throwing herself in trailer

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kandor

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Hello everyone,

We have a mare who loads into the trailer without any problem, but as soon as we move the trailer, she throws herself against the middle section (she´s always on the right) and practically breaks it.

It all started when she was driven round a roundabout (in France, therefore to the left) and since then she´s afraid of left turns. She throws herself with all her weight to the left, and tramples her own feet, and sometimes falls all the way to the floor, ends up on her back with a bloody hip, bloody feet and sweating (of course).

So my question is: how can we get this out of her?
We´ve tried taking the middle section out - she throws herself on the ground all the same.
We´ve tried putting her on the left side - ditto.
We´ve tried driving slowly to the left - makes no difference.

What we´d really need is a trailer you can ´hang´the horse to so that WHEN it tried to throw itself on the ground, it physically can´t. With a wide girth around the thoracic cage for example.

Any ideas? We can´t take this horse anywhere anymore. It´s a pity- she´s a lovely little QH.

Thank you for any tips.

H
 
Have you tried cross tying (tying her by lead rope to both sides of the trailer) to restrict her head movement? It may help stop her lashing about? No other suggestions though I'm afraid- hope you get it sorted
smile.gif
 
Yep we did think of that. Didn´t try it though, she could hurt herself if she falls and has her head fastened in the air.

Thanks for the idea though...
 
hiya! my arab started doing this a few years ago and i ended up doing quite a lot of research into other horses who do it - turns out it's really common, and nearly always only to one side - weird. my friend who had the same thing happen had all sorts of veterinary tests to rule out, e.g., balance problems related to ear problems etc (just FYI as it's good to know these things usually not physical).

I agree i wouldn't tie her up tightly - if she falls she will only end up scaring herself more surely? she's obviously really scared and freaking her out by making her feel trapped isn't going to help in my opinion.

all the horses i've known who do it are ok when they don't have a partition - so using a trailer with a rubber flap on the lower half means they are better as they can distribute their weight more easily. strange it doesn't work in your situation too - maybe travelling her loose or backwards? what i found was that it seemed to be the feeling of the side of the trailer that freaks them out, so travelling loose (I actually am not sure if this is legal so would be worth checking...!) they could perhaps keep away form this - or backwards if your trailer allows this (or if you can get a backwards facing trailer!).

maybe it's not much help, but i also found that all the ones i knew were absolutely fine in a normal side-facing lorry - so at least that would mean you would have an option to travel, though not so convenient of course!

The other thing i would consider doing (I no longe rhave my horse but this struck me the other day) is that you could try a monty-roberts carpet rug, do you know them? he uses them on racehorses who have a similar aversion - and reaciton, i think - to the feel of the starting stalls. No idea how you could get hold of one to try; possibly ebay!?

Sorry that much of this isn't all that helpful, but you're not alone don't worry! and if you do find something that helps let us all know! good luck!
 
A lady at my yard has a carriage horse who launches himslef around the lorry when they travel although is fine to load etc. He gets hobbled front and back and has his head tied to his back legs. Sounds horrific but he doesn't ever put up a fight and now travels very calmly.
 
Without wishing to sound blunt but if you were put in a car with your hands and legs tied together and your head tied to your back side I don't think you'd move around very much. It does indeed sound horrific and by no menas a long term way of solving a problem that has cleary developed out of fear. I know full well the frustration of horses who develop awful behaviours on a trailer and I strongly believe that force is not the way to go. A lot of pain staking hours in helping the horse over their fear has worked every time with me and created happy loaders and travellers.
 
Have you tried putting straw on the floor of the trailer? Rubber matting does get slippy if at all wet - one dung can take away all the traction.

I use a whole bale of straw, well shaken up even when I have matting on the floor. It's how we always trailered horses before rubber matting was used and never had problems with the way horses travelled. A friends horse used to walk the whole way on journeys, swing around and generally make towing him a nightmare. One bale of straw later and he stood like a rock.
 
That is just sheer ignorance if you ask me. Your lady friend has a very stupid and dangerous approach. I used to know someone who did this but then forgot to 'unhobble' her horse prior to unloading it and it wacked its head on the roof in panic and nearly killed itself.

I had a horse who went down in the trailer and it turned out that the floor was too polished for it (there was no matting) and the condensation from the roof (in the winter) was dripping on the floor and freezing/making it slippy. Dad moved the breast bar forward (said horse was long in the back) and moved the central partition three quarter/quarter to facilititate more room for the horse and we also put rubbing matting down. Since then he and four other horses have travelled without a problem in there. You should never cross tie too tightly either, the horse needs to be able to move its head to look behind it if it so wishes, as a horse will use its head for balance.

I am wondering if the OP used a breast bar when taking the middle section out. It is actually illegal to tow a trailer with an equine without a breast bar. Another factor to consider may be if the OP has bought a different car, ie. gone from a saloon to a powerful 4x4 as I would imagine a 4x4 is fast, trouble free towing and you 'forget' you have a trailer and horse on teh back, therefore drive a little less carfully maybe. Whereas an old work horse saloon (Peugeot 406) as mine is, chugs away towing slowly but steadily and you can feel every single movement and heaven forbid you get a steep hill, start in fifth, go down to fourth, third and second gear and see about 500 cars waiting patiently behind you!! In all seriousness worth thinking about though. x
 
She still does it without a partition in? That's unsual. I have a mare who's the most appaling traveller with a partition but is fine without, just tied loosly so she can't turn round.

Most horses travel much better backwards, so it might be worth trying her in an equitrek trailer. We travel ours small pony loose and he always chooses to travel backwards.

Have here checked out by a good physio - some travelling problems can be due to back or hind limb pain.

Once everything is ruled out, I'd travel her without a partiton, and travel with her for short distances, building up. Make sure you have a breastbar in and space to stay out of reach of her hooves! That way you can correct her and tell her to stand still.
 
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