travel one horse left side of trailer? dangerous?

have you ever made your rider hit their head on an overhanging branch?

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pennyh

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had a awful experience yesterday , my horse usually travels so well you barely know he's there

however yesrterday he was terrible , had to stop 3 times on a 15 mile journey , he seemed to be swaying & dipping & even partially went down at one point ,

he is standing as he should on all 4 feet , he completely trashed his travel boots & was heavily swaeted on arrival with small cuts to most legs & hoof marks on the side of the trailer ,but not paniking , very concerning as he is uaually so good
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anyway , we had to get him home again , whilst we were half tempted to remove the partition i dared not as i really thought he might fall over as be started swaying & dipping his back end almost as soon as he was shut in & we had nowhere safe to put the partition

he loaded absolutely fine , but by time we were ready to go he was beginning to sweat & was actually shaking
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i felt physically sick & was sweating too
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we travelled him home in the left side of the trailer & took it steady , he was absolutely fine!! barely a movement all the way home , not swaeted up & seemed fairly happy but didn't eat his hay

SO , IS IT SAFE TO TRAVEL ONE HORSE ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE TRAILER?? PEOPLE TELL ME NOT BUT AS A DESPERATE MEASURE WE OBVIOUSLY DID & HE SEEMED HAPPY & THE TRAILER FELT NO DIFFERENT TO NORMAL
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Not a good idea really because of the camber of the road..... but try him without the partition, you can obviously safely leave it at the yard, and see how he travels then..... You will need a full width breast bar though. I want to try merlin without partition as he is rubbish on a left hand bend, but have no full width breastbar
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Although the recommendation is always to travel on the right side, to balance out the road camber, it isn't always best for your horse, and I know several (esp mares) that are happier on the left. Sometimes it is simply a better arrangement if your front ramp is on the left side of the trailer too.

Don't tie yourself up in knots about it, it is safe as long as you remember that it would be more likely that your trailer might tip on bends and cambers and drive accordingly with slightly lower speeds
 
Id try without a partition, most horses i know seem to travel better this way. If left is what suits your horse then stick with it, just take it into consideration and drive safely
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This sounds very familier to what Arch started doing a while ago. Again, he was fine to travel b4 and just one day he went bad!
I bought a full width front and back bar and took the partition out and now he's fine. He stand diagonally in the trailer and is as quiet as a mouse.
 
i've been having kittens about this all morning!!

obviously we drive safely but i don't want to compromise the safety of my horse in any way

so , just phoned ifor williams who tell me that there is no legal requirement to travel left side & that to do so is perfectly safe as long as the trailer is driven safely

feel much better now
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Well funnily enough I was at Bateson's trailers this weekend and asked that very question. Apparently if the trailer has an independant suspension it doesn't matter which side they go on, but if it has a leaf suspension (as the Ifor Williams does) then you are best putting the horse on the right (to go with the camber of the road). My old trailer is a leaf suspension and my horse has always travelled badly in it so I travel him with no partition and he usuall stands diagonally across it, with his legs well spread out. I'm getting a Bateson as the independant suspension makes for a smoother ride and hopefully we will both be a bit less stresed out by the travelling experience. Oh, one other thing apparently is that as the Ifors are made to carry 2 horses, having only 1 in makes the suspension even bouncier?
 
My local trailer dealers say the camber of the road reason is an old fashioned view that was probably true at one time but road conditions have moved on, as have trailer stability.

He says there is no problem travelling a single horse on the left and there are a few on our yard who do just that with no problems.
 
I would look at having his pelvis and/or back checked before taking out the partitions. If he has travelled well before and this is a sudden thing with no reason like a bad journey or an accident in my opinion I would say it is a pain thing - especially as you say he is happier stood on the opposite side to normal, maybe it is putting too much pressure on something that hurts on that side. I would nearly put money on it being his pelvis.
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If the horse travels better on the left, then I'd be inclined to do it.

We had a pony on loan which did the same as the OP and she would only travel on the left.

I'd not be so inclined to travel with a partition out as if the horse fell over on a bend (I know you shouldn't travel so fast) then there is a real risk that the pendulum effect could bring it over. If there is less space for a horse to move, then this risk is going to be lowered as it cannot build up momentum!
 
