Travelling horses in trailers

Goldenstar said:
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 .
Click to expand...

Thank you for the very helpful advice. I shall definitely have a short practice run with him on the right and see how he reacts. I am wary to remove the partition also. And I will sort out some bandages for him. Many Thanks, Annie
 
I always travel mine on the right, but that is by good luck rather than planning, so looking at the replies here it's just as well! It totally makes sense so at least I know now!
 
Hi Annie,

I just replied about the same thing on another similar thread. This sounds very like what my horse used to do and I did a tonne of research into it, it's actually quite common. The usual things that happen are:

- horse has always travelled fine in past
- no particular reason for problem starting that anyone can tell
- horse often seems calm but then suddenly throws itself against side of trailer. Some horses only do this going round bends in a certain direction, others just whenever they feel the side of the trailer on their hip (e.g. If they move even when trailer is stationery.

It's actually quite common but there's no name for it or anything, I call is triller scrabbling. Of all the cases I've heard of, many have had vets and all sorts check them for a million things but with no joy. Trailers checked too.

The thing that nearly always see,s to work is allowing more room to spread the back legs - so travel the horse with the partition pulled to one side (and obviously held securely). Or better with no partition at all if your trailer allows you to do so safely with a single breast bar. So,e horses are also better with those partitions that only go half way down or have just a rubber flap on the lower half, as this also allows more room for them.

I hope this helps you. Good luck!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top