Horse didn't travel well today in trailer any suggestions welcome!

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juliette

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I have a fairly new horse. Today we went to our 3rd pleasure ride in 2 months. The first we travelled to in a friends lorry. The last one and this one in a friends trailer.

Basically despite travelling well last time in the trailer, this time he seemed to be really struggling when we were going around roundabouts and bends to the right in the road. Banging around and he has wrecked the brushing boots he was wearing to travel and managed to cut above the hoof, just where the brushing boots end. He was not being naughty, I was watching him, on the straight road he was perfect, it was as though he was struggling to balance on the corners. My friend was driving really carefully and slowly so it wasn't that that caused the issue. The floor of the trailer was not wet, he was dressed exactly as he was on the previous journey where he was fine. We even stopped mid journey for me to check him as we felt something must be wrong - but nothing I could see..........

He has lost a little bit of weight recently on his back end. I have upped his feed and haylage at night as this weight loss co-incides with him changing from being in part of the paddock on his own to being in with the rest of the herd (we had him separate for a few months when he first arrived, but herd leader destroyed the electric fence when he decided my horse should be in with the rest of the herd!). We have no grass and are feeding haylage, so he may be getting less now and is certainly moving around more, as he was very sedentary when he was on his own.

Another freind has suggested that this problem may be caused by the weight loss on the back end and thinks I need to feed him up a bit and cross tie him to travel so he learns to balance better. It has also been suggested I should take him on lots of very short journeys as practice.

Do you agree or do you have any other suggestions?

Am wondering whether i should buy some travel boots, but in the past have always avoided them as they made my previous horse too hot and bothered and he found them worrying and travelled much better naked, but he was a hairy cob so I didn't worry so much about his legs.
 
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I have a mare like this, the answer for her was a single breast bar so that she had the whole trailer to herself and could arrange herself in the best position, prior to that I swear I thought she was going to go over a few times, but once I got a single breast bar put in never heard a thing out of her even driving through the centre of a busy round about-y town.

She doesn't load well, but that's another story, once she is on though, not a peep out of her.
 
Oh heck! That means me buying my own trailer skint1 and I've just had to invest in a new saddle. Maybe next year for that I think or my husband will have a heart attack! He's not remotely horsey and it's been a very expensive 6 months as I've retired my old cob, bought a new horse and saddle, bridle, rugs, etc etc etc etc...........

seriously though, thanks for the feedback, I will have to look into hiring a trailer that I can use by myself.
 
A few things to consider

The weight loss behind - could be a symptom of an uncomfortable back - it is known that horses with bad backs don't travel well in floats. For this a visit by a chiro might help

Floor surface - though rubber flooring is good it is evil once there is a dropping or someone has a pee! With bad travellers I've always put down a deep layer of straw - a whole bale for the float, preferably straw that has been used (clean) as it mats well. Makes them feel more secure.

My mare hates travelling when she can see what is going on outside - I travel her with the blinds down in my truck - she travels facing backwards and there is a window in the back - blinds up and she travels badly. blind down and she travels well.

Definately need good protection all around - I'd bandage - sew two together to get a good length and boot over. Boots alone I find can slide down. Bell boots all round protect sensitive coronary bands.

Some people also saw that the horse may travel best on the left side of the trailer.

Hope this helps - its very traumatic hearing the scrabling behind you.
 
Before you do that you might want to trial it and see if that helps!

Tnavas also raises a good point about the weight loss behind, my mare, as it turns out, had a misaligned pelvis (though no weight loss behind)

I also agree about using straw/shavings.

Also, maybe lose the travel boots, I don't think they really help. For our horses we do bandaging/bellboots, or, I hope this won't be too controversial, bell boots and brushing boots. Or sort of quilted lightweight wraps that I got from ebay. My friend's mare (also a scrambler) improved a heck of a lot when she got rid of the travel boots
 
Tnavas thanks that's food for thought. I have just bought a new saddle as he has changed shape since I got him. I have the vet out tomorrow for teeth so will ask him to have a feel of his back and see if he thinks he needs that done.

I did have shavings down on the floor of the trailer and it was not wet as he did not pee (!).

Bandaging sounds like a good idea and will try that next time and buy some bell boots.

He was travelling on the left as his friend is heavier and was therefore on the right. To be honest he is always going to be on the left in company as he is lighter than all the horses i am likely to travel with.

Thanks for your suggestions.
 
While shavings may sop up some of the wet the straw wraps itself around legs and they seem to feel more secure.

Hope you find out the cause as it's very upsetting for you and the horse.
 
juliette said:
He was travelling on the left as his friend is heavier and was therefore on the right. To be honest he is always going to be on the left in company as he is lighter than all the horses i am likely to travel with.
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My mare could not tolerate travelling kerbside - she would literally fall down everytime. Apparently this is not uncommon a horse transporter informed me as the kerbside ride is very different to driverside. So try driverside would be my advice. It may be that simple.
 
i know you're supposed to travel the heaviest horse on the inside but if horse is really stressing out i'd try him on the inside and see how he goes. I agree with what someone further said about travelling without the partition, I had a mare like that who would bang and clatter all over until we took the partition out. I definitely wouldnt recommend what your friend suggested of cross tying to make him learn how to balance it wont teach him how to balance just probably make him fall over if he cant move his head to balance. I do however cross tie when not using a partition but its not so tight as to make them stay in one place its just to prevent them from turning around.
 
