Travelling horses in trailers

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AnnieHitchen

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My horse recently injured himself when we were travelling back from a competition in our Ifor Williams trailer. It was only a half an hour journey but in that time he managed to pull both back shoes off and cut himself on numerous places down his legs despite wearing full leg protection. He started to thrash around as soon as we left the venue and continued the whole journey home. We parked up and had a peek at him after about 10 minutes of travelling as we were seriously worried about him and when I looked in through the grooms door he was sweating and wasn't in his usual stance which he uses to balance himself. He usually travels very well, so much so that we can't even tell he's on but on maybe three or four occasions he's travelled poorly, this last one being the worst. The only thing which we think we may have changed is the side on which he was travelling, he travels on the right hand side. These few occasions which we have travelled him on the left being because he's being travelling with another horse or the last time because he had left droppings on his normal side which we didn't want him to have to stand in for a whole journey home. Talking to someone today, they said that they can only travel their horse on a certain side or he panics. Has anyone else had a similar experience? Any helpful advice is very much appreciated!
 
AnnieHitchen that is the lamest excuse I have ever heard......shakes head in bewilderment!

Just use your foot to move the dropping, why risk your horses welfare!

Have the horse checked by a chiropractor as it is known that horses with back problems find standing still in the float hard.
 
My horse does all that too if there is a partition, without one he's fine. Over the years I have come across the odd horse who would only travel safely on a particular side, which side depends on the individual horse's preference but mostly it seems to be on the right, behind the driver. We wondered if it had something to do with the camber of the road as it would be less towards the middle of the road.
 
yup some horses have to have particular ways to travel. My tb wouldn't travel with a partition - when we brought him home from the sales he put a hole in a sound floor, luckily, although he ripped his boots he didn't go all the way through and hurt himself. That was with a partition, we travelled him without any partition and he was fine.
 
My boy travels both sides very well, but is a dream on his own, cross tied with full width breech and bum bars. Your local Ifor dealer should sell them, they r about £50 each.
 
Costypop you right, if you have the centre partition and there is only one horse travelling they must always be on the right because of the weight and the camber of the road. If there are two horses, the larger one should travel on the right.
 
What a bizarre comment about the poo! Carry a shovel with you ?! My horse constantly poops when he's travelling, I think it's a nervous/ excited thing . If I was to remove the poo we'd never get anywhere!

Mine had generally always travelled on the left as he's usually the smallest, but if he's on his own we take the partition out . I find they travel much better without it.
 
holeymoley said:
What a bizarre comment about the poo! Carry a shovel with you ?! My horse constantly poops when he's travelling, I think it's a nervous/ excited thing . If I was to remove the poo we'd never get anywhere!

Mine had generally always travelled on the left as he's usually the smallest, but if he's on his own we take the partition out . I find they travel much better without it.
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We usually do carry a shovel with us but on this particular occasion it was a short journey and we weren't prepared. Thanks for the advice.
 
Tnavas said:
AnnieHitchen that is the lamest excuse I have ever heard......shakes head in bewilderment!

Just use your foot to move the dropping, why risk your horses welfare!

Have the horse checked by a chiropractor as it is known that horses with back problems find standing still in the float hard.
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Please don't be nasty, I'm devastated about what's happened and I would never do anything to put my horses welfare at risk. He hadn't only done a few droppings he'd had a wee and made a right mess so it wasn't fair to travel him on that side. It was a short journey and we weren't prepared with a shovel ect. to clean his mess out with. He has been checked out by fully physio who has said that he is fine.
 
Joandripple said:
Costypop you right, if you have the centre partition and there is only one horse travelling they must always be on the right because of the weight and the camber of the road. If there are two horses, the larger one should travel on the right.
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My horse is the smaller one but I don't want to travel him on the left due to this issue he has.
 
I can never understand why people travel their horses with nothing to absorb the poo or urine. Rubber matting is there to make standing for a long time more comfortable, it gets slippery with even just a dung, horse treads on dung and squeezes water out of dung, floor now slippery.

Always put straw or sawdust down on the floor. Personally I use straw as the dung vanishes under it. I have horses with many white socks so can't have them standing in dung all the way to a show. You wouldn't leave them in that state if just tied up outside!

Straw and shavings also deaden sound too so are great for nervous travellers. I hear so many of these horse having problems when travelling, situations we never had when it was a standard, normal thing to do to put straw down on the floor of the trailer.
 
Tnavas said:
I can never understand why people travel their horses with nothing to absorb the poo or urine. Rubber matting is there to make standing for a long time more comfortable, it gets slippery with even just a dung, horse treads on dung and squeezes water out of dung, floor now slippery.

Always put straw or sawdust down on the floor. Personally I use straw as the dung vanishes under it. I have horses with many white socks so can't have them standing in dung all the way to a show. You wouldn't leave them in that state if just tied up outside!

Straw and shavings also deaden sound too so are great for nervous travellers. I hear so many of these horse having problems when travelling, situations we never had when it was a standard, normal thing to do to put straw down on the floor of the trailer.
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I had never thought about travelling him with shavings/straw but that seems a very good idea. Thank you for the advice
 
Is no one going to mention the obvious?
get the tyre pressures checked on the car and trailer.
Get the trailer serviced.
What the driver like?
Put a camera in, a reversing one should cost £50 tops.
 
