Trailer help please!

T

tamsinkb

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Recently my horse has started being difficult in the triler - he will happlity load etc but as soon as we start moving he tries to effectively sit down! I have tried pretty much everything I can think of to try to instill confidence in him - It seems that he doesn't have a problem with his keeping his feet but he likes to be 'wedged' into the trailer... I'm sure you used to be able to get some things which act like 'bumpers' that attatch to the partition and offer the added security my boy seem to want. I can't for the life of me remember their name - can anyone put me out of my misery?

Thanks TKB
 
I had a very similar problem with my mare a few years ago. She had happily travelled in a partitioned trailer for years, then slipped over one day and managed to get a hind leg stuck under the partition. From that moment on, although she would load happily, as soon as the trailer moved she immediately tried to wedge all four feet against the side of the trailer and lean on the partition, which pretty much made it impossible to balance properly! The solution was to remove the partition completely and cross tie her, and she travelled perfectly from that moment on. Interestingly when I later got a lorry where the horses were partitioned to travel sideways, she was absoultely fine in this to. However several years later i decided to try her again in a partitioned forward facing trailer, and she immediately reverted to the panic legs on one side position. So for her, the solution was either no partition in a trailer or a sideways position in the lorry!
If you don't have to transport 2 horses in your trailer, I would recommend borrowing some full width breast bars and remove the partition and try your horse with him cross tied in the centre of the trailer. This way he can't try and turn around, but still has plenty of room to position himself where he feels most secure. My mare would always position her body diagonally across the trailer in a kind of herringbone position, and arrived at competitions happy and relaxed!
Good luck.
 
Thanks Guys - have tried no partition and he literally threw himself on the floor - having (highly illegally) travelled in the back with him for a short journey he actually leans his entire body weight on the partition until he practically looses his balance - when I told him stand up he did and balance fine until something else spooked him and he over reacted - have tried back facing, herrringbone, no partition.........he's no better with any of these! - I guess it'll have to be loads of practice and confidence building!
 
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