problem with my horse in a horsebox...HELP!

How many horse flies bites have you had this year?

  • Total voters
    0
M

marinaanseo

New User
Joined
20 January 2007
Messages
4
Visit site
This is my first time using a forum soooo please reply to me soon.... i have a 16.1hh irish sport horse, he is a beautiful chestnut gelding with a flaxen mane...he does everything really well except travelling in a box. He will walk into my 505 ifor williams box with no problem, i could have him loaded and ready to go but the second the engine of the jeep starts he falls, rears, shakes from side to side and he even fainted once. Everytime i bring him somewhere in the box he is lame by time i get home. I have tried him with a calmer horse, with a bucket of cool and cook pony nuts and even staying in the box with him but he still panics! Help I don't know what to do...i want to compete because he is a fantastic showjumper we jump 1m30 in our paddock, he's the type horse that flicks his back legs up in the air to ensure that he clears the jump, but i can't get him to competitions without him being lame. Please HELP Im all out of ideas
confused.gif
 
He sounds a bit big to travel in a 505. Does he have the whole area or is there a partition fitted? If your going to use I 505 I would suggest trying witha breast bar and no partition, he maybe able to balance better if he is not squashed in. Have you tried him in a rear facing trailor? or in a herribone box? Some horses don't travel weel facing forward.
 
This sounds like my old horse - he travelled brilliantly in a horsebox herringbone (sidewards), but couldn't get his balance in a trailer facing forwards. I would think a 505 is too small for your 16.1. Have you tried him in a lorry just to see if he is better travelling herringbone? Have you tried him in a bigger trailer (510) and taken the partition out, cross tied him with just the breast bar to see if he is better able to get his balance. Or try him in an Equitrek facing backwards.
 
He seems to be an ok size in the box but it's possible that he needs more room.... i bought him last march and when i was bringing him home in the exact same box he was perfect. but when i decided he was ready to go to a show he was a nightmare, he fell around corners and kicking on the straight. He wasn't lame when i got to the show but when i got home he had torn all down his back left let and he was badly lame. I called my vet and i was told he had almost reached the bone and he might never come sound. Its been 4 months now and he's sound again and im bringing him back to work slowly. Ive tried him on his own, with my sisters mare and with his favourite food to distract him but none of it worked. I dont have a bar to go the whole way across the front so i didnt take out the partition. Im going to get alone of one soon to see if it makes a difference. I contacted the old owners of him and they just said he had never done it before...... he has never had an accident in the box with me to cause this fear so i can't believe that it hasn't happened b4. I've also left the front openings open during the travelling to see if its got anything to do with wanting to look out...but it was the same result. thanks for the quick reply! Have you ever had a similar problem or known someone who did?
 
Diito above

A 510 might be better for his size, but otherwise taking out the partition can really help horses that scrabble against the side.

A perspex mirror from eBay (circa £10) can really help if its fear of being alone.

Other that one of ours used to be fed in the trailer and taken for lots of short journeys before being asked to trailer long distance. Sadly that one was nearly fixed when we had a complete disaster - he was just started to travel well when a 2ft x 3ft section of the Ifor floor fell over severing both back legs.

So if not aluminium - check your floors!
 
Friend had a mare who literally climbed the walls is tavelled facing forwards. Loaded fine, but went nuts when trialer moved. Travelled fine in a lorry which was partitioned herringbone (never tried travelling her backwards).
 
I had a scarey experience with mine a few months back.

He has always always travelled 100% and has had to all his life. However, this particular occasion he started galloping on the spot from the second the box started moving. We stupidly assumed he would settled but got about 2 minutes down the road before he collapsed in the back (we assume through exhaustion as he was soaked wet through).

The box in question had full partitions and his legs went underneath them. Thankfully, he wasnt in the very back partition. The box was pulled over and I jumped in the back and managed to get him untied and get him back up, but he was down again within a few seconds. I was devastated because at the time, I could see a lot of blood and his legs stuck under these partitions and just couldnt see how he'd get up without breaking a leg.

Someone must have been looking down on us that night as he did get up again and i got him straight off the box. By this time Id called my trainer (it was 11pm at night) and she agreed to bring her box down and bring him home... which left us moving the horse between boxes on dark country lanes in the pitch black.

He travelled back to the yard in her box absolutly fine.

