Horse suddenly won't stand up in trailer

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Clannad48

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Ok this may be a bit long but I think I need to give you all the information:

Today we went to take our mare out in the trailer, she loads fine and stands while all the bars etc are being locked into place, the ramp is shut and the other dors shut. As soon as I move off - at a snails pace she starts to crash around in the trailer. She seems to firstly stand on three legs, one of the front ones raised. Then she starts to 'motorbike corner' (sorry best description I can think of) her back legs, scrabbling as if to get her balance. This is whilst I am still on the yard on a flat surface travelling at about 2 miles an hour. We took her off, checked her over and loaded her again - she went on no problem, we locked all the doors and as soon as the trailer started to move she started the same thing again. The time previous to this we had had a few issues but once travelling on a straight road she was fine.

We have had the trailer a year and she has always travelled fine before, apart from initially having problems travelling on the right hand side, we then moved her to the left hand side, now she has problems travelling on either side.

The trailer is a7 yr old Ifor Williams 505R with a metal and rubber floor, I have had the trailer serviced a fortnight ago, everything is fine, floor, suspension, etc. The trailer has a complete clean bill of health.

Her back is fine, there are no leg problems, she is barefoot and has been for 4 years. Her last couple of outings in the trailer have been for 'fun' events, nothing that would make her think she was going somewhere nasty. We tried taking off her travelling boots incase they were slipping (or felt to her as if they were slipping) and have tried her with bandages and and without incase that was an issue.

At the yard today people came up with a couple of suggestions:

1. put in full width breach bars to see if this is the issue (will have to try and borrow some to try it), but daughter is terrified that if she has space to go down fully she will do herself some serious damage..
2. Give her a dose of instant calmer
3. Buy a lorry - not an option, we sold the last one as she didn't fit in it anymore and can't really afford to buy another one.

Someone also suggested ignoring the behaviour, that it was just a 'temper tantrum' but I have to go down a narrow road down a hill once out of the yard, it only takes a couple of minutes but I don't want to risk an accident or injury to the horse. It is single track with passing places.

Any suggestions, thoughts etc.
 
Not a problem, but usually she travels on her own - this has only happened on the last two outings. I am loath to try it with another horse on as when she scrabbles I can't be sure that either a) she may accidentally hit the other horse's legs or b) it cause problems for the other horse in the future
 
my horse did exactly the same in my Ifor 510. She is big (17hh) shire x and started to scrabble and push, scrabble and kick the side of the box or partition with one leg. It got worse gradually. I drive extremely carefully and slowly but do keep her in a country lane where every journey starts with quite a few changes of direction and slope. She pulled shoes off and cut herself while travelling having been ok when I first got her. She would sweat up as soon as loaded. I don't know why it got worse but I bought full width bars and she now travels alone. She travels perfectly again now. I tie her with a lead rope to both sides at the front to stop her turning round. She loves going out and practically loads herself.
 
A friends horse did exactly the same in an Ifor, as soon a she moved off he panicked. He was fine in my lorry and is now fine travelling in an Eqitrec, which faces backwards, she tried the backward travelling after advice on here. The only thing we could think of was, after I stood in the back of the Ifor and she drove round the yard was that there was a horrible vibration through the floor it felt very odd
 
alwaysbroke said:
A friends horse did exactly the same in an Ifor, as soon a she moved off he panicked. He was fine in my lorry and is now fine travelling in an Eqitrec, which faces backwards, she tried the backward travelling after advice on here. The only thing we could think of was, after I stood in the back of the Ifor and she drove round the yard was that there was a horrible vibration through the floor it felt very odd
Click to expand...

She used to be fine herringbone in our old lorry, we bought the trailer last October from a friend after checking that she had travelled fine in one before we had her. For a year now she has been fine, loads like a dream even today after the issue. I am at a loss as to why, going to try her with a set of full width bars (hoping to be able to borrow to try) to see - I really don't want to change the trailer unless it is absolutely necessary.
 
My old horse did this. He was fine to load, stand on the box etc, but started to panic the minute the car was started. We solved it by only travelling without the partition and cross tying. He used to stand in a sort of triangle front legs normal distance apart and back legs almost at either side of trailer. He did it in any type of trailer. He was better in a lorry.
 
I will start from the beginning .

After travelling well for a number of years, like yours loads fine she would stand happily until the trailer moved then she would throw herself against the partition.She would also walk out of the trailer calmly as if nothing had happened
We looked into a possible reason.

After asking on a forum we did the following.

1) Removed all boots , bandages etc
2) Travelled her on the inside
3) Moved the back part of the partition.
4) Spoke to Nupafeed about their calmer.
5) Did not tie her up.
6) Had my Chiropractor out to see her.

1) By removing all boots etc we took away any thing that may be irritating her.
2) Why travelling her on the inside worked I do not know
3) By moving the back part of the partition it gave her more space for her to spread her back legs.
4) As below
5) By leaving her untied she could look around and again she did not feel restricted .

