Horse pawing in trailer on way home!

Bryndu

Bryndu

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Hi all....
I am hoping for some suggestions for my horse and her travel issues....

On the way to anywhere...she travels well....no sweating....has a lovely day....enjoys herself......but....

As soon as I close the ramp to come home.....hissy fit!

She paws the ground constantly on the way home....if I have to stop at traffic lights....I try and hide as people look around at the noise! I have used a trailer cam and she stands still but continuously paws...only with the near fore...she doesn't try to fall over or jump around.....and when we turn at the top of the lane...she gets faster..lol ;)

Does anyone have any suggestions please...it is almost like she is furious to have left the party!

Thanks in anticipation...

Bryndu
 
Sounds like she isn't comfortable somehow. Perhaps she needs a wee as suggested. What do you put on her legs? Might something be itching or irritating if you have hosed down her legs or put gel on or something, compared to dry legs on the way out? Or just bandaged / padded her whilst she is warm?

Also check the floor of the trailer - the repeated concussion might cause issues - you wouldn't want her to paw her way through it one day!
 
Agree it's worth checking if there is anything different on the way home that might be irritating her. My friend's horse does it, it's worse if it's past dinner time and he wants his tea. He did it so badly returning home from a clinic that we had to pull into the services and fetch him some carrots and apples to eat! It's not something she's ever been able to sort out, just has to put up with it. Would be a bit worrying though about damaging herself or your trailer floor. Maybe try a calmer?
 
Thanks for the replies....and in a wired way I am glad I am not alone :) Hopefully she will grow out of it.....

My trailer is brand new with rubber matting on Ali.....and as she is unshod.....she hasn't damaged the floor...so hopefully not herself either....

Yesterday...I snuck around the back to peer in over the back as she was doing it......and it SO looked like a temper tantrum...lol.....and when I said 'Oi...what do you think you are doing?'....her reaction was priceless...she reverted to a total angel....looking around at me like it was another horse that did it...lol

Bryndu
 
Hi again....

No to the wee.....she doesnt have one when we get back :)
No to the bandages.....she doesnt wear them as she gets a bit hot...I think she is just a muppet.......thank you all so much .
Bryndu
 
My horse does this but only when I've just arrived back at the yard. I have to manoeuvre the trailer forwards and back to get into position to unload and she just can't wait! So I suspect it is anticipation causing it.
 
My horse also does this but always only on the way home, going to a venue he stands like a rock eating and looking around . but on the way home usually when we are really close to home say 5 minutes away and have to stop at some traffic lights or wait at a junction then he starts getting impatient again, he seems to know the way... and where we are ??
i have been trying to make him wait a few minutes more each time before unloading him and it is working slowly, but equally I don't want him hurting himself. he always unloads fine comes down the ramp very calmly, so I don't think it is because he wants to get out or feels claustrophobic
oddly, he doesn't do it with another horse in there, so I think it is may be just impatience, i have bought a stable type mirror to fit in the trailer to see if that helps, so will report back
he can also get really stressy and fidgety when he would rather be doing something else, waiting to get turned out etc, so i think it is a in his nature to be a bit naughty and stressy when he isn't getting his own way.

I can't reload him and leave him on the trailer yet at a show he fidgets and paws and sweats up, but i can leave him double tied to trailer for hours and he is happy to just eat, watch the world go by and chill !!
 
My gelding started doing this after 10 years of problem-free travel. Just like that one day.
He can stand on the box for hours and hours, but once we hit the road home, he kicks off. After hunting it gets so bad he turns the pawing into rearing and has ended up on the breast bar. No more hunting for now.

It turns out there are two things he really wants = a wee and a roll.

After eventing he will roll on the showground and then he's mostly happy but for many venues that's not an option (and sometimes he doesn't do it even if it is an option). He will only wee when he feels like it but never in the box even when he's desperate.

I have now removed the partition when he is on his own so he can't really lean on anything and needs all legs (or at least 3!) to balance. I also give him bland hay for the way there and a big surprise haylage net for the way back. Magically this bribes into being mostly quiet, but usually the last ten minutes (when we hit a specific road) he kicks off. Get to the yard and open up and he munches his net and has no intention of unloading ... When I turn him out after travelling he rolls for minutes on end, flybucks, rears, then tries to get back on for more haylage. He is a thug!

Perhaps some of those things can help you; if not, you have my sympathy as it is stressful!
 
i`ve had horses that paw, but we have a stallion who kicks and he kicks, with the hinds, boom boom bloomin boom! all the way there and sometimes back, would love a solution to that one, but i think he is just excited!
 
tristar said:
i`ve had horses that paw, but we have a stallion who kicks and he kicks, with the hinds, boom boom bloomin boom! all the way there and sometimes back, would love a solution to that one, but i think he is just excited!
Click to expand...

I have to say, I kind of prefer the lorries that have the living in between the horse and the driver, so if they do bash it's not so stressful. Doesn't help in terms of the horse continuing to do it, but when they kick behind my head, I hate it, makes me feel like they're gonna come through. Luckily my boy doesn't do this but my friend's horse walloped the bulkhead and damaged it. Was horrid to listen to it and can't be good for his legs.

I did post about that and some people hobble (as a last resort) but fortunately I didn't need to grapple with that as I just never took him again!
 
Thanks again folks for you thoughts....

She stands good as gold at the comps....it is only when I close the front top door...that it all starts....
When we get home and I open the door she stands like a rock again....

