emfen1305
Well-Known Member
Hi everyone, looking for a bit of advice! My boy has always been fine travelling, he has been in trailers, 3.5t and 7.5t and never had a problem and mostly travelled in 3.5t. He started playing up loading a little bit but would always go on with some carrots and a bit of pressure (occasionally he would throw in some rears but once on he was fine!) He had always had good journeys up until recently when I took him to Leahurst for a lameness work up which resulted in hock injections. He travelled fine on the Monday, the transporter said he didn't make a peep and I followed behind but then we picked him up on the Friday (this time I travelled with him) we had a bit of a trauma!
I knew he wasn't quite right when I went to load him as he went into rearing straight away even without pressure - usually rearing is his way of having a tantrum if I don't quite release quick enough when he moves forward. I managed to get him on but he was stressed from the word go, kicking and striking out and then as soon as we got on the motorway he started rearing. On the final time he went right up and put his foot on the anti-weave grill and got stuck. Luckily the transporter pulled straight over and with a bit of brute force we managed to get him down, luckily the grill gave way. He was visibly very stressed, was dripping wet and shaking. I called the vet and they came with 20 mins and gave him a fair whack of sedation and we managed to get him back safely.
He is now back to normal (this was around 2 weeks ago) but we are looking towards summer shows and booking transport to go once a month to a local riding club around 20 mins drive away. I can hack there but it'll take around an hour and half and he has four white legs so my question is do I dare travel him again? The transporter I used has since had the box converted to a have a totally separate groom area and full head partitions like a stallion box and if i don't use her i'll definitely look for something identical so when do you think is too soon to start travelling again? Should I leave him until the start of the show season (April) and then just try then or get something booked in monthly like some practice (short 10 minute drives building up to 20 mins?
Many thanks
I knew he wasn't quite right when I went to load him as he went into rearing straight away even without pressure - usually rearing is his way of having a tantrum if I don't quite release quick enough when he moves forward. I managed to get him on but he was stressed from the word go, kicking and striking out and then as soon as we got on the motorway he started rearing. On the final time he went right up and put his foot on the anti-weave grill and got stuck. Luckily the transporter pulled straight over and with a bit of brute force we managed to get him down, luckily the grill gave way. He was visibly very stressed, was dripping wet and shaking. I called the vet and they came with 20 mins and gave him a fair whack of sedation and we managed to get him back safely.
He is now back to normal (this was around 2 weeks ago) but we are looking towards summer shows and booking transport to go once a month to a local riding club around 20 mins drive away. I can hack there but it'll take around an hour and half and he has four white legs so my question is do I dare travel him again? The transporter I used has since had the box converted to a have a totally separate groom area and full head partitions like a stallion box and if i don't use her i'll definitely look for something identical so when do you think is too soon to start travelling again? Should I leave him until the start of the show season (April) and then just try then or get something booked in monthly like some practice (short 10 minute drives building up to 20 mins?
Many thanks