Travelling in Trailer Advice

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Luckylocalian

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Right upon recommendation from nice people on this forum I have bought a single breast bar and am going to try and travel my big boy in the trailer open plan so to speak. Please are there any other safety precautions that I should take in light of the fact that he will not have a center partition? I will cross tie him but how tightly should he be tied? Also how will this affect towing esp around corners - how slowly should I go? Many thanks in anticipation - feel very overwhelmed! L x
 
I've never travelled a horse without a centre partition, but I cross tie my horse and I'd say make them loose enough so he can reach his haynet, but tight enough so he can't turn round - I think that would be particularly important without a partition, as if he gets his head round he might get the idea of turning right round.
 

I have recently put a full width breat and bum bar in my trailer and it doenst affect towing at all and Horsey is much much happier.

The only problem I have found with the bars though, is because they dont hang like the half width ones, you have to take them off to load / unload your horses. Does that make sence?
 
Thank you both. I have not bought a rear one cause firstly the manufacturers told me not to bother and secondly people on here said you probably didn't need one and thirdly they are expensive and I wanted to see whether he preferred it before I paid another whack out. I have however for the moment put a chain covered in plastic attached on either side (like what you put in front on the stable when door open) round the back. They are really heavy so bit worried about having to take it off to unload?!

How slow should I be going around corners - don't want to be too grannyish but rather that than too fast... any recommendations? x
 
I travel my horse like this and have no problems...I would drive slowly and carefully as a matter of course regardless of whether there is a partition in or not. I cross tie and have a slight slackness either side in the rope so he can reach his haynet but not be turning round to look behind.
 
I thought about removing my partitions and travelling my horse in this way - as he sounded like he was going down in the trailer while i was driving! However slow i went!
I invested in wireless cctv for my trailer so i could see what he was up to - having got extremely frustrated stopping to check him and finding a quite happy horse in the back of the trailer! I am not sure why you are going for the removal of the partition but i thought i would just let you know about the cctv idea.. By removing your partition you will only ever be able to travel your horse on his own which isn't always suitable for everyone - hope that helps :-)
 
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By removing your partition you will only ever be able to travel your horse on his own which isn't always suitable for everyone - hope that helps :-)

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I'm a bit confused by this
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Why would you not be able to put the partition back in and travel two?
 
My mare was a poor loader when I bought her - had to be sedated for everything and even then she was dangerous. Last July I had an expert in loading issues come and help me, he was called Grant Bazin - he rides for Monty Roberts and also works with Kelly Marks.

He said that we should travel my mare without the centre partition as this will give her more ability to balance and feel safe within the box. He recommended cross tying her, but give her enough slack so that she can reach either side of the box as if there was a haynet there for her.

Oh - another tip - see if your farrier can make you a breast/tail bar. Mine did! Has turned out just as good as the Ifor ones but at half the price.

Larger horses will struggle to balance in trailers with centre partitions, so you should find that your horse finds corners and roundabouts easier when he is travelled 'open plan'! He shouldn't really need to move - just give it a go and see how you get on! Maybe you can get somebody to follow your trailer when you go for a test drive, and film the back of the trailer? That way you can easily see how he reacts to the different corners etc.

Good luck, and hope your boy likes it!
 
Posted before about my mare travelling with no partitions, a single bar at front and chain behind. She was extremely happy to stand diagonally, they can balance much better this way but would still have her chest against the front bar for an emergency stop (which happened once when a stag jumped out in front of my 4x4!) Like others have said, I cross-tied loosely enough so that she could stand diagonally. Other than that I didn't go any differently - drive slowly anyway. I'm sure that you will get more confident after a few goes, they are much happier than you would imagine!
 
In the Ifors you can unload frontwards without fully removing the breast bar as I found out when my boy was making it dangerous for me to try and take the breast bar out and keep him still at the same time. If you undo both clips and lift one side out (the right side/ramp side) it will swivel and rest safely on an angle from the left side across the jockey door and to the nose of the trailer, leaving plenty of room to unload your horse. If your horse stands patiently though then I'd still remove it all before unloading.
I tried the cross tying and couldnt decide on the length of rope to give him as I wanted to allow him to stand diagonal but felt they were too long if I gave him the length to do that.
 
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