Horse coming on holiday with us - Travelling Advice Please

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maddielove

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Well it looks like maddie will be coming with us on our holildays! Found a cottage in dumfries which will take our whole clan.
The journey will take about 4 hrs I think (guessing that trailering her down will be slower than our estimated time of about 3 hours) We'll probably be hiring a trailer for the week (or two) and will probably be an ifor, reading about her shuffling going around corners is a balance issue, is it possible to move the partition in these trailers to help her a bit?
Any other tips welcome for the journey!!
 
If it is an Ifor then yes you can take out the partition or just pin back the rear part to give her more room behind.
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I would recommend full width breech bars though although I know people who don't bother
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Sounds fun
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If its just her in trailer, get full width breast/breech bars..... if she is a bit iffy, then this should cure her!!!!

Merlin was awful in one side but travels like a dream in the whole thing
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My friend used to tie the rear section of the partition to the other side which gives her horse a bit more room to spread her legs and balance. She has now bought a single breast bar and she travels great now.
 
I would see about getting a full width breast bar...but it's not my trailer....*toddles off to find out the cost*
 
I've got one i keep meaning to ebay for a 505 trailer. I only want what I paid for it plus carriage. The bar is £38 from Ifor Williams and it was a tenner to courier. It's brand new and never used. Not terribly costly but not ideal if you are hiring the trailer.
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I intedned to take out the partition and use both bars but in the end just pinning the rear part back was enough to improve the way he travelled hence me only needing one
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I would see about getting a full width breast bar...but it's not my trailer....*toddles off to find out the cost*

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I think I paid about £30 each for them
 
I will be taking her out a few times before hand and will try pinning back the partition a see how she is then, may get one if she's not great
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I will be taking her out a few times before hand and will try pinning back the partition a see how she is then, may get one if she's not great
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You'll need a full width bar to go behind her if you are pinning back the partition at the rear. Otherwise she'll have nothing to stop her skinning her behind on the rear ramp.
 
I used a breast bar only and asked IW if this was ok. He said yes but as an IW dealer he couldnt reccomend it which was to cover IW really. My only worry would be if the clips failed and the ramp come down whilst in transit which I would think would be unlikely.
 
We used to take two horses, two dogs, three kids, a nanny and us on holiday to Exmoor every summer. We used one car for two of the kids and the nanny, and one witht he trailer for us and one child, it prevented fights that way.
The journey always took around 8 hours and provided you stop a couple of times, offer water or some very sloppy sugar beet water and widen the partition whilst stopped the horses travel fine.
I think some of the problems horses have in trailers is the narrowness of the partitions, so if you allow her plenty of room so she can move her legs out to balance she should be fine. Make sure she is tied to some string incase she does lose her balance, at least then it will break and she won't end up hanging by the rope.
We have cross tied one of ours that struggled, and that helped a lot.
If you do get time to practice try various widths on a short journey to see what she copes best with.
I would perhaps use bandages rather than boots too as boots can get so hot inside if used for hours on end, and carry sufficient water and hay incase there are hold ups.
 
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I used a breast bar only and asked IW if this was ok. He said yes but as an IW dealer he couldnt reccomend it which was to cover IW really. My only worry would be if the clips failed and the ramp come down whilst in transit which I would think would be unlikely.

[/ QUOTE ]Yes that is unlikely but I have seen a horse with a completely skinned bum, he was travelled without a rear bar and leant on the ramp (which is like a cheesegrater) and took all the skin off his rear end.
 
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