Horses can loss magnesium and sodium while travelling and as both are needed for muscle function it seemed only right that we replaced them.

We stared to give her Nupafeed feed calmer on a regular bases plus an instant syringe full at least an hour before travelling her.

I started by leaving the top door open ,having someone in the trailer with her and just starting the engine. This I did everyday for a week. The second week I allowed the trailer and carto just roll forward and the reversed it, again this was done for a week. Slowly we moved the car and trailer so that we were moving .

I had three weeks before I was due to take her down to Exmoor to compete "Endurance" a journey of over 100miles. Not only did I take her to the farriers but we competed in the Golden Horse Shoe (160km class) and completed the two days. I also took another horse down with me. This all happened last May 2011. Later in that year I took her to Wales ,again a long journey, we competed as part of the England squad at the Home Internationals.

I have kept her on the Nupafeed Calmer , giving her and instant one before travelling.
Here is their website http://www.nupafeed.co.uk/.

All this has worked for me.
 
I would remove the partition, and try a full length breast bar.

We had exactly the same problem with one of ours, it was terrifying to watch and he would loose hi sback end going around the gentlest of corners. As soon as we took the partition out he travelled fine. When un loading we would always find him standing diagonally, as obvioulsy helped him balance.

He was equally fine in a lorry, herringbone.
 
Thank you everyone, I now have some hope - we may have found someone who will let us borrow their full width bars to try - fingers crossed it works, I am also going to try the calmer and the slow approach suggested by paulineh. - not too sure about leaving her untied - so will probably try a fairly loose crosstie - she's a big girl and the thought of that size and weight moving around too much scares the bejasus out of me.
 
My old mare was the same, would walk up ramp on her own - as soon as the trailer moved, she tried to lie down. This after years of travelling in the trailer no problem.

We tried every position we could in the trailer including leaving her loose, facing the rear etc. In the end, we gave in and bought a wagon - she travelled in it perfectly either straight across or on the herringbone.

I thought my young mare was going to end up the same - she used to travel on the left hand side and had a trauma with going around right hand corners - think she felt she had nowhere to move her feet over to the left (as the wall was there) so she could balance as the turn commenced. We got over this by lots of slow travelling with her stalled on the rhs - she is now fine once again. We also found leaving the top door open to she could see out and get her bearing helped a lot. She was tied short so head could go out and wore a mesh mask so no problems with dust being kicked up etc.
 
My mare did this, one day was fine the next she went down and tore herself to bits in the trailer. I was over 100miles from home and had to leave the other horse behind as I had to strip out the trailer to get her home safely.

I eventually just travelled her with the full trailer and took no company with me.

S and D are great travellers together and fingers crossed they dont go the same way as I may have to invest in a wee 3.5t if it does as we take them both places and share the trailer so would be awkward to say the least.
 
I am really hoping that having a full width bar will help - we downsized from a lorry to the trailer as only having one horse to travel now - the costs of keeping the lorry was horrendous unfortunately it's not something I could contemplate as the lorry would have to be an automatic and there's not many of them around that are in our price range. I also bought the trailer from a friend after her horse had to be pts and she sold it to me because it would 'go to a good home'. I couldn't face telling her we had to sell it :-(
It's just so weird that this could happen suddenly as she has never had problems before. It seems to be one thing after another - we get the horse sound and ready for competing then she won't go in the trailer. Horses eh - you've got to love them
 
I know you said that the trailer has had a recent service, but it may be worth checking the tyre pressures and the balance when its on your tow vehicle just in case they have changed. Also worth hitching it up and have a couple of people stand in the back and tow it around the yard and see how they feel in it.
 
Grey Mare used to be a dream to travel.

With her previous owner she suddenly went down one day. Same trailer as she'd been happinly travelling in for years.

We've tried her in various trailers, including our very big one, but no joy.

The only way she will travel is either with full breast and breech bars, or in a lorry that has a herringbone layout.

It's a pain and means we'll have to buy a lorry if we want to travel Grey Mare with any other horse, but at least she still travels, so we'll gone with it.
 
I've come across this as well and it seems mostly to be mares that have this problem. I wondered if it was to do with their flanks becoming sensitive so they didn't like to touch/lean on the sides/partition? My friend's mare was fine once they took out the partitions and cross tied her.
I have bought a full width bb for my Ifor W 505 as my friend has a mare that was a nightmare to travel.
Another friends pony hitched a lift in my trailer up to my horses yard as we were going to a pleasure ride together. He went in the right side and travelled fine. Then we loaded my heavier horse on the right and pony in the left. We hadn't got out of the yard before friends pony fell down and was crashing about. I stopped and found pony laid with head hanging by his headcollar over the front bar and legs against the side of the trailer. We released his head thinking he'd get up but he was thrashing and banging his feet against the left side of the thrailer. I thought he'd broken his right leg that was under him:( . My boy bless him just stood looking shocked at him so we opened the front door and got my boy out and soon as pony saw him leaving, he jumped up on his feet and walked out!
I thought the change of side and the slight change of sideways levels coming out onto the lane had messed up his balance and orientation and he thought the trailer was on it's side so he was trying to stand up on the side, then realised which way up he was when he saw my boy walking away!
My friend bought her own trailer and always puts him in the right side and he has been fine ever since.
So I think maybe with mares it's to do with sensitive flanks and/or generally could be they get disorientated with balancing - bit like travel sickness in humans perhaps?
BTW I always tie up leaving a long rope, just so they can't get a leg over it but so there's more room for if they fall over - well they're not going anywhere so no need to tie up short:rolleyes:
 
