horse still falling over

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Beccahh

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In a recent post i explained my normally very happy to travel anywhere horse had fallen in the trailer resulting in him on boxrest for a week hes now fully recovered.So i planned to take him out showjumping we took ideas from people .. used bandages instead of boots a extreamly light dusting of shavings and his leadrope tighter this time we didnt even make it out of the yard.. he had a bit of a stop on the ramp but he always does and then walked on he kicked out when we put the ramps up this isnt like im but he was munching hay all happy as we drove of we could feel him next min he hit the deck and me and my friends helped him up and got him out he hadnt been in there more than 5mins and looked like i had bathed him he was dripping in sweat.Its also recently came to light my trailer isnt very horse friendly 2horses have fallen in it one refused to load eventually and another kicked out so much it broke all the lighting and ripped its shoe off but maths travelled in it a fair few times and its only these 2 times hes fallen but apparently others have done this. its been checked every year by ifor williams and its passed everytime even this year i spoke to the lady who sold it to us before i knew about the other horses and she said he just needs to get used to the trailer ( i had a lorry before this and he was a saint in it) but i refuse to practice in it as he may stop loading all together.
if you have got to this far well done haha
im asking for help what do i do? get the vet? sell the trailer? im kinda stuck as i cant really borrow anyone elses =/
 
He's obviously not happy at all in the trailer. Some horses just wont be happy travelling in them and as hes had a nasty experience he wont forget it easily. Its good that you only got 5mins into your journey, think what would have had happened had you gone further and were on somewhere like a motorway. Its not worth putting your horse through it, the stress could bring on colic etc or worse, or the trailer causing an accident if you were travelling any faster. I wouldnt risk it, its not worth it.

Only thing you can do is give him a break and maybe try him in another trailer, or alternatively, sell the trailer and maybe go back to a horsebox.
 
What floor have you got in this trailer? How big horse (sorry didn't read previous thread) and which ifor model???

I personally would try to get him first off. on a journey (short round the block) in the lorry again, try to get his confidence back in something he was confident in previously. Once he's done this and happy, I'd then look at what to do with regard to the trailer, some horses just won't travel facing forwards, after being used to herringbone in a box. You can try with things like taking out the partition and giving him the whole space preferably with a solid breast bar. With how to get his confidence in the trailer baby steps may be needed, try just boxing him (with ramps up) and staying on the yard, next step once he's happy with this, is litterally just drive within the yard a few metres, again stop. Next session a little longer, and build it up.

It's either a confidence issue due to the fall, or it's a confidence issue about travelling forwards, either way you have to step back to where he is comfortable and work from there.

Another consideration if it doesn't work out with this trailer and you can't go for a box is richardson trailers do a rear facing trailer.
 
A friend of mine had a similar problem recently - horse didn't fall over but was scrambling about as if had no balance. This horse always travelled fine.Would come out at other end lathered in sweat. I had been towing her trailer with both our horses in it and it was awful the amount of movement, so when we pulled into my lane, she got in back to see what was happening - my horse was fine (on outside of trailer) but her horse was very stressed and struggling to stay on his feet. Started to wonder if there was a problem with his back or something, resulting in a balance problem.

Luckily she took trailer to the IW dealer who said that if you travel your horse on same side all the time it can cause the suspension to jam on - it was very noticeable when turning a corner, but also did it on the straight. Do you have partitions in so your horse is always on one side of the trailer? I would get dealer to look at it again as our local dealer knew what it was straight away, as soon as she described the problem.

I have full width bars in my IW trailer and have never had a problem, probably because weight is distributed better.
 
Hi,
Just wanted to share a similar thing that happened to someone I know a good few years ago.
She sold her old IW and replaced it with a new one. The new one had the aluminium floor and her horse fell over each time she travelled it. It was fine in her old IW with a wooden floor. She asked her IW dealer who said it coudnt be the floor but she was convinced and fitted a wooden floor over the top and her horse travelled fine again.
Apparantly some horses dont like the 'play' in the ali floors, just a thought.
 
My horse will collapse against closed ramp and try to scramble up the side wall if we travel him on the left. Put him on the right and he is absolutely fine.
It is a terrifying experience and you may well decide that a trailer is not for your horse.
 
if the partion was in try taking it out and use a single long bar back and front. A paper supported this don't know author but it is due to the way horses eyes work and can start at any time even in previously good travellers. Good luck
 
i think that you have the answer yourself when he travels well in a lorry but NOT a trailer. I have a mare who is okay in a lorry with a carefull driver but will not travel in a trailer. On the 2 occasions i tried she ended up back at the yard within 20 mins, once with a demolished partition and once with a swollen leg.All is happy now we have a lorry (HERRINGBONE)
 
hey iv got the ifor williams hb 505 is that the small one ? its not the new model i know that maths 15hh and a welsh d the floor is aliminum i refuse to ever ever have wooden i whitnessed a pony go through a floor on the moterway and then my other horse had a bit of the floor at the back go through after i was told the floor had been checked ¬¬ stupid people but i know aslong as the floors checked it wont rott but its stuck in my head :( i will try those ideas and see if i can get hold of someone with a rear facing box
i cant get hold of a lorry at the mo but we have a look around :) thanks for the ideas
 
Definitely travel without a partition if it is scrabbling. The horse needs to spread it's feet and find it's own balance.

Consider a trailer camera so you can monitor the horse and stop before it gets into problems.

But can't emphasize enough, try without partition!!!!
 
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