Poor traveller - any advice?

fishy

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I recently bought a trailer, after having hired one several times to make sure the horses were ok with it. My daughters little cob is fine on his own or with another horse, but my mare! If she is with little legs she is better but on her own I think she is going to sit down, fall over or stamp her way out of the trailer! She arrives at our destination sweaty but not too stressed. She is happy to walk up the ramp and doesn't rush out. So any advice as to how to help her travel better? I leave the back door open and have front windows for ventilation. I travel her in boots but no rug (will probably use a fleece in winter) and a haynet for her to nibble. She usually settles a bit especially if we are going straight but wobbles again on turns. I have a bateson deauville and she is 15.3 ISH. Any help :( x
 

Lolo

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One thing we found helps is putting a decent layer of straw down so they can't see/ hear their feet moving. With previous ponies who've been really unbalanced this has helped a lot.
 

9tails

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Lots have trouble with boots. I tried a few times and horse acted like she was skating, but eventually took them off and just use over reach boots now.
 

fishy

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Thanks for replying, I have a layer of shavings down (helps cleaning out too) will try without boots next time and see (she's barefoot so don't need over reach boots) thanks x
 

tinap

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Ours doesn't travel well if the back doors are open, she doesn't like the noise behind her so I always shut at least the door directly behind her x
 

telerimist

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I had a similar problem with my mare but she has been travelling for just under a year in it with no probs.
Turned out one of the tyres on her side had a slow puncture causing an uneven ride for her particularly on corners and had her crashing around.
 

Dry Rot

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Try to make short journeys that end somewhere nice for the horse and walk home.

My youngsters are currently being "trained" to travel. They are taken around the fields, off loaded where there is good grass, allowed to graze for a while, then walked back to their regular field. The hope is that they'll learn that travelling takes them some where good!

Also, make the trailer a nice place to be. Occasionally feed a decent ration inside the trailer, partly while it's moving if possible or, if not, rock and bang the trailer but not so much that it stops them eating!

Seems to help.
 
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