain the horse was going through

COMPLETELY AGREE
 
That is dreadful and I am very sorry to hear that you had to witness such a nasty accident. Poor Horse.

As for the travel boot issue, neither of mine will tolerate ANYTHING on their legs whatsoever, if I do (and believe me I have tried everything from leaving them on overnight in the stable etc etc) they will kick like mad causing a lot more damage to the rear of the trailer or box.

It is very well saying that "oh my god people dont use travel boots" but until you have a horse that takes great exception to anything including brushing boots on their legs, dont be too fast to comment!!!

The problem here sounds like a rubbish floor in a trailer, boots or bandages may have minimised damage to some extent but would not have saved a leg being dragged under a trailer at force....

Always check those floors...if in doubt get a new one put in, its safer.
 
OMG this is horrific! I don't know anyone who doesn't travel in boots, but as others have said it may not have made much difference in this case! The poor horse!

Trailer floors are such a worry - I have a brand new trailer with an ali floor which came with a life time guarantee, but I still check it everytime!
 
The boots would have been shredded, however it just shows you must check your flooring regualrly and I am sure that we probably do not do it enough. Poor horse its leg could have gone through at the start of the journey.

That is why I am so up for lorries that have a cut through cab. You wouldn't be able to have stopped it but you can stop ASAP and get help
 
What an horrific accident. As far as boots go tho our pony gets so agitated with boots on, rearing, scraping her legs etc it was decided it was safer to travel with no boots on.
 
It's a horrid thing to have happened but there is no way in this wide world that travelling boots would have prevented what happened and they really wouldn't have helped at all either.

Many people travel without them for a reason; I personally don't like them; if I have to use something I will use gamgee and bandages or brushing and over reach boots as I've seen too many nasty things happen with boots that slip down, horse not used to them getting frightened and so on; I would still prefer not to use them. From five years travelling with mares and foals all over the country and Ireland, we only ever had one that had as much as a tail bandage on and that was a stallion from Ireland to Oxfordshire as he had a habit of rubbing his tail on anything strange. Sometimes, that wagon held a couple of million poundsworth of horses but they still didn't wear travelling boots.
But I certainly understand and agree with your pleas to always check floors and ramps before journeys.
 
What a terible accident.

I have to say, it is more to do with lack of maintenance of the floor, rather than lack of leg protection.

Finni will not tolerate travel boots and has suffered injuries through panic, whilst wearing them. He is instead bandaged.
 
omg how sad. Thinking about it just makes me cringe

poor horse, I guess the driver must feel really bad to. I am sure they wouldnt of taken a horse out in the trailer if they thought anything like that would happen. A few sleepless nights for them I should imagine.
 
Totally bloody fools - these accidents are becoming increasingly common and are so preventable. I have said it before, horses are a rich man's sport, if you can not afford to do it properly you should not do it - don't play with horses on the cheap!
 
OMG what a horrible accident and totally avoidable with correct maintenance!!

I have been looking at trailers recently (only on the net though) and always pay perticular attention to what floor it has in it etc and would get it serviced before i used it too but iu am untra para anyway LOL
 
How tragic
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I am sure this person has learnt their lesson and will never travel a horse again (if at all) in a vehicle with a safety issue.

I think there should be more education and information about towing/driving horses safely.

You must be in shock, poor thing - try to use this as a lesson I'm sure you will never forget
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Trailer floors are such a worry - I have a brand new trailer with an ali floor which came with a life time guarantee, but I still check it everytime!

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Ali floors should still be replaced every 10 years as ali becomes brittle with constant abuse.
 
