Travelling mare and foal in trailer or 2 horse horsebox. Partition???

C

competitiondiva

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I'm sure it's been asked a hundred times already so appologise! I maybe borrowing my friends 2 x 16.2 van type box or using a 2 x 16.2 trailer to get to the futurity with my 15.2HH mare and foal who is currently about 12.2HH (at 11 weeks old, futurity in another 9 weeks, so god knows how big then!!). Should I be putting the partition in or not? I'm concerned if I don't that there won't be much room and mum might squash foal! But with partition foal definately won't be able to suckle or do they not suckle in transit anyway??!! (First foal! Nervous about travelling it!!)
 
i have just travelled a 16h2 mare with a 6 week old huge foal at foot in my trailer and partition was out. i crossed tied mare and left foal loose. both traveled very well just make sure you close the back doors
 
Hi Competitiondiva,

Definitely no partition and I personally never tie up the mare either otherwise they get upset because they can't nuzzle the foal. I use an Ifor 510 but if the van is bigger, go with that.

Have three pairs of hands, one to lead mum on, two to gently walk baby on ( they sometimes struggle with the concept of that first step up so helper three can lift the first foot on). I normally get baby on first, closely followed by mum behind, so that you don't have mum going mad in the box and taking up all the space.

If foal has been having any foal food, have a bucket to hand as they are very happy to follow that and it all becomes a nice experience. If you've got a trailer with a front ramp then you can practice before hand just leading in and straight off; Once they've loaded once, without any stress, they tend to just walk on.

I have travelled all my mares and foals like this and never had a problem. (the mares sometimes turn around mid journey but if you take it steady its not an issue). Depending on the age of the foal, I put straw down too.

When you get to the other end, go in via the jockey door, reattach ropes and then offload.
Mum first this time but don't take her away from the trailer, keep her at the bottom of the ramp.

The foal may be reluctant to walk down the ramp first time, you'll feel like its the first outing to the field all over again. Hand round bum, steady the front end with the other hand to stop the foal launching off the ramp and keep mum in sight.

Final note, if you use the trailer make sure it has top doors that can be shut or, if not, that the gap isn't too big (have heard of foals jumping out mid transportation but not sure what the circumstances were!).

Good luck
 
We used to let mare and foal travel together, however with the increased number of numpties on the road we now been keeping them in seperate partitions just in case!

The older they are the better they will be to travel.
 
I use a 3.5 ton box or a trailer and always have the mare crossed tied and foal loose, always no partition
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i have just travelled a 16h2 mare with a 6 week old huge foal at foot in my trailer and partition was out. i crossed tied mare and left foal loose. both traveled very well just make sure you close the back doors

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I am traveling my will be then 2 week old foal next week this way. I have a transport person who has travelled foals on a regular basis this way.
 
It all depends on how the mare travels. A foal can go without feed for upto 2 hours, the older the better.

A mare who dosn't travel well shold be kept apart, the older the foal the better it is to train in this way but never over 2 hours (so the foal can suckle).
 
i always travel my mare's and foals loose and this works very well,but as said it depends on weather the mare is a gd traveller best of luck
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Thank you everyone, the mare is a good traveller (not always the best to load but haven't had any problems in the last year or two!!) the foal will then be about 20 weeks old (just over 4 1/2 months)
 
I was having this conversation with my husband this morning as we will be taking mare & foal out next month too, foal will only be about 8 weeks then. I didn't know whether it would be worth hiring/borrowing a lorry or use my trailer. My trailer is huge so not so worried about size, more comfort for mare & foal. My mare has to be the worst loader in the world but once on she does travel well.

So, if I do stick with the trailer it seems to be best that the partition is taking out? I'll follow the thread more re tying up the mare or not.
 
We used to cross tie the mare, leave foal loose, advice given by our vet at the time when we had a trailer. He also said to fill in the area under breast bar with temp. plywood sheets attached to breast bar to stop foal wandering underneath it, when foals were tiny enough to do that.

In the lorry we leave them loose to find their own blance
 
as well as the partion i always take out breast bars
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its funny though when i get to were i am going mare is always facing oposite direction facing rear ramp,but i have been told that they do prefer to travel oposite direction if given a choice
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Hi CD,

I echo pretty much everything Delarose says. Whether you tie the mare up is personal preference, I prefer to do so.

I would say though that you should use a full length breast bar for the mare to balance against whilst in transit - I believe it is a legal requirement to travel with one. Often people will say they do not like to use a breast bar, as the foal can/may sneak out underneath it, however they can easily get back and it rarely happens; mainly due to the foal turning round and facing the mares quarters during transit, which a) enable the foal to suckle and b) having the breast bar gives the foal something to lean his/her bottom on if necessary.

Some people will insist on travelling with a full length breach bar too and I can certainly see the reasons for this with regards to safely raising the ramp and not risking the horse(s) inside rushing backwards against the ramp, forcing down on top of the person raising it. This does however beg the question of why was the person underneath a trailer ramp anyway...... I personally will not travel a foal with a breach bar. Why? Well, because there is a small gap between the ramp and the bar and I have known of a foal irreparably break it's leg getting it caught in said gap. If you are worried about raising the ramp without a breech bar, then either a) have 2 people, one on either side of the ramp, to raise it or b) put in the breech bar and remove once the ramp is up.

I especially go along with the recommendation of closing doors above the ramp. If there are no doors, find a way to close the gap at the top. Foals can and will try to jump out for inexplicable reasons. It's not worth the risk.

I have travelled mares and foals all over in trailers and had no problems at all. I generally use large flake shavings on the floor of the trailer - less dust than finer bedding and less likely to get tied in knots than straw.

Oh, and I never travel a mare and foal with a haynet - they can have a haynet once at the destination, but not whilst in transit in a trailer.
 
I echo S_N I always remove partitions, and tie up the mare on a rubbish piece of string that will definately snap if foal got caught up on it. I would also just say I dont travel the foal with a slip on it and shut any exits so they cant get out. I wont travel with breast or breech bars and they always travel well.
 
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