Not sure I would want to try the hobbles....can see all types of accidents with that...

She doesn't stress at all...just a bit of a temper tantrum I fear...but I like the mirror idea :)

Bryndu
 
Hi Tristar..
I have not had this issue but a friend did....
She moved the partition in the lorry (not sure if you have a trailer?) so that it was a big angle and her horse couldn't reach the side of the lorry to kick....might help?

Bryndu
 
Ok...update on the trailer pawing...

Off to a comp and I put a trailer cam in to see what she was doing...
The way there and back she was attacking the window by her head...
Sooooo....I covered the windows..there is one on the other side too.....and took her out again the next day.....

No pawing!
Maybe it was a type of motion dislike!..Travelled still and arrived chilled...travelled home the same :)

Bryndu
 
Bryndu said:
Ok...update on the trailer pawing...

Off to a comp and I put a trailer cam in to see what she was doing...
The way there and back she was attacking the window by her head...
Sooooo....I covered the windows..there is one on the other side too.....and took her out again the next day.....

No pawing!
Maybe it was a type of motion dislike!..Travelled still and arrived chilled...travelled home the same :)

Bryndu
Click to expand...

That's really interesting, shows the value of a trailer cam. Will be interesting to see if it is a permanent fix, I hope so for your sake.
 
You may have fixed it (hope so!) but I read a really interesting article on FB the other day from Richard Maxwell. It was regarding horses that were difficult to load at a competition but not at home; and it was suggested that a great many of these horses suffered tension. Paraphrasing wildly, but essentially the work at the competition gave them a level of pain or discomfort that made the idea of a journey home seem very unpalatable. Could be something, could be nothing; but one to think about maybe? FWIW it wasn't a suggestion that these horses were lame or anything like that, just that they were perhaps at a stage of development where the work sometimes caused discomfort.
 
Interesting....now_loves_mares....

My horse takes me in to the trailer.....and out....and goes to sleep in between classes....so hopefully she is not a stressed horse.

Interestingly......on her last outing where she was not banging on the way there and arrived relaxed....she gave me some of her best work :)

Bryndu
 
An update on the trailer issues...

Sadly the problem was not solved and got worse...so no more trips out.

Bryndu
 
Bryndu said:
An update on the trailer issues...

Sadly the problem was not solved and got worse...so no more trips out.

Bryndu
Click to expand...

I'm confused, just because my horse pawed the trailer i wouldn't stop taking him/her out? My gelding use to rear over the bar then sit there, but the more and more i travelled him the better hes got. Both my geldings do the same on the way home, paw paw paw when we stop and occassionally mini rears and only on the way back. No stress looking at them either. Maybe its excitment to get home and that they're tired, its always worse the harder they have worked s had them fully xrayed and physio out, no problems. Hearing how many people experiance the same issue i just took it as a very regular thing to happen.. I wouldn't ever stop travelling them because of it though, main point of owning mine is to get out and do things :-)
 
If it's any consolation, the diva is out every weekend and spends the whole of the journey there hammering hell with her front leg out of my divide between the horse area and the jockey area at the back. And I mean hammering.

The way home she intersperses the hammering with occasional bites of hay.

She is a bad traveller, she really hates it. She gets very worked up when she realises the wagon has arrived and although she goes on fine, she's not happy about it!
But that's life, she has to travel. If she needed emergency veterinary treatment at a hospital she'd have to travel. So she gets chucked in and made to get on with it.
 
Hi all...
I know this is an old thread now......but just a quick update...

My horse travels like a dream to wherever...but on the way back...she paws and stamps and rocks backwards and forwards to the stage that today the trailer moved and w nearly hit a lorry :( she lurches back and fore every now and then and the whole rig is pushed forward....
Today when we got home....only an hour.....plastered in sweat when I opened the trailer......sigh....cool as you like on the way there.
Bryndu
 
I think I would try some circular routes, so she is both coming and going. Then drive to a show, and back, not even putting the ramp down. And there and back, several times if the show is close enough.

Then when she has cracked that take her to stand in the box park with ramp down, but not offloading, back and forwards.

Then increasing the time at the show.

I would also feed at the show, plentiful hay so she is not hungry. Also water. I also bed down thickly so if the horse needs to wee she can. Once home I would leave her on for at least an hour. Then maybe go for another drive.

I guess I would make it so whichever way the trailer is heading it is of no consequence before I actually tried competing.

If there is likely to be an accident worth the trailer moving about though, I would switch to a larger vehicle.

In a larger vehicle I would also travel in the living so I could correct her every time she paws. I would *not do that in a trailer. I would make her move side to side each time she thought about moving, she can move her feet to my tune not hers.

I would also be wary that an issue was not forming in any joints. A slight issue can make travelling uncomfortable. A slight owchie can feel worse IMO when she is tired.
 
Does she eat while at a show? My horse sweated up travelling when her ulcers were at their worst. It might be that the stress, or not eating could be causing pain. You could try giving a couple of handfuls of chaff before loading to go home.

Also check the trailer floor and tyre pressures.
 
Thank you Red-1,

Re the driving back and fore to the show....the going is ok....it it seems to be leaving the show that is the problem...l have done everything else you suggested...apart from the other transport....as I don't have any other and a lorry is not an option. She goes front to back...not side to side and there is totally no scrabbling....she can do all this at slow/faster speeds or on corners.
Thank you for taking the time.
Bryndu
 
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