Pony had a virus and now sudden change in travelling behaviour

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Mylittleponie

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Morning everyone, after some advice please?
My mare is coming 16 this year and never been sick or sorry. Almost 2 Weeks ago she suddenly was very poorly high temp and racing heart rate, vet out straight away and gave antibiotic and something to bring temp down, which worked, blood tests all came back fine apart from liver enzyme slightly raised. After a few days she came back to normal and I started to ride her again after a week off. Then yesterday we loaded up in trailer no problems, set off to have a lesson and about halfway through a 20 minute journey she started throwing herself around, when she got off she was dripping with sweat.
Started to ride for my lesson after she had calmed down and she felt as flat as a pancake, not happy jumping whereas normally taking me to the fence. I didn't carry on with the lesson as I felt it wasn't fair if she still wasn't feeling 100% Return journey was even worse! Husband followed and said she was trying to go down in the trailer! Never had that happen, she has always travelled in lorry or trailer either on her own or with others without any issues, does anyone think the 2 may be related? It is a brand new Ifor Williams trailer and am now thinking maybe about taking the partition out and using single breech bars? Any ideas helpful Many Thanks 😃
 
This is a new trailer, does she have enough room to spread legs, which is main fear inducing thing as they can't balance.
Sometimes they will travel ok on one side and not on the other.
Was the floor slippy at all?, do you usually put shavings down.
Do you think she had a problem with her heart on the journey.
sorry if that is no help, I have to admit it is worrying.
 
I'd be inclined to try her cross tied with a full width bar. She has been a bit poorly though and they can't tell us what's going on can they? I mean, I suffer from horrendous neck pain and migraine, it's hell being in a car when that's going on. Maybe she needs a bit more time without travelling. You could try a tiny journey to the nearest roundabout and back before doing a proper journey as well, to see if she's feeling better about it.
 
MrsD123 said:
This is a new trailer, does she have enough room to spread legs, which is main fear inducing thing as they can't balance.
Sometimes they will travel ok on one side and not on the other.
Was the floor slippy at all?, do you usually put shavings down.
Do you think she had a problem with her heart on the journey.
sorry if that is no help, I have to admit it is worrying.
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Thankyou for replying, although it's new trailer she travelled it in 3 weeks ago absolutely fine same side etc I checked her heart rate once back in her stable and it was normal. Am a bit stumped 😔 may just a bit more time to get over virus?
 
What ever the reason for her behaviour you are going to have to go back to basics traveling her. It takes a while to forget a bad experience which she clearly has had for what ever reason.

It can take time to get over a virus and that might be part of it - but my personal view is that it cannot be all of it. Something else must have happened to frighten her. Whether she slipped a bit, or a travel pad slipped, or you went over a pothole (lots of those!) or had to brake a bit hard, or something noisy passed you too close - could be anything. As another poster said some travel better on one side than the other. Some prefer herringbone. Some travel better in company. What ever the reason you are going to have to start again slowly.

Will she even load? That might indicate how frightened she was. Then very short trips around the block and progress up from there. You say this is a new trailer - do you still have access to your previous transport? Might it be worth going back to that for a while?


Ahh... crossed with your post sorry. OK - possibly not trailer. The other suggestions still apply though.
 
Mylittleponie said:
Thankyou for replying, although it's new trailer she travelled it in 3 weeks ago absolutely fine same side etc I checked her heart rate once back in her stable and it was normal. Am a bit stumped  may just a bit more time to get over virus?
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Best not to try actually swapping sides. If there's one horse in the trailer it's not safe to have them travel to the left of the partition. Cross-tied with a full width breast bar you'll probably find she moves herself to stand more "corner to corner" if that makes sense.
 
My guess, fwiw, is that she hasn't fully recovered from the virus. I'd wait a month to give her time to get over it. Then start helping her to get over the bad travelling experience.
Interesting that your vet prescribed an antibiotic while drs say they are useless for viruses.
 
Could there be a lingering problem or something in her ears which may have affected her balance? maybe an infection that the antibiotics didn't touch (I know this isn't the same as a virus but could maybe be secondary)
 
Mylittleponie said:
Almost 2 Weeks ago she suddenly was very poorly high temp and racing heart rate
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It will take a lot longer than just 2 weeks for her to get over a virus, these things take time. I think a jumping lesson so soon is a bit much for her if I'm honest and would just stick to gentle hacking and start trying her again in the trailer in a few weeks when she's back to her normal self and you might find she's fine again.
 
my daughter's pony had a virus last year that affected her going in and out of her stable as well as trailer. the virus must have affected her neurologically. it took more than a week to improve and even when the other symptoms went the increased nervousness (in our perfect 1st pony) took a good month.
it may not be the trailer it may be that she's not got the virus out of her system completely yet.
i could be wrong, it just sounds very familiar.
glad your pony is better, we thought we were going to lose ours but she completely recovered in time.
after 4 weeks recovering (2 at vets and 2 turned out at home in the days) we started with walking, long reining and gentle rides for another 2 weeks as it took a lot out of her even when the symptoms had been treated and gone.
 
Give pony a bit more time to recover

Also, check out everything on the trailer. For some horses/ponies the mere fact that a tyre has low pressure which in turn can give a more bumpy ride to the horse directly above it, can make some go into metldown.
Also remove the wheels - check axle/wheel bearings & also brakes, even tho the trailer pulls fine behind the car, its a peace of mind thing for you so you KNOW the trailer cannot be at fault.
Check floor and also how the partition is fixed in, making sure the partition has not shifted slightly at all, un beknown to you.

Hope you get to the bottom of it soon
 
I am sure it is not related, but there is an incidence of travel sickness in horses who have a virus and travel, in fact it can lead to pneumonia, so just watch her for the next week that she doesnt get a raised temp again. More than likely it was just the transport, was it a very windy day.
 
My mare had a similar episode a couple of weeks ago, travelled her in our Ifor Williams trailer which (unknown to us at the time) had slightly low tyre pressure, horse scrabbled for a lot of the journey and went down, resulting in injury to her hind leg. She had previously been travelled in a rear facing horsebox and was fine, has always been 'unsettled' in the Ifor, but the low tyre pressure was the icing on the cake! We have just got a rear facing trailer to combat this. Fortunately she loaded absolutely fine on the return journey (even on three legs)- why? We removed the partition and travelled her backwards- much more settled. NB We only did this as an emergency measure, as unless air-lifted, we had no alternative available to get her back home!
 
Hi everyone thank you for all your replies, i wasnt getting notifications of replies so its taken me a while to see them! Well we have made major progress, i started her on milk thistle for one thing. I left travelling in the trailer for a couple of weeks and then i took the partition out and put in single breach bars, she loaded and travelled brilliantly, we have been out a couple of times now :) and she just plonks herself herringbone.
The vet was out last week and rechecked her bloods, liver enzyme is down by a lot but still slightly higher than "normal" so continuing on with the milk thistle. She feels back to being my wonderpony again with springs in her feet and chilled while travelling .... even if she does want the whole of the trailer;-) i dont care!!

Thanks again for helping and all the advice.... x
 
Viruses can take many weeks to go, my boy had one last year and was off work c.6 weeks. I would give her longer then try hacking quietly for a while until you feel she has completely recovered. In the mean time load her on and off the trailer and reward her. Good luck
 
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