You could of asked someone for a broom?

It's most umcomfortable for horses to travel on the left, especially when the right side is empty as the weight of the horsebox doesn't travel around the corners of the road well, which means the horse won't, some will tolerate it yes, but others as you have found cant. Next time ask around if are in need of anything away from home, most people are accommodating. And put some shavings down
 
AnnieHitchen said:
Please don't be nasty, I'm devastated about what's happened and I would never do anything to put my horses welfare at risk. He hadn't only done a few droppings he'd had a wee and made a right mess so it wasn't fair to travel him on that side. It was a short journey and we weren't prepared with a shovel ect. to clean his mess out with. He has been checked out by fully physio who has said that he is fine.
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Nobody is being nasty!! We are simply pointing out that it is preferable for the horse to travel standing in urine/dung than to be unbalanced in the kerbside of the float (sorry trailer!) when he is on his own!! Actually you did unknowingly compromise his welfare by doing this, and I am sure you won't do it again!!!! Incidentally I have bucket, broom and shovel permamently fastened in the front of my float - they are the most used items I carry with me!!!
 
From personal experience...............a horse that has previously travelled fine in the same trailer and now is behaving dramatically............then the actual trailer has to be of concern.
When was your trailer last serviced by a fully qualified trailer engineer ? It could be that something is happening underneath that your horse can feel through the floor...vibration for example !! When this happened to me, I had bought a brand new trailer...I/W 510 from a reputable dealer. My horse was an experienced traveller...some 10,000 miles a year. First trip in new trailer was a night mare....throwing herself to the floor etc..........Subsequent trips were worse.
Took trailer back to dealer.............. further investigtions revealed the floor wasn't fixed down !!!!!! Aluminium plank flooring was rising up and down. !!!!!!!!!! The mare was right..............the trailer had a fault.
Listen to your horse....if this behaviour is out of character, then something maybe wrong.
All horse trailers should be serviced by a fully trained trailer engineer once a year..............not the local garage/husband/boyfriend etc unless fully qualified.
 
Regardless of why it happened, poo or no poo its irrelevant, going forward either don't ever put him in the other side as sounds like that might of kicked it off or best thing in my eyes take the partition out and buy full length breast bars off eBay for £50

My horse used to panic now with no partion he is happy as larry and never once had a issue with him.


And please put shavings down, it makes my skin crawl when I see poor horses travelling on rubber matting after knowing of two horses who slipped on pee and ended up wedged under partions - it's just not worth the risk - EVER.
 
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I was thinking you need to get your trailer checked too. And make sure you travel on the right in future due to road camber,


I don't use bedding our rubber mats are so ridged they don't really get slippy so I think they are better without (and I just bandage white socks I need to keep clean!)
 
ester said:
I was thinking you need to get your trailer checked too. And make sure you travel on the right in future due to road camber,


I don't use bedding our rubber mats are so ridged they don't really get slippy so I think they are better without (and I just bandage white socks I need to keep clean!)
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Ester, you would be surprised how slippery wet rubber can be, regardless of the rigidity. From decades of experience, it is worth putting down a few inches of shavings.

Not only does it reduce the risk of skipping, it muffles road noise and its a damn sight easier to clean up any dung. Also keeps the smell Dow.

Mine being a Clydesdale has long white socks, sawdust or straw protects the ends of the feather.
 
AnnieHitchen said:
Please don't be nasty, I'm devastated about what's happened and I would never do anything to put my horses welfare at risk. He hadn't only done a few droppings he'd had a wee and made a right mess so it wasn't fair to travel him on that side. It was a short journey and we weren't prepared with a shovel ect. to clean his mess out with. He has been checked out by fully physio who has said that he is fine.
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you did put your horses welfare at risk! (so he did not step in poo!!!) the reason for traveling a single or the heaviest horse towards the centre of the road is due to the increased risk of the trailer tipping if the heavy weight it on the curb side, this is due to the camber of the road already tipping the trailer .

the kerb side is a much bumpier ride due to drains and pot holes and he may also have spent the journey feeling like he was going to tip over-travel him on the safe side and problem solved. you may be restricted to only travelling him alone or with smaller horse/ponies so he does not have to travel kerb side but it he is moving about a lot due to feeling unsafe then you dont have much choice
 
HI Anne

I had a terrible experience a while ago now but still remains in my head. Horse, for not reason went crazy all of a sudden in trailer and nearly over turned it. I was terrified and could travel again for nearly a year! All I can say is that I tried everything, as mentioned in your replies to this, but one thing that worked for us, was these calmer cookies that give out different levels of serotonin, for different problems, so I had the strongest one they did! Takes 45 mins and all is history. PM me for company is you wish.
 
The most likely explanation for the horse travelling badly is that he did not like being on the kerb side when travelling alone .
You should never do this the ride quality is poor and it's potentially very dangerous .I would get all the tyre pressures checked and the trailer serviced if its due just in case.
As soon as you can I would take the horse for a short drive with him on the outside hopefully he will be fine .
I would not be rushing to remove the petition of anything esle if he travels ok next time lesson learned you wont make the mistake again .
It's my experiance that once horses get a fright travel boots panic them so I never use them so my next thing to do would to dump the boots and apply proper travel bandages or if that does not work nothing .
 
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