Travelling a frightened horse

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zoe101982

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Hi, I have been looking for someone to full loan my horse and think I have found the perfect person, the only problem is she lives about an hour away and would obviously need to move my horse over to her. My horse had an accident in a trailer a few years ago with a previous owner and is now frightened of boxes. I know we could have her sedated but I just wondered if anyone else had a horse who was actually frightened of travelling and how traumatic she may find it if she is sedated 1st, is it worth an hour of her being unhappy for the sake of a life in a lovely new home, or could it do more harm than good?
She also has shivers so any help from anyone who has sedated a shiverer would also be useful as I am unsure how it would affect her.
Obviously I will be speaking to a vet about this also.
 
My friends horse had a nasty experience in a trailer and was a nightmare to travel father that. When it came to her moving yards he had the horse sedated and he vet followed in he car (45mins journey) just in case she needed a top up! We didn't hear a squeak from her, unloaded fine and was none the worse for a bit of dope ;)!!!

I wouldn't considering travelling without drugs if there is any chance it could be dangerous.......
 
zoe101982 said:
Hi, I have been looking for someone to full loan my horse and think I have found the perfect person, the only problem is she lives about an hour away and would obviously need to move my horse over to her. My horse had an accident in a trailer a few years ago with a previous owner and is now frightened of boxes. I know we could have her sedated but I just wondered if anyone else had a horse who was actually frightened of travelling and how traumatic she may find it if she is sedated 1st, is it worth an hour of her being unhappy for the sake of a life in a lovely new home, or could it do more harm than good?
She also has shivers so any help from anyone who has sedated a shiverer would also be useful as I am unsure how it would affect her.
Obviously I will be speaking to a vet about this also.
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I had an accident with my mare when I brought her. 15 month old mare never traveled. Drove from wales to XXXX in the Uk.. 6 hours, when the trailer started to snake snake more and more and more.......... next thing we are facing the wrong way up motorway trailer on its side roof gone off the trailer horse galloping up and down M4 trying to jump central reservation. Filly running up and down M4 took 2 passing cars my b/f 2 policeman and driver of lamborne horse boxes to catch her and put her in horse box.


I left her 2 years before starting to feed her near a lorry took my time end result traveled like a dream and loved going in lorry.

I think you need to do some work on her prior to loaning as new owners are going to need to travel her at some point. Have you told them she does not travel???
 
Yes they know she doesn't travel, i made that clear in my advert that i was looking for someone local but this just sounds too good to pass up if its not going to be too traumatic for her. Could the sedation make her unsteady on her feet though? I've never had to sedate before so don't know what to expect .
 
I've not travelled a frightened horse sedated but we travelled my friend's mare several hours for colic surgery. She was heavily sedated to keep her comfortable and settled for the journey and was steady on her feet for the whole journey. The partition provides a lot of support for them but, even though you want to get there, go nice and slow and take it really steady and gentle. If you can borrow a cctv type thing (you can get video baby monitors for £30 or so) to keep an eye on her, also if it was a trailer she had the accident in could you borrow a lorry to travel her as it will be different for her and might not be as scary.

I would say it is worth it for the new life - we loaned my tb out to a new home 350 miles away and he wasn't the best traveller. We solved it with light sedation with sedalin and no partition (he didn't like the smallness) and he was fine.
 
zoe101982 said:
Yes they know she doesn't travel, i made that clear in my advert that i was looking for someone local but this just sounds too good to pass up if its not going to be too traumatic for her. Could the sedation make her unsteady on her feet though? I've never had to sedate before so don't know what to expect .
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There is a percentage of sedation you can use, over that its too much.

I cannot say for your horse as each reacts differently to sedation, my boy for clipping tiniest amount as he is out. Speak to you vet ask them how much they would normally use or have used on her before.
 
Could you not try to hack her? If you took it slowly over the course of a day with rest breaks etc? You might be able to use bridle paths etc to reduce the distance.
 
Thanks for all your posts, i don't think it would be possible to hack her as its an hours drive and most of that is on the motorway so would be a lot longer trying to use other roads. We will speak to the vet. Im not sure if she would be travelling by trailer or box as the loaner would be arranging it.
 
A horse I shared was petrified of travelling ... had to sedate everytime... including when his owner decided to fly him to the states... he will be flying home again soon... still not got over his fear of travelling!!

Speak to your vet for advice but I would definitely try feeding near or on a trailer or lorry or even just the ramp if possible.
 
If you sedate with dom/torb this is the best sedation for keeping them on their feet and happily under, personally would not use acp or sedivet as ive found they can come out of these and panic.
Would def take a companion along for the journey that is a good traveller to help keep her calm.
 
A companion would be a great idea but i don't have another and wouldn't really want to put anyone elses through a 2 hour round trip unless the new loaner wanted to bring one of hers but that would be a horse she didn't know which could make it even worse maybe?
 
My boy gets anxious and worked up by the sight of the trailer, tho once on he does travel reasonably well. We give him a calming agent in a tube 30mins before travel to take the edge off him. I have taken him to the vet clinic several times where they have hadtp to sedate him heavily for X-rays and scans, then he was loaded in the trailer to go home, still dopey from the sedation. He travelled home fine each time, tho I went very slowly especially around corners, knowing that his mind and reflexes were on the slow side from sedation
 
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