Travelling fear & nerves (human!!!)

[bubsqueaks]

Hi,
I have always found so much useful information on this forum that I thought I would seek some advice in the hope of reassuring my nerves! Due to a towing accident several years ago I am very nervous about transporting horses. After years of towing & always being convinced that the trailer would detach from the hitch up the first hill! I have now upgraded to a horsebox which coincides with the purchase of my daughters bigger horse. How very lucky & lovely you might be thinking!? The first issue was getting him on the damn box, which through patience & practice we have now (fingers crossed) conquered! The next hurdle is taking him somewhere, yikes, my daughter has so many plans but I am just so nervous about the whole thing to the point that I have put some sedative in the horse first aid kit convinced he may go nuts in the box! So there it is - very interested to hear other peoples experiences & advice as to ideas on how to keep calm without taking the sedative myself!

 

[milliepops]

have you got an experienced person who could come with you for a couple of trips just until you get over the initial worries? Provide a bit of reassurance and perhaps make you feel less anxious about how you will cope?

 

[Landcruiser]

I was very nervous when I started towing a trailer, but I got used to it eventually. I was downright terrified when I got my 7.5 ton box! I think one of the most helpful things I did was to have a proper driving lesson from a lorry driving instructor (who has her own horses and massive HGV lorry). I drove my own lorry, about 3 hours, through lanes, villages, a TOWN!!!, up and down hills....the lot. She told me right at the start to imagine I had a full bucket of water in the back, and the idea was not to spill any.
I was mentally and physically exhausted, and about £180 quid lighter after 3 hours, but it was money and time extremely well spent.

 

[Under-the-radar]

If I were you, I would first of all go and drive your new lorry around empty - as much as you can. Once you can reassure yourself that you can cope with the dimensions and driving of the lorry, it is at least one aspect of the stress of the situation you can reduce (if not entirely relieve).

How old is your daughter? Is she old enough to cope with the horse *if* he should do something when you are travelling? If you are able to have your daughter well instructed on how to cope with any eventualities, this will mean you can focus on driving.

I am also a nervous traveller - despite my old horse being an exceptionally good traveller - I would always find something to be worried about when I was taking her somewhere. Taking each journey one step at a time, breaking it down into manageable chunks really helped me. So I would just focus on getting the lorry out, ramp down and ready for use first. Then focus on getting the horse ready, banadages, travel rug etc. Then focus on loading.

My younger horse is a bit more of an anxious traveller and I have found it really useful for her and me to load her up and then leave her on the box for 5-10 minutes, while I go and make my travel mug up, get my phone, go to the loo etc. It's just a bit of breathing space before we actually depart. It also means she has settled and is eating her hay before we actually move anywhere.

Always leave yourself plenty of time to get anywhere - if you get stuck in traffic or behind a tractor, it means you can just settle back and not be worrying about being late.

Definitely agree with MP about taking an experienced person with you - someone you can talk to. If you voice your concerns it can sometimes be help to reduce the anxious thoughts - a problem shared and all that .

I hope that might help a bit

 

[bubsqueaks]

Thank you for your replies, I do feel better already having shared my fears!
I am absolutely fine driving the lorry, its a 6.5 tonne & drives like a van, my main concern is if the new horse starts stressing, rearing, kitcking, when I am driving along & how to manage that. My daughter is 16 so yes would be of help & I think you are right in that I need to get somebody experienced to come with me as a back up/comfort until we have more trust in him. I was also thinking of putting a lick on the wall as I know licking de-stresses them.

 

[Micropony]

I was a bit anxious when I got my box last summer, but that was through having no experience whatsoever of driving horses and the fact that I was travelling my youngster whose only experience of travelling was being imported as a baby by professional horse transporters.

I drove the box empty quite a lot, and got someone very experienced to do his first trip. That really really helped as she was really clear that the little noises I would have been anxious about were just very slight movement on his part, not him being upset. Having a camera so I could see exactly what was going on was also really helpful. The fact that he travels beautifully is probably a major factor too!

 

[debsflo]

When I first started towing I used the rescue remedy pastilles. Always did short journeys and built them up and just got more confident the more we did until we were out every week at pony club and wasn't phased at all. Try not to overthink and just plan sensibly ie have breakdown cover , vets details , first aid kit and then practice empty just to get used to it. I would love a little box and it's on my list but think it's quite normal to be anxious.