Suddenly stressed from travelling

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Furry_footed_TB

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I’ve owned my boy for nearly 10 years and for the last 7 of those have travelled him with the same car and trailer (Ifor Williams HB511) combination.

He’s had always been fantastic to travel - regularly out most weeks and happy travelling distances. I took him to the beach, over 5 hours each way, with no issue.

However a couple of weeks ago - on my way back from a lesson, he returned home incredibly stressed. High heart rate, puffing, sweating. The journey, in my opinion, wasn’t out of the ordinary. Perhaps a little more traffic at one point but we’ve been in worse. And my instructors yard is 20 mins away at worst.

We had the vet out but by the time she arrived his heart rate, breathing and temp had returned to normal. He pooed, was drinking normally. You wouldn’t have looked twice at him, had you walked by his stable.

I thought maybe he had over exerted himself in the lesson, as he’s just coming back in to work after Christmas off (which he routinely has) and didn’t think anything about it.

I took him out this morning and he loaded without issue. Straight on with a pat and a sweetie. However 5 mins in to the journey he was kicking and making a racket. I got him off the trailer and although he wasn’t as wound up as last time, he was breathing heavily enough for me to walk him round the school for 20 mins until it had returned to normal.

Now - I have no idea what has upset him. So I don’t really know how to fix his anxiety. I don’t know whether regularly short and sweet journeys to build his confidence are key. Or whether he needs a few months off the trailer to decompress. I just want him happy and relaxed again.
 
first job and even before thinking about the horse is to get a mechanic to the trailer and get every inch checked especially the chassis and floor. Also travel yourself in the trailer minus horse and see if you notice anything (ie any noise, anything sounds loose)

If that fails I would try travelling him in a lorry and see if he is still a problem.

there is then the consideration if standing in a partition is painful for him especially the muscles in his hind quarters and what you are seeing with the heart rate etc is stress and pain. If he has started doing it after 5 mins then a memory of pain and panic
 
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Thanks so much for all the replies!

I have it serviced annually, last being done in late October. There were no warnings raised but I can double check tyre pressure etc.

Before the first journey with issues, he travelled well in a lorry. I took him with a friend on a 2 hour trip and he was seemingly fine. This was in Jan, so less than 6 weeks ago.
 
paddy555 said:
first job and even before thinking about the horse is to get a mechanic to the trailer and get every inch checked especially the chassis and floor. Also travel yourself in the trailer minus horse and see if you notice anything (ie any noise, anything sounds loose)
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This first and foremost. Definitely the floor and chassis. I had mine serviced as well but still found a problem in it after my lad went nuts in it
 
Esmae said:
This first and foremost. Definitely the floor and chassis. I had mine serviced as well but still found a problem in it after my lad went nuts in it
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I'm not sure how much of the floor and chassis they minutely check in a service. If the horse is unhappy it needs every inch and every weld checking. Too many have ended up with a foot through the floor. Horses going nuts are trying to tell us something. :) Hope your lad was OK.
 
paddy555 said:
I'm not sure how much of the floor and chassis they minutely check in a service. If the horse is unhappy it needs every inch and every weld checking. Too many have ended up with a foot through the floor. Horses going nuts are trying to tell us something. :) Hope your lad was OK.
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Yes thank you he was fine, I stopped everything as soon as he kicked off and got him out. He smashed the inside of the trailer to bits in about 2 minutes tops. A bit of rust was found, not much but that was all that pointed to a weakness. I sold that trailer and bought a brand new one. No problems following that. The measure of my horse was that he went from terrified to "Of course I will load in a trailer" in the time it took for a friend to fetch her trailer down and pick us up. About 45 minutes. He was such a special chap. You are quite right, we need to listen to them. I took from this experience that I would make a specific request to check thoroughly, everything underneath at service time.
 
One of mine stopped travelling well. I’d just had the trailer serviced so thought it couldn’t possibly be that but then discovered a panel that was slightly loose and rattling whilst being towed which must have been bothering her.
 
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Furry_footed_TB said:
There was me thinking I was doing belts and braces getting it serviced.

I’ll see if I can get it in with my local Ifor Williams mechanic ASAP.
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not to worry. I would imagine a service would cover brakes, towing ball hitch etc, suspension, tyres, lights and those sort of things.

if you have rubber matting on the floor fold it over and have a look underneath yourself. Check close to the edges as that may be where rot will set in. As B says above is the floor slippery, have you put any different bedding or surface on the floor.
I used to check the walls/panels from the inside by throwing myself hard against each wall, the partition, the breast bar etc. Check all the fastenings. Travel in it so you know what your horse has been hearing.
If everything is OK then the next step is to take your horse in the lorry again to rule out a "don't like travelling now" problem. Letting him go in a partition in the lorry and if possible loose. See what he tells you, how he carries himself and stands.
 
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