I have a 505 ifor williams, and my horse is 16.2hh always put her on the left as it is easier to get her out of the front ramp the other end! Never had a problem.
 
Flynn has only ever been on the left and hes travelled miles on his onw with no problems!!!
Had a horse that done what yours did, like all of a sudden couldn't stand in the box. Basically he'd be fine without boots but awful with travelling boots on (even just stood in!!) so then just stuck bandages on and he was fine!!!
 
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maybe he has an inner ear infection that has affected his balance!!!

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now thats worth bearing in mind
 
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I would look at having his pelvis and/or back checked before taking out the partitions. If he has travelled well before and this is a sudden thing with no reason like a bad journey or an accident in my opinion I would say it is a pain thing - especially as you say he is happier stood on the opposite side to normal, maybe it is putting too much pressure on something that hurts on that side. I would nearly put money on it being his pelvis.
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again worth bearing in mind , however i'd be very surprised , we were travelling to his first affil elementary comp , the last few weeks he has come on leaps in his training
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I'd not be so inclined to travel with a partition out as if the horse fell over on a bend (I know you shouldn't travel so fast) then there is a real risk that the pendulum effect could bring it over. If there is less space for a horse to move, then this risk is going to be lowered as it cannot build up momentum!

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very good point , i was very reluctant despite suggestions yesterday to try no partition as it would have been a real disaster if he did go over!
 
thanks everyone for the great suggestions , he was fine last night & this am so i'll just keep an eye on him physically , i have also ordered some travel pads to use with bandages instead of boots so they are less cumbersome on his legs & will travel him left side for now as he seemed ok that way & all the good experiences people have quoted have made me feel confident that i won't be putting him at risk

not often i have crisis of confidence but you lot have quickly dispelled it
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I always travel mine without a partition now as he was quite literally climbing the trailer walls with it in (very scary!). I had a full width breastbar made (much cheaper than buying one). He now travels pretty perfectly. He's cross tied so he can't try to turn round.

I always drive carefully round corners anyway so it's been fine....
 
We used to take a big horse with us in the trailer and he developed and inner ear infection and has trouble staying upright, so i definitely think its worth checking out, he is fine now though.
 
The first time I took my horse out in the trailer I travelled him on the right, and after a couple of miles was concerned at the amount of noise and movement, so stopped to find that he had leaned so hard against the partition it had collapsed, (this was in my old Lambourn trailer). Extracted him very carefully, re-built the trailer (!), put him back in (bless him!) on the left and travelled him very happily on the left ever since in an IW510. He's 16.3. I drive quite slowly and steadily and never found any problem with cambers etc.
 
Always travel mine on her own on the left side because if I put her in on the right she panics and kicks the trailer to pieces.

There's very little camber on most roads these days and as others said, in an Ifor, it's easier to get them out if they're on the left as they don't bang their hips on the right hand door edge as they unload.
 
My horse is "peter perfect" - always travelled in trailer no problem (with others). Yesterday the strangest thing happened. We were travelling him with our new, young horse for the first time - using him as an example of being perfect in every way - I put him on a different side as the other horse is heavier. Ten minutes into the journey the most terribles noises - figured it was the new one settling in. More noise - got out - partner went into back, all looked OK but decide to travel a short distance (yes I know you should not!) to see what was going on and it was my horse! My partner thought he had done something serious to himself as he looked like he was trying to sit down, he was staggering from side to side, crashing into the wall of the trailer and the partition - he looked like he had lost his balance and something serious neurologically was going on. Got him out and he was as sound as a pound - no problem, no balance problems but decided to walk him home as it looked so horrific and my nerves would not take it... got home - tried him again a short distance on his usual side, and although slightly better, when he went round corners, he threw himself from one side to the other like a mega drama queen. I now wonder if he has always travelled in this dramatic way and I just never knew - but he never sweated up, no problems at all - does not mind the trailer at all - really odd. The box we have is a big Ifor Williams and although he is 16.1, there is a lot of spare room in it - am wondering if to get some sort of foam balast down the side for him to make him feel more secure or perhaps buy a horse box (bit radical - but hey it is only money). I did wonder about an inner ear balance problem, but I rode him later that day and he was absolutely fine - but looking at him in the trailer I really thought he was a dog food job. Any ideas - anyone had anything similar?????
 
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