I've had this problem recently with my mare too. I've had her 2 years and when I first picked her up she kicked the trailer the whole way home. She gradually got much better and I always made sure I drive slowly & carefully so I thought she just may not be used to traveling in a trailer. Recently she started it again, she was ok on straight roads but as soon as we reached windy roads or turns she would start, at one point it sounded as though she was bucking in the back! Even though she would happily walk on & off and never seemed distresed at the other end of the journey. She was ok with a companion but I mostly go out on my own anyway. I've now taken out the partitions & added a full width breast & breech bar and also put bandages on rather than boots, which she never seemed to like. It seems to have totally resolved and I have a much happier horse! Good luck with whatever you try, I know how frustrating and upsetting it can be!
 
Clannad48 said:
Ok this may be a bit long but I think I need to give you all the information:

Today we went to take our mare out in the trailer, she loads fine and stands while all the bars etc are being locked into place, the ramp is shut and the other dors shut. As soon as I move off - at a snails pace she starts to crash around in the trailer. She seems to firstly stand on three legs, one of the front ones raised. Then she starts to 'motorbike corner' (sorry best description I can think of) her back legs, scrabbling as if to get her balance. This is whilst I am still on the yard on a flat surface travelling at about 2 miles an hour. We took her off, checked her over and loaded her again - she went on no problem, we locked all the doors and as soon as the trailer started to move she started the same thing again. The time previous to this we had had a few issues but once travelling on a straight road she was fine.

We have had the trailer a year and she has always travelled fine before, apart from initially having problems travelling on the right hand side, we then moved her to the left hand side, now she has problems travelling on either side.

The trailer is a7 yr old Ifor Williams 505R with a metal and rubber floor, I have had the trailer serviced a fortnight ago, everything is fine, floor, suspension, etc. The trailer has a complete clean bill of health.

Her back is fine, there are no leg problems, she is barefoot and has been for 4 years. Her last couple of outings in the trailer have been for 'fun' events, nothing that would make her think she was going somewhere nasty. We tried taking off her travelling boots incase they were slipping (or felt to her as if they were slipping) and have tried her with bandages and and without incase that was an issue.

At the yard today people came up with a couple of suggestions:

1. put in full width breach bars to see if this is the issue (will have to try and borrow some to try it), but daughter is terrified that if she has space to go down fully she will do herself some serious damage..
2. Give her a dose of instant calmer
3. Buy a lorry - not an option, we sold the last one as she didn't fit in it anymore and can't really afford to buy another one.

Someone also suggested ignoring the behaviour, that it was just a 'temper tantrum' but I have to go down a narrow road down a hill once out of the yard, it only takes a couple of minutes but I don't want to risk an accident or injury to the horse. It is single track with passing places.

Any suggestions, thoughts etc.
Click to expand...

Yes Don't put her in a trailer.
 
supagran said:
May be completely off track, but have you checked the tyre pressures? One of ours travels badly when the pressures are out.
Click to expand...

I think I will take the air compressor down to the yard tomorrow just to check, but I am sure they were done at the service,

With all the helpful comments I think I am going to make a list of things to try one by one - looks like a busy and possibly expensive week.

Many thanks for all the suggestions (bar one) and the advice given. It is much appreciated. I will update for those interested.
 
Clannard48 Do not worry lots of horses do this, I am on my second one, my mare travelled for 2 years in an ifor 505 then started scrabbling, so i just put in a breech bar at the front and travel her with no partition, i now travel all my horses like this, i did buy an ifor 510 to get more room but made no difference, so they all travel happily without partition and if i need to take two i still travel with no partition and all is well. I am sure this will sort your problem, your mare will not throw herself to the floor, I seriously doubt anyway
 
My friend had a horse that travelled fine for years in an Ifor then suddenly one day she started struggling to stand up and would be all sweated up by the time she got to the destination. It was really scary the trailer was rocking from side to side whilst travelling. It turned out her horse had got a problem developing in her feet which was effecting her balance. She solved the problem by getting a bar to go acrss the front and took the partition out which allowed the horse more room to put its feet to help it balance.
 
Personally if your only travelling one horse hwy have the partitions in in the first place :) I love being able to takc up and groom and plait up in the trailer with the extra space this gives you :)
 
Yes this has been an added bonus of having no partition for me too - especially in this lovely British summer we are having!
 
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