Horse Lying Down in Trailer

MrsMozart

MrsMozart

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Grey Mare likes to travel - the ramp has to be down before she sees the trailer or she'd be climbing in over it! :D

The thing is, the last two times her previous owner travelled her with another horse in a trailer, GM lay down! :eek:

Apparently she will travel okay in a horse box with other horses in it.

I'm wondering what to do for the best.

We have a large trailer, but no lorry. It doesn't have a breach bar so I can't travel her on her own in it. I'd like to be able to take her with another horse, but am wary!

Hugh (the Huge Trailer) has a partition that goes almost to the floor. I was wondering, if I load the other side with bales of hay, so there are no gaps/spaces at all, and tried taking her just a short way down the drive, would that be okay or be too scary/risky?

We're looking at getting a lorry, but that won't be until next year some time.

Thoughts folks?
 
i had this problem with my lad he will run in(literally) and doest sweat up or anything but turned out to be a result of feeling unstable. Its fine if you can afford tot travel them by themselves but basically its likely she hasnt had a huge amount of travelling and is still finding her feet also explains why she is more secure when hemmed in by others and feels more supported. - this was the case with mine anyway - we travelled him as much as we could in a trailer with no partition and this practice he hasnt lain down since so good luck, if possible i would just try it with no partition beg borrow steal breach bar!!
 
Hm. Interesting. Thank you :) :)

She used to travel a fair bit with others in the trailer (it's the one the previous owner has had for a number of years, so no change there).

She travels with no partition perfectly well.

I'll have to get a full breach bar, though it's a pity that I can't take two neds places.
 
My mare can only travel in a trailer on her own, when I got a trailer CCTV it was completely obvious that she needs to really spread her back legs and ideally likes to travel on an angle - with one half of the back doors closed so she can't see the horrible lorries when then get close up behind.

However, in your situation my advice is

1. Get a trailer CCTV. It will really give you confidence and find a way to travel her safely.

2. Until you get a single breach bar, if you can take out the back half of the parition (if you can) and do a trail run. I suspect that will work OK but if you do a couple of small trail journeys it will help her confidence as well.

Oh, the joys of travelling horses!!!
 
MrsMozart said:
Hm. Interesting. Thank you :) :)

She used to travel a fair bit with others in the trailer (it's the one the previous owner has had for a number of years, so no change there).

She travels with no partition perfectly well.

I'll have to get a full breach bar, though it's a pity that I can't take two neds places.
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Just re-read that...

Hope it came across right! I have a cold and my brain is addled (got lost on the way to Birmingham today - a route I've done hundreds of times, and to add insult to injury, went left onto the M6 instead of right and had to go all the way round coming home!).

Enough of my woffle. Just didn't want it to sound as abrupt as I think it did :eek::rolleyes:
 
no no!! haha not at all anyway if u have ay more qs do pm we have spent a lot of time researching it etc to make sure we weren't missing something significant but yes i imagine inability to balance is the biggest thing for her, let u know how u get on but i would recommend lots of practice
 
I had a mare that did the same and the reason was that she liked to brace her front feet wide apart, which she cannot do with a full partition.
Travelling in a lorry sideways she was fine in a small space head on, as in a trailer she needed more room.

You say that you do not have a breech bar - that is the bar that goes across the back -do you mean a chest bar? if so then you need to get one made up so they have something to go into should you stop short.

I would get a single bar running from the chest bar to the back rather than a full partition - that worked with my mare because she could still brace her front legs.
 
Thank you LM :D. I may well do! :D

F49, sorry, I always call the chest bar the breach bar :rolleyes: :D. We're having all new partion and bars made, which will include full width bars :D

If I have a single bar made (front to back), won't that allow GM's legs to interfere with the horse next to her?

The bit we can't figure out is why she used to be fine travelling in the trailer with another horse, then just suddenly wasn't.
 
MrsMozart said:
Hm. Interesting. Thank you :) :)

She used to travel a fair bit with others in the trailer (it's the one the previous owner has had for a number of years, so no change there).

She travels with no partition perfectly well.

I'll have to get a full breach bar, though it's a pity that I can't take two neds places.
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Are you on about breast bar (front) or breech bar (back)? To travel a horse in a double trailer with no partition/partition removed you need at least a single, full span BREAST bar.

Are you saying she lies down or falls down? Lies sounds like she is happy to sleep. Normally, they fail to steady themseves/balance and need more space - resolved by increasing the available space in the trailer, usually at the expense of travelling more than one at a time.

Reducing the amount of available space usually has quite the opposite effect and induces acute instability and balance problems.
 
Sorry, brain really is not working today (mental note not to post when under the influence of The Cold :eek:).

I was thinking the breast bar as being the minimum if we were to take the partition out. When we have the new sections made, we will have a full breast bar (front) and a full breech bar (back) made :D

When we borrow the previous owner's trailer, we use a breast bar and travel just GM in it.

I don't think it's known whether she lay down or fell down. No camera in the trailer. No idea why she changed from being fine to not being, why she suddenly needed more space/a different angle. She's been vet checked and is fine physically.
 
My friends horse used to be great to travel, would load himself and everything. Then something went wrong and started to loose his balance and fall. They found if they travelled him on the left instead of right that it helped for some reason. He now travels on his own without the partition but could be an idea?
 
I also travel mine without partition but with breast bar. He took a chunk out of fetlock in spring (we heard a most awful banging) and was raining winth sweat... yes raining, trailer was soaked. Poor baby.

Ever since we travel "loose" no problems, no sweat, even loads himself now (I just chuck leadrope over his neck, do up ramp and tie up through jockey door.

Have heard of friends hunter sleeping in trailer before, she doesn't even tie up. I don't dare do this but then again, I'm picking a foal up in Dec and she has to be travelled loose with no breast bar.
 
MiCsarah said:
My friends horse used to be great to travel, would load himself and everything. Then something went wrong and started to loose his balance and fall. They found if they travelled him on the left instead of right that it helped for some reason. He now travels on his own without the partition but could be an idea?
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^^^happens a lot. They panic and the frantic scrabbling and banging is horrendous to hear. GET THE PARTITION OUT. Once they have room to spread their legs, they are fine. My bet is your horse fell MrsM.
 
One of our mares was a nightmare in any lorry with solid partitions to the floor - she just couldn't keep her balance - when we travelled her in a lorry that had hard partitions to midway down and then a 'flappy' rubber partitions that went from midway down to the floor she was fine.

One day I decided to check on her and went into the back whilst we were moving (yes I know I shouldn't have). She was stood there happily munching on the hay - but stood at a really odd angle - it was if her legs were vertical from the shoulder to the knee then splayed outward from the knee down (oh how I wish I could draw a picture to show you). Her lower legs were pushing the flappy rubber partitions outwards.

Weirdly she was perfectly balanced and only ever stood that way in the lorry.
 
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MrsMozart said:
Aye, she could well have fallen the first time, then after that she panics when the partition is in.

That's a bit of a bobber.

Will have to keep fingers crossed for a lorry!
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LOL you say bobber too :D are you from lincolnshire???
 
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