Travelling horse in low temperatures

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TPO

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After some advice on travelling in low temperatures please. I don't tend to go anywhere when it's this cold so after some opinions on horse and trailer set up.

We're back to the vet hospital on Thursday and it's forecast to still be cold. It's saying around 2 degrees but feels like -2 or lower with wind chill.

I've got an older 511 without sliding windows. I always travel with roof vent open and only close the top back door behind him of it's torrential rain. Would you still open roof vent in low temps?

Then, how would you dress him? He's unclipped and plump (on purpose, to give him a buffer if he's ill) and doesn't sweat up when travelling. I usually travel him in a Back on Track sheet if it's milder.

His options are that, a fleece rug or a lw stable rug. He's been wearing a 220gm MW in the field and 200gm stable rug during these low temps. I don't want him using a single calorie to heat himself, he's to use all the calories to stay well and be plump. He's always the correct temperature under his rugs and isn't too warm or sweating.

Sorry for idiot questions. In these temps the furthest I've travelled out of choice is 20mins to arena hire and he's been fine in his BoT. It'll be an hour to the vet hospital with the weather and traffic. TIA
 
Yes, it's just the mesh sheet not the thicker rugs.

Thanks. I'm probably overthinking but I don't want him getting a chill or getting sweaty.

I did order one of the haynet hangers that you posted about the other day. Thank you, I didn't knownthry existed

Thanks. He's looking amazing so I wasn't worried about this month's bloods at all, rookie mistake! Low albumin is the usual marker of something going wrong but it's perfectly happy. Unfortunately every other inflammation marker is off the scale with no obvious cause.

The lab report has words like Lymphocytosis, hyper globulinaemia and increased amyloid A serum (range is 0-20, he is 230) in the comments. My vet said it was fine and nothing to worry about but vet hospital said the opposite given there is no obvious cause of inflammation.

They said I could wait 10 days and retest or be proactive and get him in for a scan and investigation, along with fresh bloods. So off to hospital we go 🫠
 
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TPO said:
After some advice on travelling in low temperatures please. I don't tend to go anywhere when it's this cold so after some opinions on horse and trailer set up.

We're back to the vet hospital on Thursday and it's forecast to still be cold. It's saying around 2 degrees but feels like -2 or lower with wind chill.

I've got an older 511 without sliding windows. I always travel with roof vent open and only close the top back door behind him of it's torrential rain. Would you still open roof vent in low temps?

Then, how would you dress him? He's unclipped and plump (on purpose, to give him a buffer if he's ill) and doesn't sweat up when travelling. I usually travel him in a Back on Track sheet if it's milder.

His options are that, a fleece rug or a lw stable rug. He's been wearing a 220gm MW in the field and 200gm stable rug during these low temps. I don't want him using a single calorie to heat himself, he's to use all the calories to stay well and be plump. He's always the correct temperature under his rugs and isn't too warm or sweating.

Sorry for idiot questions. In these temps the furthest I've travelled out of choice is 20mins to arena hire and he's been fine in his BoT. It'll be an hour to the vet hospital with the weather and traffic. TIA
Click to expand...
Nothing to add but good luck
 
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Literally travelled my hairy TB back from the vet hospital yesterday in snowy/icy weather, the roads were clear but snow on the ground. Was about 0-2C. I had him in a thicker fleece rug (Rambo fleece) and the back top doors open and side windows open. I wanted some air flow. He was fine in there for an hour and not sweaty.

I wouldn’t have driven in those conditions if I didn’t have to mind!
 
I would definitely have the rear doors open, and travel him in a light fleece. They do get warm when travelling and you don't want him getting too hot.

I would never travel with the front window open, in case something flies in. Same as I would never let a dog stick their head out of the car window, although I know some people are less risk adverse than me.

However I would also take a thicker turnout rug with you, in case something happens and you end up having to take him off the trailer for any reason. In this weather, anything can happen and I would want to be prepared for the worst.
 
I tend to retire my turnouts as stable rugs after a few years, and I've traveled in them quite a bit, they're usually a bit more breathable than stable rugs. I generally leave back doors open so it's not sweaty and rug up as in the stable. Never had anything arrive either sweaty or cold like that
 
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Mine travelled to the vet yesterday in a thermatex, he's trace clipped with plenty of hair on the unclipped parts. Side windows were open and the back has a mesh screen not a top door. He was fine when he got there, not too hot. A journey which normally takes 50min took 90mins very heavy, slow traffic.
 
