Horse sweats up when traveling

Delama

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So I’m trialing a new horse as I want to progress myself. He’s perfect except for the fact that he doesn’t travel well. He doesn’t like getting in the trailer, but once he’s in, he seems fine. But I took him on a 10 min trip the other night and he was so sweaty and steamy when I took him out. He didn’t seem stressed and didn’t rush out when I opened the ramp, but was moving a bit while I was driving. Nothing crazy though. Is this something I could work on? He’s 13 years old so maybe he’s too old to change? I had the partitions in while traveling the other night, but other times I was just practicing loading I had no partition. He was the same loading with or without the partitions. I had trained my cob to practically load herself so this is very stressful. Any advice would be greatly appreciated 😊
 

hopscotch bandit

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I would make the partition as wide as you can to give him the chance to spread his legs to balance when towing. If you are towing with a large 4 x 4 you might not realise if you are going too fast (not suggesting you are) but this can make him unbalanced. Pretend you have a glass of water on your dash. It should still be full at your journeys end. Anticipating the traffic flow and changing down slowly before traffic lights or queues of traffic ahead and slowly pulling away is something that comes naturally to a trailer driver after a while.

I'd also try without a rug and see if it makes any difference as he might be getting overheated due to being too hot.

I would also leave the top back doors open (if you haven't already) and try him like that - I have a wedge of foam that I stick between my top front door and the frame which leaves a gap of about an inch to increase ventilation.

Finally I would try putting a radio in the trailer, just a little portable jobby on low volume - ideally a chat show or classical music as he might be worried about being on his own. If these things don't remedy the situatiion I'd look at getting a behaviourist in to see if they can work out what's going on.

It's usually a case that either horses won't load but when you get them on they are fine to travel (like my horse) or they will willingly go on but then won't travel well. It's just a process of elimination - sometimes it can take months, sometimes years and sometimes you might never get an answer.
 

Hormonal Filly

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Is he getting hot? I always travel mine without rugs unless its minus degrees, they don't sweat but will if they're rugged?

If he isn't getting stressed he could just be over heating.
 

Delama

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Thanks everyone. I loaded him again yesterday, and he still wasn't keen, but didn't take as long to go in. Then we went for a 10 min spin. I had a much lighter cooler on him. Back top doors open, front bar up and partitions out and horse cross tied, so he had the whole box to balance himself. He didn't move around at all while we were driving, except a little wobble when we first started off. But when I took him out, he was sweaty again. Just to note, the horse he shared the box with last time was not warm at all, so not sure thats the problem. But I think next time I won't but any rug/fleece/cooler on him.
I think he must be stressed travelling. We're making sure to drive slowly, especially around bends. The poor think. My heart is in my mouth the whole time. I really like this horse, but need to be able to travel 2hr distances or theres not point taking him. I wouldn't travel that distance regularly, but certainly every now and then. I'd do 45mins regularly though.
I'll persevere anyway, and just travel no more than 10 minutes for a while. And I'll put him in the box and just leave him a few mins without going anywhere and see if that helps too.
I really hope he relaxes a bit. Thanks again for the responses.
 

Cortez

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Some horses will sweat up due to stress when travelling, I have a young mare who is very hot anyway and she is just getting used to the whole going out process but she starts to sweat up as soon as she's on the trailer. I never rug horses to travel in any case, but certainly not if they are running hot. I'm also just taking my mare out for short trips at the moment, usually/hopefully they will settle and find it less stressful as time goes on.
 

hopscotch bandit

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Thanks everyone. I loaded him again yesterday, and he still wasn't keen, but didn't take as long to go in. Then we went for a 10 min spin. I had a much lighter cooler on him. Back top doors open, front bar up and partitions out and horse cross tied, so he had the whole box to balance himself. He didn't move around at all while we were driving, except a little wobble when we first started off. But when I took him out, he was sweaty again. Just to note, the horse he shared the box with last time was not warm at all, so not sure thats the problem. But I think next time I won't but any rug/fleece/cooler on him.
I think he must be stressed travelling. We're making sure to drive slowly, especially around bends. The poor think. My heart is in my mouth the whole time. I really like this horse, but need to be able to travel 2hr distances or theres not point taking him. I wouldn't travel that distance regularly, but certainly every now and then. I'd do 45mins regularly though.
I'll persevere anyway, and just travel no more than 10 minutes for a while. And I'll put him in the box and just leave him a few mins without going anywhere and see if that helps too.
I really hope he relaxes a bit. Thanks again for the responses.
Definetely try the radio. I am sure it will help.
 
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