He bashed himself up pretty badly but the only thing we can think of that made him freak out was that he was in a box with full partitions and not skirted (skirted allow them to spread their legs more).

Have you only tried him in the trailor or have you considered a box? If horses feel they cant balance themselves, they have a habit of trying to lay down (which needless to say can be pretty bad). I sypathise with you 100% because its annoying and more to the point, extremely scarey when something happens.
 
My box is only 4 years old so it has an aluminium floor with a rubber cover and all the sides are soft too. Sadly its not just a fear of being alone because he is the same when he travels with other horses. Im very sorry to hear about what happened to your horse. I can try him in my friends 510 box to see if it makes a difference.... i hope it does, i will also try a breast bar and see what happens. My horse is 3/4 thoroughbred so he's not a heavy horse.....i will try these different suggestions soon and i will let you know if they work. Thank you for the help!
 
Had a very scary moment with one of mine last october. he actualy went out through the jockey door of the trailer (all 15.2hh of him) destroyed his legs and back, for 20 mins we thought he had broken his leg as he wouldnt put weight on it at all (vet is 30 mins away and was called immediately to possibly have him PTS on the side of the road) it took nearly 6 months to get his legs to heal and his back looks like it will never heal properly. He will not travel at all now in a trailer but will load fine with a person he trusts. we are soon going to try him herringbone in a box and if that doesnt work then loose in a box and see what he does. He did show improvement with the partition out of the trailer (we managed to get the engine on and the car and trailer out of the gate and 20m up the road before he flipped)
 
Yes i think he was trying to lay down but i didnt know why at the time...it's my dad was driving the box (im 16 too young to drive) It's extremely frightening because we couldnt calm him and he just panicked so much. I tried him again recently to see if he would be the same.... i was just hoping he had changed but the second the engine ran he jumped about again. the box didnt even move! I took him out straight away. My vet told me he might not travel again after the accident but i believe he just needs help or new methods because he's not the type horse to simply refuse to do something, he will always do it in the end, i would have thought he wouldn't even go into the box for me again but he did. Im still curious as to why he was so good when i bought him...i think he was lightly sedated but i rode him b4 i took him home and he seemed no different......its so annoying.... but i want to fix it asap
 
our horse, did it because anouther horse attacked him in the trailer, weve never traveled those 2 together again but over the period of 2 years he has over thought it (typical arab) and gotten worse and worse each time. If you didnt know that a horse had attacked him in a trailer you wouldnt link it together to an accident 2 years later.
Ive got some nice gorey pictures of my horses legs if you want to see them
 
If I were you I would seriously consider hiring a lorry and trying your horse herringbone. At least that way you will know if its the direction he's travelling that causes the problem which I suspect it may be as he loads ok in the first instance.
 
[ QUOTE ]
My box is only 4 years old so it has an aluminium floor with a rubber cover and all the sides are soft too. Sadly its not just a fear of being alone because he is the same when he travels with other horses. Im very sorry to hear about what happened to your horse. I can try him in my friends 510 box to see if it makes a difference.... i hope it does, i will also try a breast bar and see what happens. My horse is 3/4 thoroughbred so he's not a heavy horse.....i will try these different suggestions soon and i will let you know if they work. Thank you for the help!

[/ QUOTE ]

There could lie your problem. When looking for a new trailer, several people told me to avoid Ifors and specifically the ones with the ali floors. I know of several cases where horses have always travelled fine until the went in one of these trailers. It is something to do with the way the ali floor moves and the type of suspension they have. One dealer compared it too feeling sea sick. Try a different make of trailer if you can.

Good luck.
 
I had a horse once that point blank wouldn't load. so I know how it must feel.

This is my ten pennies worth. If you possibly can - try him on a box, if he's better then look into getting a box. I really don't think its worth losing such a precious horse. Before everyone says its expensive etc etc a friend of mine bought a lovely box from Ebay and she now takes her horse back and fore to England (where she studies) and it only cost her 900 pounds!

I hope you can work something out for your boy.
x
 
Hi!
I've got a 505 and thing old pony hated was the rubber bottomed partition, as she liked to brace her hoof against the bottom of it. She used to fall over and usually manage to get jammed sideways under it in the process. She was fine in my old Rice.
I would either
1. Sell your 505 and buy a Rice.
2. Get a new partition made that goes all the way to the floor.
3. Get a breast bar made that means you can take the partition out.
I have also heard not all horses like the metal floor - albeit covered in rubber. Perhaps a trailer with a wooden floor would help?
Hope you can fix it, he sounds gorgeous! Silly question...I assume you travel boot him etc up to the eye balls before you do anything??
Just a thought - perhaps you could hire a Rice or similar and try him out in it?
 