That is tragic
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and what is the most tragic part of the story is not that the horse endured a painfully, horrific injury and lost its life, but that the injury itself was totally preventable!
I agree the floor on the trailer should have been checked. If they could afford to pay to go on hunts, including, the fees, kit, tack and fuel etc they could afford to pay for the maintenance of the floor.
I doubt very much it was hired from a reputable company as I would have thought by law the vehicle would have to have a solid and safe floor to transport animals in and lets not forget the MOT as I would have thought ( not certain though) that the underside of the floor would need to be secure if corrosion had occurred ( if metal) and the appropriate welding been done. No sure about wooden floors though?
If it was their own or borrowed from a friend then they should have been responsible enough to have checked out the security of the floor.
I agree about the wearing of boots though if the horse/pony can cope with them on as some just won't.
In this case though I doubt it would have saved the leg. There is a slim chance it may have as it would depend on how big the hole was that was either made ( or there in the first place?). The boots may have made the leg too thick to fall through but what could of happened is that the horse may have become trapped in the hole and then more severe injuries could have taken place which would have been made worse by the fact of the horse being trapped making it difficult to treat or destroy.
When I went to buy my daughter's horse I took the whole lot lol, boots, tail guard, poll guard, leather headcollar, rug the lot. The horse was transported back home in a luxury racehorse box which I paid for after arranging the transport at the sales and was advised not to put on boots due to the way the horses were tied up.
Had this driver not been who he was as I knew some of his former and present clients ( trainers and owners) I would not have listened and still booted up but I respected his views and Mcfly travelled the few hours it took to get the yard safely and securely. It was not cheap by any means ( a few hundred) but I know that the horse was fully insured and travelled in luxury in a virtually new box and with a very experienced driver/horseman.
If I ever had to travel that distance again to somewhere important like a show etc and didn't have my own box/trailer by then I would quite happily pay the extra and know that my horses were travelling safely.
Like GT's said , horses are a rich man's sport. I would agree with that to some extent.
But more importantly he said if you cannot afford to do it properly don't do it and also don't play with horses on the cheap.
There are times when you can cut corners in owning horses such as not buying the leading brands in tack, clothes etc.
Or doing jobs yourself if you can rather than paying for them.
However when it comes to safety and the welfare of horses I totally agree.
Adequate medical care should be given at all times, they should be fed correctly and when travelling protection applied wherever possible and always maintain your vehicles/trailers or check any you are going to use thoroughly!
This was a clear example of someone failing to do the latter, the end result was a horse got shot!
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Cazx
 
Could I just make a point about aluminium floors. At the point where the aluminium floor comes in contact with the supporting cross or side members of the trailer there is galvanic action between the aluminium of the floor and the steel of the support members. In theory there should be a r seal between the two however this may not have been put there in the first place or in time this deteriates and allows the two to come in contact and corrosion starts. The result can be that part or all of the floor drops down.
 
Hang on, are you saying that aluminium floors are no better than wooden floors? Have just paid out for aluminium floor in horsebox. What should I look out for? How can I tell if it's starting to get worn out (hopefully this won't happen for a good few years yet)?
 
ok stupid question alert, how do you know if your floor is good or not? I could shimmy under my box and have a look but I wouldn't know what to look for. Where can you find a pro who knows about these things?
 
nothing to do with the lack of boots as the floor of the trailer was obviously rotten for the horse to go through.

in fact if it had of had boots on, it may have hindered the animal from escaping, and as BB's has said, caused more problems.
 
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Totally bloody fools - these accidents are becoming increasingly common and are so preventable. I have said it before, horses are a rich man's sport, if you can not afford to do it properly you should not do it - don't play with horses on the cheap!

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Hey that is TOTALLY unfair GT's

We had this happen to us with a 3 year old trailer we had from brand new

We serviced every year - were we fools because a 2ft x 2ft section of the floor dropped out severing both back legs???

No - IFOR knew they had a fault with their floor and it was cheaper to pay people who had insurance off and tough luck to anyone who wasn't insured.
 
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Totally bloody fools - these accidents are becoming increasingly common and are so preventable. I have said it before, horses are a rich man's sport, if you can not afford to do it properly you should not do it - don't play with horses on the cheap!

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Hey that is TOTALLY unfair GT's

We had this happen to us with a 3 year old trailer we had from brand new

We serviced every year - were we fools because a 2ft x 2ft section of the floor dropped out severing both back legs???

No - IFOR knew they had a fault with their floor and it was cheaper to pay people who had insurance off and tough luck to anyone who wasn't insured.

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I apologize for my comments and totally appauled at the manufacture. My comment was solely based on my observation of seeing horses loaded on to trailers in horrible condition.
 
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