What is the divider like? If it goes down to the floor, even a short way, they cannot spread their forelegs.......
 
Agree with the kerbside poster. My horse was given a lift in a trailer exactly the same as mine but was put on the kerbside. He struggled to stay up especially when going round roundabouts and nearly gave me a heart attack when he went down and didn't get up (I was driving behind). Thankfully he was OK but now I refuse to let him go kerbside. However, also know of an RDA pony who now has to travel on his own without a partition as he just couldn't keep his balance if he had to travel with one.
 
how is he standing when you go into the trailer (if quick enough)? after a journey.

my horse was a bit unbalanced on one journey (very unusual with him) and when i looked in on him after stopping he wasn't spreading his legs, he was just stood as if he was stood in the stable.
every other time since then (and before) he spreads his front and back legs and kind of braces himself, so he is obviously balanced enough.
my ponies are the same, one of them is a great traveller and is always spread eagled. the other isn't a great traveller but again stands like he's just in the stable.
 
hello, I used to have a horse that did this just on bends in one direction and roundabouts - exactly the same, and did lots of asking around and research on it, turns out it is actually quite common. Unfortunately also hard to retrain!! the problem seems to come, wiht most of them, from not having enough room to spread their back legs - so instead of getting a single breast bar, what can work is to tie the partition right over to one side so that they have a normal amount of room infront but double the space behind. means you can only travel on your own though :-(. Mine used to travel beautifully like that. Interestingly, he was also fine in trailers where the partition only goes halfway to the floor, and the bottom half is a movable rubber flap if you see what I mean. This was the only way to get him to travel with another horse - but that will depend on the horse. These are fairly consistent with all the owners i spoke to who had horses who did this. Most also travel fine in a lorry (sudeways facing). Some said their horses were ok back-wads facing thought I didn't have the chance to try this (and not a practical solution for you as you already have a trailer!).

I always wanted to try one of the monty roberts carpet rugs that MR uses on racehorses who do this in starting stalls, since it seems to happen when they feel the side of the trailer on thier right side - so if you could block off that feeling it might help!

good luck.
 
When you take your horse on those short journeys, arrange it so there is something the horse enjoys when it arrives. Perhaps unload into a field of fresh grass, provide hard feed outside the trailer immediately after unloading, etc. Animals are very good at anticipating and if it realises that travelling results in a happy outcome, it should relieve some of the anxiety.

As I am sure you know, going around corners, braking and accelerating, all exert pressures on the animal inside the trailer, so do all of those things slowly. Once on the straight, it doesn't matter how fast you go (in theory!) as few or no forces are being applied. Google Newton's Laws of Motion. These laws can also explain why some horses prefer facing backards. Braking is more savage than acceleration and horses are not designed to move backwards to resist the forward forces exerted by braking!
 
Try putting him on the other side! My friends mare can't stand on the left, she braces with her right hoof and for obvious reasons can't do this when she's on the left, she is the lighter one, but travels quietly on the right!
 
Update from yesterday!

Firstly thank you for all the suggestions, they are very much appreciated. To answer one of the questions raised, the trailer I am currently borrowing is an Ifor Williams, the divider does not go down to the floor - it's one of the ones that's flappy stuff at the bottom so he can spread his back and front legs if he chooses to!

We went for a little trip around the block today. Tried to keep a lot of stuff the same to assess what is causing the problem. So same rug, although all his brushing boots were drying on the washing line so I bandaged his back legs. Same trailer, same car to tow, same driver. (Who i have to say is excellent towing livestock, very smooth driver, gentle slowing for corners, junctions etc, no sharp breaking or rough gear changes etc)

We loaded him on the right side today (different to normal) and tied up as usual. Went for a drive of approx 3 miles, he was not quite as bad as yesterday but still banging around a bit. We then stopped and looked in the trailer, he was standing well at the front with legs spread apart, but back legs not spread as well. We then tried the suggestion another friend had made, tied a 2nd lead rope to the other side of the trailer. The improvement on the next 3 mile loop was quite dramatic, he seemed to be able to use the extra support to keep his balance.

Have decided to practice as much as I can in the coming weeks on this little 3mile loop with the hope that he will get happier with the whole process and learn to stand appropriately!

I am a little restricted at the moment as this is a borrowed trailer as i don't own one and can't buy one currently. I do all my travelling with a friend so we do need to go 2 up, and one of her horses is a good 100kg heavier than mine, so if we can't get him happy travelling kerbside it is going to really affect what I can do with him this year.

Once again, thank you everyone, you have been most helpful!!
 
I am a bit skeptical about the 'flappy stuff' I don't think that would encourage the horse to spread his legs!! How about a trial trip with no divider??
 
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