Pony wont travel

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pepsixxxx

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Hi, wonder if anyone can help me, my daughters pony has been travelling in a lorry horsebox since she was 5 she is now 9, recently she has started to panic in the lorry, leaning on the partition and puttin her legs on the back gates and she falls on the floor. It is really scarey. today we got her all ready for the show, loaded her in lorry and before we got the ramp up she was panicing which upset my daughter so we put her back in the stable.
Its such ashame cos she does really well at shows.
Just wondered if anyone knows of anything I could give her to calm her right down to travel, I have tried a calmer but it didnt work, been told of Nupafeed calmer, does anyone know if that works, or any other products that works, Thank you
 
Is it the same lorry she has always travelled in? Has she less space than before? Has she gone from half partition to full partition? Often this sort of thing is due to not enough width for the pony/horse to brace itself properly. Try widening the space between partitions if possible so she has more room.
 
Nupafeed definatley works when fed every day but not sure how it would work if you only used it before travelling. Equine oxy shot (sp) is meant to be good.
Could you try taking another horse with you that's a good traveller? Where in the lorry does she usually travel? Do you make the partitions herringbone?
 
my daughter's pony starting doing this not long after we got him and quickly got to the stage where he would panic to the point of going under the partition and I thought he would break a leg - the answer with him was less space, too much and he just seemed to lose his balance and panic. We also got different partitions for him, they were much higher than before and padded and he likes to lean on them. He now travels perfectly....
 
It is a different lorry, my other one got stolen but she has travelled in different lorries and trailers before, only thing im wondering is if she feels penned in as my other lorry had no wood in the head guards this one has wood in.
She does travel with others, I worry she will push that hard on the partition she will go through, its not just leaning on it she leans on it and wedges her hooves on the back gates so is pushing on it aswell.
I dont wanna put her in a different place as there is rubber quarter way up the partition and im worried her legs will go under. She only leans one way.
We dont have to move the lorry or shut the ramp before she starts doing it.
 
I have tried her in other lorries and trailers but she is the same, she is getting herself in such a state now just need something to calm her right down so she realises it not that scarey. Think its all in her head cos nothing has scared her traveling, as I drive really steady and we dont travel to far to the show.
She has travelled in it a few times not to bad but for some reason she is getting worse.
What makes it upsetting my daughter was doing so well in the showin, jumping and games classes and the pony loves to compete, but we are getting affraid to take her
 
i had exactly the same. my mare was 10yo when i bought her travelled all over the country and abroad. we had her 6 weeks when she had a panic attack on the lorry. she had managed to break all partitions and wedge herself in to them anyway the police had to be called to close the road. we tried again and the same happened. i then had to move yards i got qa transport company in with a big lorry and she was a little scared to go in but travelled fine. tried our lorry no good so we sold it and put her into foal. but i will try again someone has told me they know 3 horses that wont travel up by the living end and that is where i had her. i know how you feel it was the scariest thing i have ever been through. she loads we put the ramp up and as we set of she starts. she leans and scrambles on the floor. i had new partitions made at a cost of £800 and she still did it.
 
take the wood out, you can always replace it, also feed her in the lorry each day, won't solve a deep rooted problem but will help return confidence if it is just the head guards. I would be inclined to give less space so she can lean without losing her balance.
Good luck.
 
Thanks for your advise, I stood her in the lorry the other day she stood for about 10 mins fine then all of a sudden she started snorting and getting herself in a state and nothing I could do would calm her so I had to get her out of the lorry, its so weird cos she travelled fine before this, and was travelling ok not brill but we was able to get her to the show earlier in the season, but now she just starts to panic and has a wild look in her eye, I really dont know what to do
 
has she had any kind of accident or anything in the horse box ?
try and load her with a companion who travels well
try and go for sort drives and when you reach your destination get her out and give her a feed maybe take her to the beach etc travel her with a companion there try and make it a nice experience for her
 
Poor you I really feel for you because it is really frightening, the similar thing happened to me. I brought a pony and travelled him home when he got out he was in a terrible state. I just put it down to the stress of new people/trailer. A few days later I went to take him to a friends and he loaded ok but as soon as he was inside it was almost as though he had a flashback. He went mad and was deperate to get out which really upset my daughter. I immediately phoned his old owner and she was very upset when I told her but said that he had travelled all over the country but in a lorry or equi trek trailer. He was genuine enough to go up but was obviously frightened by something. It was almost as though he was terrified of falling over. People told me to take the partition out but I was worried he would have nothing to lean on and would fall over. What we did in the end was give him oxy shot calmer and just took him on short journeys without needing to go anywhere specific and we also tried him on the other side! We had to put a bit of work in but now he is a brilliant traveller again which is great as I can take my daughter to Pony Club and shows again without the travelling stress!
 
She has travelled with others but it doesnt make an difference.
early on in the seasons she was being silly at the start of the journey but calmed down and then travelled ok she got straight out of the lorry and into a show class which she won. Once she is out of the box she is calm. I was going to shut the ramp and just start my journey on sunday hoping she would calm down but my daughter was crying saying what if she doesnt calm down and gets worse and injures herself, so I tought I better not risk it. I know she can travel as we did go to skegness which was 3 hours drive away and she was fine. I just dont know whats happened to her.
Just need something to calm her down so she realises it not so scarey. Thank you all for your kind words
 
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