Horse no longer travels

[Karinadunlop]

My horse has recently had all his shoes taken off due to him needing to go to vets for mri. We tried to travel him to vets today and his back legs were sliding under him and he was trying to sit down. We have had him 5 years and he’s travelled like an absolute dream up until today. Could it be due to his shoes been taken off?

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

It could be that or it could be whatever is going on with him that is possibly making travelling uncomfortable, I assume the mri is for a lameness issue?

Just before my horse went lame he started to lean back on his bum when he was in the horsebox, when they start things like this it's often an indication of discomfort.

 

[Karinadunlop]

All my horses travel like angels, so he’s never had a bad experience and always good to travel alone like he was today. Yeah it’s for a lameness issue. That’s exactly what he’s doing in the box is leaning on his bum so then his legs slide under him and he falls. It’s not like him at all

 

[Leah3horses]

They actually have a lot more grip without shoes , unfortunately it sounds like something more serious, it's hard work for them to balance in moving transport , can be impossible if there is pain or weakness ..hope they can get to the bottom of it quickly for you

 

[brighteyes]

This often happens when there are issues behind - for an interim resolution, travel the horse without a partition. If in a trailer, removing the rear half of the partition (or tying it back) might suffice.

 

[Birker2020]

My horse has recently had all his shoes taken off due to him needing to go to vets for mri. We tried to travel him to vets today and his back legs were sliding under him and he was trying to sit down. We have had him 5 years and he’s travelled like an absolute dream up until today. Could it be due to his shoes been taken off?

Do you have rubber matting in your trailer? It might be that he can't get a grip on the floor.

 

[HashRouge]

Being unshod shouldn't make them slip in the trailer. My two haven't been shod for years but they've travelled fine when they've needed to (we don't do it often!).

 

[Loubidy]

It's probably less of a grip issue and more balance from being used to shoes. I always travel with a small bed of soaked pellets so that if it gets hot its not slidey.

 

[L&M]

Have you tried putting bedding down? My new lorry had never had a horse in it and consequently the mats were unworn - I noticed both horses slipping and scrambling, whereas in the old lorry with worn in mats, never had an issue. But once I put some shavings down, never heard them move and back to normal.

Also I know my horse finds not having shoes on hard and tends to slip more without, I know most people would say the opposite, but if it was my horse I would suspect the change may have an affect initially.

Other than that can only echo what others have said by moving partitions.....good luck with the vets.

 

[Birker2020]

Being unshod shouldn't make them slip in the trailer. My two haven't been shod for years but they've travelled fine when they've needed to (we don't do it often!).

Many years ago my first horse was shod but slipped in the trailer when we first had it as it was a wooden floor and no rubber matting down so we installed matting, moved the breast bar forward and opened up the trailer by permanently changing the partition configuration to 3/4 v 1/4 and he was fine.

 

[MagicMelon]

Maybe his balance feels different but the shoes being taken off shouldnt make him slip. Ive had 2 horses who travelled perfectly for years then suddenly they began leaning on the partition so heavily they'd scrabble about falling down, one would even start doing this as soon as he was loaded before we even started moving. With both horses I took out the rear half of the partition and had a full length bar made for across the back for safety. It sorted them immediately. Its like something happened to them to upset their balance and they needed extra space to spread out their back legs. No idea what caused it as this was 2 different horses years apart and in different trailers.

 

[Goldenstar]

I don’t it’s anything to do with the lack of shoes .
Its pain that makes horses do this .
Tell the vet about this he may do better with pain relief before travel .

 

[Labaire]

Yep, agree with GS-my old horse always travelled superbly-until he had a stifle issue.