lorry buying saga continues......which way to travel

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Happytohack

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After looking at loads of lorries - we eventually upped our budget and bought a super lorry from Priory Stud. Got it home, popped big mare in it and went out for a trial run. She has to travel herringbone and just couldn't get her balance at all. Ended up covered in sweat and a very unhappy bunny. Tried again the next day - says a lot for her as she walked straight in again, bless - but again she just sweated up straight away and was very unhappy, almost trying to sit down and whinnying to me all the time. Nice people at Priory Stud have said that they will happily exchange lorry for whatever I want and do everything to help and will let us borrow any lorry we want for a few days to see if she is happy. When I bought her, she travelled up forwards facing no problem. Anyone else had problems with travelling herringbone (I always thought they travelled better that way). Any help/advice/thoughts very welcome please!
 
Mmmm I've always found herringbone better.

Perhaps take them up on thier offer and try some.

Heard good things about rear facing.

What lovely people to be so good about exchanging.
 
This is an interesting subject...

I always used to travel in my friends herring bone lorry as i didnt have my own, but she moved off the yard and bought her own house with yard attatched. She traveled ok but did stumble on the odd occasion and often got hot while traveling.

When she moved out i took the plunge and bought my own 3.5 tonn lorry ( took ages to find a 3.5 big enought for a larger horse ) She travels soooooo much better in it, we took the partition out as she refused to load ( shes a tb and quite clostrophobic ) and she hardly even gets warm now and travels really well and never seems to stumble etc.

A few weeks back i took her in my friends lorry as she hada fractured elbow but wanted to go sj
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. My girl didnt travel well in her box at all. It didnt help that the partitionwas so badly bent from her horse constantly leaning so hard on it that it came out the slot and had pinned her into the corner and had been swinging about into her probably
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.

She seems to travel much better forward facing or rear ward facing than herringbone.

I dodnt know ive got her in the back when we go out now and when we get to an event she isnt stressed before we are off the lorry which helps
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I have a mare that did this in a trailer so bought a lorry herringbone and she travels fine. However we swing the partition right over (towards the ramp) at her bottom so she has loads of room to balance. Have you tried this, they really don't need much room at the head end. Could someone stand with her while you travel, we did this at first and every time she looked a little unsteady we would tell her to stand up and now don't have a peep from her. Good luck
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What way is your herringbone set up? Is it a forward facing or rear facing or straight across the lorry. Some horses prefer to use their rear muscles to balance and some their front muscles. We solve it just by swapping the horse around so it stands the opposite way.
 
It is always a worthwhile excercise to travel in the container of the vehicle to see how it rides. In many cases the partitions/ramps can make vibration noises when the lorry is moving which upset the horses. The other issue is the floor. Horses like a nice thick rigid wooden floor with a nice thickness of industrial grade rubber matting over the floor which allows them to grip and also feels secure.

I am sure that priory Stud will do their best for you as they are one of the very few reputable and family owned horse box builders in the area.
 
I have found rear facing worst! (there's always one isn't there!). My friend's very bad traveller was awful in her rear facing Renault Master, as was my very good traveller! They were both really happy when she switched to a forward facing Dodge and my mare has also been fine herringbone and in a trailer, just the rear facing she didn't like at all.
 
ive got one that wont travel forwards and puts himself on the floor the second the trailer/box starts moving. I have been told by an arab stud that its quite common for arabs though (dont know if its true). However I was told that it is easier on the horse and less tireing to travle backwards or herringbone.
 
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