Ideas needed

[mle22]

We have a little chestnut mare who is a real star, willing and generous and always tries her best when out competing, has been winning a lot for us. She is a 'busy' little horse, always wants to be doing something, very curious and intelligent. Our problem is that while she travels fine on the way to a show or event, she's a bit of a nightmare on the way home. She throws herself around the trailer, stomps and kicks, particularly if there is s hold up in traffic. She has torn the trim from inside the box with her teeth and generally has a strop. We reckon it is because she knows she's finished and just wants to be home. She always loads perfectly.
We have tried all sorts of things, plenty of hay, which she ignores, taking her for a leg stretch before we leave for home, a small feed before we leave - none of it works.
Any ideas as to how we can cure this would be very gratefully received!

 

[mle22]

Just to add, she's six and we've had her almost a year.

 

[mle22]

No suggestions?

 

[WandaMare]

could she be getting too hot or a bit colicy after the exercise? Do you use the same tack / rugs on the way out and on the way home?

I would be trying her in a lorry then you can at least stand with her and see what's going on. Sounds like she's uncomfortable in some way if she is biting the trim.

 

[be positive]

Does she have a decent amount of bedding down behind her? I have known one or two that don't pee all day when out at competitions and get really upset holding on once they have finished and are on the way home, having some bed to pee on comfortably solved that issue easily enough.
I don't think they really have strops because they want to get home if they are happy enough on the way there there will be a more logical reason it is just finding out what it is, colic is a possibility but you should see other signs not just on the trailer, ulcers are a possibility but again I would expect to see signs at other times, if she is too hot that is fairly easy to sort out by extra cooling before loading and traveling naked on warm days.

 

[mle22]

Bedding in and she does pee on the box. She shows no signs of ulcers but is on comfort gut as a precaution. I'm still thinking she just wants home because she is very opinionated at all times and likes to throw things around and destroy stuff left within her reach. She has quite a personality and lets you know what she thinks. For instance we had her at a two day show where she couldn't get her head over the door and she banged and kicked the door and flung her haynet around so it swung into the air and back down. When she gets home she is fine, not at all distressed or colicky and because she is quite a warm horse she generally travels unrugged. We don't have a lorry so can't try that.

 

[silv]

I can't think of anything to help off the top of my head, however there have been quite a few posts of this nature in the past few months, might be worth doing a search on here. I seem to remember quite a few suggestions which could help, just cannot remember them.

No suggestions?