Hi, Have scanned other replies and they look similar to what im going to say.
wink.gif


Finni will not travel facing forwards and does something similar.

He became so stressed eventually he put his leg through the partition of the lorry
shocked.gif


My advice is to abandon the trailer and travel him in a side facing (herringbone) lorry.

You may be thinking that this is too expensive and you'd rather persist with the trailer etc? but it sounds as though you aren't ever going to be able to sort his problems out in a trailer and so would be better off with a lorry.

XX
 
My cob couldn't travel in the 505 but travels fine in a herringbone lorry - when he travelled in trailer we used to have to move back half of partition round so he could travel more at an angle.
 
My boy had always travelled in a lorry herringbone when i got him. I tried taking him in my 505 with partition and he fell over on every right hand bend and was dripping with sweat after a few minutes. I took the partition out and put in a full width breast bar and he is absolutely fine! I cross tie him so he cant try and turn round. The only problem is that i cant now take another horse with him so we are now looking for a small two horse lorry.
 
Hi Gussie.

Been through this with my mare. We'd travelled the counrty with her in our trailer, both alone and in company.
Then one day we boxed her up to go to training locally and all hell broke loose. By the time we'd got there (15mins) she'd shredded her travel boots the the sports boots she was wearing underneath, and was foaming white under her rug. She'd been trowing herself on the floor, rearing up, and throwing herself against the sides. We hacked home!

After taking her out on several short journeys, and trying her in other peoples boxes etc we gave up!
She'll travel fine without a partition, and will load herself everytime.
With a partition in there she will start 'performing' as soon as the engine is switched on.

We have since bought a lorry, which she travels wonderfully in.

Hope you get this sorted, and sorry I couldn't give you a magic cure. Please don't resort to trying to sedate your horse, as it is guaranteed that this will end in tears.

Meg x
 
This is really very common and I think you will find a few threads about it on here if you search.
In the states they call it wall walking and it occurs when the horse wedges it's feet against the solid wall, sometimes travelling them on the wrong side (left) of an Ifor Williams can wok (it did for a friend of mine) because the partition doesn't go all the way to the floor.
I know a few pople who have dispensed with the partition altogether and gotten a solid breastbar, this sometimes works.

The only surefire solution I recommend is to get a lorry - not what you want to hear probably, but it's what I had to do with my mare, she will still panic if she feels claustrophobic. She travels in a large space and can move around enough to balance herself.

There definitely seems to be some connection with this and Ifor Williams trailers....?
 
Hi there,

I have a 16.1hh mare who had major issues in my 505. I'd only travelled her in a lorry before so didn't even think that a trailer would be a problem. How wrong was i!

She loaded ok the first time, started the engine and as i pulled away she all but fell to the floor. It was like she had a major panick attack, physically shaking. Destroyed her boots but luckily not her legs. This had a domino effect as she then refused to load and when you did get her in she would charge out and it became dangerous.

Took a step back having spoken to several other owners who don't travel with a partition. Without the partition in a horse will stand diaganol across the trailer and have plenty of room to spread there feet and get some balance.

Had to take things slowly and restore her confidence just loading and unloading. Would load her (quietly without too much 'help' from other people), feed her in the trailer then unload by getting someone else to drop the front ramp and made her stand til she walked out quietly.

Ordered my breast and breach bars and decided it was time to take her out in the trailer. Started by just going down the drive from the yard so i was close to home in case there was a problem.
She moved about a bit but no panicking or chucking herself around. Went round the block and back, got back to the yard and opened the jockey door. She was standing diagonal with feet spread apart. Didn't look at all distressed.
We had finally cracked it!
Out of interest a few month later i tried her in a friends 510 with partition in as it is that much bigger. No sooner was she in than she started shaking again. Gave it up as a bad idea and abonded the thought of ever using a partition in a trailer with her again.

Hope that is of some help to you. If you have the funds then a horsebox would be the easier option....

oh and with regards to calmers, try NAF temperelax, contains magnesium which most others don't. Really does work.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top