If the trailer roof is icy the horse’s body heat can thaw it causing icy condensation to drip onto the poor animal.
I think this may have contributed to our pony having a panic attack in the trailer on the way home from a very frosty Christmas holiday PC rally.
Depends on where/how the trailer is stored/the weather/length of trip/ventilation.
 
I really like travelling them in BoT or ionic etc rug so I'd probably go BoT with a fleece over it and as others have suggested take a few extra rugs just in case you end up hanging around.

Hope it goes ok at the vets 🤞
 
Thanks for the replies and good wishes.

I don't have the option of opening windows but in my previous trailers I'd partially open them. I'm pretty risk adverse too and always shudder when I see people driving with their dogs hanging the windows too @JennBags 🙈

He doesn't need to be there until 2pm so everything will be thawed for leaving at 12.30 (famous last words!), so hopefully an icy roof isn't an issue. Although I hadn't considered that at all so thank you.

I'm always over prepared and travel with a first aid kit, breakdown kit, fire extinguisher, spare headcollar and rugs. Which had just reminded me that I have to look half of that stuff out again!
 
I tend to think vents and open doors are for their breathing/airways when travelling so keep those open and then rug for warmth. Ambers not clipped so she had a fleece on for her 30 mins trip to the vets on Monday with all the vents and windows open (equitreck) and she was fine like that.
 
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No advice but I went to clean mine out yesterday and couldn’t get any of the doors open so maybe keep that in mind if these temperatures stay 😅
 
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Good suggestions above but it's hard to tell as I think some horses 'run' warmer than others.

I would take several options with you so if when you arrive he's too warm / too cold you can change to something else for return trip
I'd also have warmer options in case you have to wait around on arrival / while they look at stuff
 
If unclipped and dry, horses are remarkably good at thermoregulation as long as have fibre to eat. I don't think I would worry too much about it other than getting too hot.
 
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TPO I’ve just this morning sent my unclipped Friesian off to horsepital naked..it’s was minus 4 when she left…two hour drive.If she’s sweaty on arrival they will put a cooler on to dry off. Hope your horsey gets better soon.
 
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TPO said:
Thanks for the replies and good wishes.

I don't have the option of opening windows but in my previous trailers I'd partially open them. I'm pretty risk adverse too and always shudder when I see people driving with their dogs hanging the windows too @JennBags 🙈

He doesn't need to be there until 2pm so everything will be thawed for leaving at 12.30 (famous last words!), so hopefully an icy roof isn't an issue. Although I hadn't considered that at all so thank you.

I'm always over prepared and travel with a first aid kit, breakdown kit, fire extinguisher, spare headcollar and rugs. Which had just reminded me that I have to look half of that stuff out again!
Click to expand...
You could purposely park it somewhere that gets the sun the night before and it was be pretty much guarenteed to have thawed by 12.30 that way.


Best of luck! Hope it all go's well
 
Thanks for the good wishes and help.

Went with roof vent open and his panda fleece 😅. He was a bit stressed leaving his pals so I was worried he'd sweat up but he was absolutely fine.

I've over egged the "a bit of extra weight as a buffer". When he was initially ill he was under 437kg, his last weight check he was 497kg. Today he was 558kg 🙈😳 In my slight defence, he doesn't look that bad and my local vet was out last week and said he was in perfect condition. I asked in case I'd gone blind to it, which clearly I have. So he's got 30-40kg to lose now 😬

His scan went fine. His duodenum is 4-5mm. 4mm is healthy but he's been up at 11mm before. So no obvious signs of anything being wrong.

They've taken more bloods to send to Rossdales so they can compare like for like, rather than do them in house. It'll be Monday until we get the results now.

If amyloid serum A is back to normal we're just going to ignore this blip. If it's not he'll need further investigation but they don't know what to investigate. Outwardly he's clinically well and has shown so signs of being unwell, a virus (closed herd) or anything like a skin infection.

So I'm none the wiser but a bit poorer, the usual!

He's not been vaccinated since 2022 due to all this. I got the tetanus antibodies test done with his last bloods and he's still showing that's he has antibodies and is covered. So some good news.


Thanks again 😊
 
I'm really glad your trip went well, and all signs point to him being well. I hope it was just a blip; you've put so much thought and effort into setting him up to stay well this winter already, and you've both been through so many challenges you deserve good luck and health now.
 
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