How to transport untransportable horse

martlin

martlin

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www.martlinequestrian.co.uk
I need to move, about 90 miles, together with my horses...
Here is the problem: one of them doesn't travel, and when I say doesn't travel I mean it
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Last attempt at taking her somewhere in a lorry ended when she managed to jump the breast bar and crash into the living - cue knocking her out cold, dismantling the lorry around her and dragging her out
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As I had to move then as well, we got horse ambulance out, heavily sedated her and managed to get her to the destination, but it was only 12 miles...
Now, I can load her into pretty much anything and she will stand quietly to be tied up, partitions fastened etc, then proceed to do a 'Houdini' as soon as the handler leaves the horse area
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So, any ideas how to get her moved are most welcome
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beg borrow or steal lorry with no lockers, take partitions out, and must be boxed off from the living. big thick straw bed. no haynet etc, no boots / bandages. turn loose in the back, dont tie up. have transported some very wild beasts this way and never had any problems. the only way! might bang about at first but generally find their balance quickly and get over themselves! good luck x
 
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beg borrow or steal lorry with no lockers, take partitions out, and must be boxed off from the living. big thick straw bed. no haynet etc, no boots / bandages. turn loose in the back, dont tie up. have transported some very wild beasts this way and never had any problems. the only way! might bang about at first but generally find their balance quickly and get over themselves! good luck x

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Fancy doing it for me?
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What about a transport company they're normally used to dealing with this sort of thing I would think
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That's what I thought, but I'm not sure anybody will be willing to take it on?
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i would get a vet to dope her and then transport with her to keep it topped up.

will cost a fortune though.....


can i ask what type of lory has a "breastbar"?
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ah ha! done! it wil return once have found a small child to shrink it!
the only technical equipment im good at is a wheelbarrow and fork..........

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YEY!!!

me too.....hence i don't have a piccy Sig...
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I used to have a nightmare traveller like yours. Wrote off 2 trailers and trashed a friends lorry
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Tried everything until...

Cattle truck
Very heavy, solid, no windows, no partitions,no living. In fact like a steel shipping container on wheels. The driver left the engine running;We got the little sod in, slammed the ramp as fast as possible and drove off. After 15 mins of BANG CRASH BANG it went quiet. I was allowed to peek through the grooms door at the next junction and he was standing quietly, leaning on the side. Once he found he couldn't punch his way out, he gave up. He has been an almost perfect traveller in our herringbone lorry since, longest journey to date has been 3.5 hours.
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Still won't travel in a trailer as he has to lean on his right side and he goes over at the first left hand corner
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take partitions out, and must be boxed off from the living. big thick straw bed. no haynet etc, no boots / bandages. turn loose in the back, dont tie up.

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That's exactly how I transport my semi-ferals. Load them in, yes they kick about a bit to begin with, but then they settle on down. I transport in an aluminium big American trailer though, so not quite the same as a horsebox, but similar inside. Just make sure there is absolutely no way she can kick her way out! My lot don't even make a tiny dent in my trailer.

As a side comment, all my horses, wild or trained, travel loose like this, as is very common over here. By far better than all those partitions and bars everywhere, in my opinion. Good luck!
 
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martlin where are you going to and from? and when?

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Going from Rugeley, Staffordshire to Heckington in Lincolnshire, in about 8 weeks time, but date is flexible
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Money within reason is no object, I mean I don't want to pay thousands but hundreds are fine, as long as she gets there in one piece and doesn't trash the lorry completely...
 
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can i ask what type of lory has a "breastbar"?
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A forward facing 2 horse racing box - it is or rather was rubbish!
Most of the 3,5T have breast bars of some sort...

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Ah......not a REAL lorry then....

i have a 7.5T MAN with full length stallion/mare and foal partitions.....she could travel loose inside one of those...and i'd DARE her to escape!!

all the nutters/unloadable/bad travellers have all settled into the "free" way of travelling inside a loose partition...

a reputable transporter will load/travel her this way with no problems..
 
completely agree tia!
all i find partitions and lockers good for are:
a) tipping horses upside down
b) using as equine climbing frames
c) skewering said equines.
the same said for boots and bandages. i dont mind the older horses in them but have seen to many slip and panic young horses, and trying to remove them halfway down the m6 between 6 pairs of hind legs is not my idea of a fun day out!
 
OK, so you say loose in a biggish box with no living, naked (which I normally do with few exceptions)...
Do I sedate anyway?
Do I load her little friend with her or arrange separate transport for him?
Which transporters do I use?
Greygates, could you PM me with ETA transporters details?
Thanks all
 
I know you were asking someone else, but I would say a definite no to sedating if you are travelling the horse loose. She WILL wear herself out fairly quickly to be honest and she won't kick and scream for much longer than 10 or 15 minutes before she is exhausted.

My semi ferals all travel loose together (on a journey of generally 1,500 - 2,000 miles) when they come here as weanlings, however they are tiny and the trailers they come in is massive. When I make the switch they generally just all walk into my trailer without any problems. Mine is 18ft long so plenty of room for them to get out of each others ways. I would say do not travel her with her companion - best travelling her alone.
 
Thanks Tia:)
I am really worried about this thing and all the logistics involved - I have 7 horses, 5 of them on 1 yard and the mare in question who is living with her companion at home - so it will make it 3 lorries/trailers to get the happy company to their new home. Then there is 12 cattle and 40ish sheep, not to mention 2 dogs and a cat... Complete logistical nightmare!
 
Lol! Sounds like you will have your hands full! Once you figure out what you are doing, and how they are all getting there, you will be fine. Actually that's not really true, you will be fine once they are all there! I remember waking up every night before my big move and thinking of more things, and trying to figure out things which I had already figured out and worrying about things which might go wrong. But you know what? Nothing of great importance went wrong - we got on the plane, the dogs all got on the plane, the cat got on the plane, the horse got on the plane and once we were all here I completely relaxed. I really didn't care that there were problems with the container with all our worldly goods in it; they were all irrelevant, it was just the animals that were forefront of my mind, so I really do know how you feel. Bloody scary, Lol!

I'm sure though, that it will all go like clockwork, these things usually do when you spend weeks and weeks getting to grips with all eventualities. Good luck!
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