Travelling problems ... Help !

[Katyharriet]

My 16 hh mare is currently throwing herself around in the back
Of my lorry every time we Go roun a corner .It's a forward facing lorry like a trailer with 3 sections and full length partitions .
She NEVER used to do this and has
Always travelled well in it untill recently . She used to spread all her legs and balance herself round the corners and be fine... She now puts all her legs to one side and leans on the partition and her legs on that side almost give way!?. She started doing it last week in the middle partition on her own. So today Iv put her in the normal one on the drivers side where she usually goes when with another horse . Any ideas to help her and has anyone else ever experienced this ? It's so stressful I feel as though I need to hold her up every time we go round a corner. But I don't think I will stand much chance against a dopey half tonne of horse!
Thanks in advance

 

[FfionWinnie]

Go round corners slower!

 

[Katyharriet]

We are going painfully slow lol ! Any slower and we will have stopped :/

 

[FfionWinnie]

Have you checked the tyre pressures etc?

 

[Gingerwitch]

Hire an experinaced driver with a side loading box and see what happens - take it from there.... i am not saying its you - i am saying you can then see yourself what she does

 

[Littlelegs]

Get someone who has experience of traveling horses to drive it instead & see if she's any different, at least a couple of times. That way you can see if it is your driving.

 

[jrp204]

Have you checked the floor? Are the mats slipping?

 

[Tinsel Town]

Try transporting her in a trailer and see if that makes any difference

 

[tls]

Try giving her more room in the lorry, i had a pony like this and if you gave her loads of room she travelled fine. Also I have also known horses to have problems travelling like this if they are stiff or a bit sore they cant spread their legs to balance themselves.

 

[Charlie1234]

Have you checked if the floor (mats) are slipping around? And why don't you get a professional horse lorry driver to have a go at driving it! See if that helps?
Hope this helps x

 

[Misog2000]

My girl used to travel fine forwards, and then one day just started falling all over the place, similar to yours. Had her vet checked, couldn't find anything wrong so tried her in a friends backwards facing lorry and she travels like a dream in this.

Have bought one myself now and don't have any problems, she loads fine and stands like a rock. No idea what happened to make her decide she didn't want to go forwards anymore, can't pin point it to any one trip.

Hope you can figure something out for yours

 

[HardySoul1]

I have heard of this behaviour several times. Perhaps one of the degree students could investigate this instead of endless feed surveys? Definitely needs research!
Each one I know of are sudden unexplained leaning on partition, not spreading legs, wanting to get on floor. I've heard of racehorses, show ponies, riding club cobs all affected. Ruled out vehicle or driver issues. It seems the horse just ' forgets' how to balance even though experienced traveller.
Remove partition or give extra large space. Do lots of little practice drives to help the horse relearn. Keep things safe with boots etc and avoid humans or other horses getting injured if horse wobbling.
Takes time but curable.

 

[porkchops]

Out of character bad travelling was one of the first signs that a horse of mine had soundness issues.

 

[miss_wilson]

Try her on the other side? My friends mare can't go on the left side as she braces with her right back hoof and needs the stability of the trailer wall, if you put her on the left she nearly falls over every time you turn a corner!!

 

[bgb]

My old pony was EXACTLY like this. He had been fine all his life then when he turned 16 it all went wrong. He had to have room to spread his back legs out, we had partitions that split in half (like a trailer) so took the back part out and he was perfect. He also much prefered pads + bandages to boots and no rugs (nightmare in the winter!).Also found that he liked to travel on the left and have certain windows open and his haynet in a certain place! Experiment with all the little things and take her on small 5-10minute trips to get confidence back up.

 

[PandorasJar]

Remove partition or give extra large space.

This. I always travel single horses without a partition. Partitions were always designed for two horses. I did lots of research into it before travelling my littlun without partitions and there is a lot of research out there if you look for it.

 

[carthorse]

Did I read this correctly. It is partitioned for three facing forward. They cant have much room. Give her lots of room.

 

[HollyB66]

My horse did this when she hit 16/17, nothing to do with the driving, luckily a friend suggested trying the other side of the trailer and she now travels steady as a rock again.

 

[jeeve]

Try giving her more room in the lorry, i had a pony like this and if you gave her loads of room she travelled fine. Also I have also known horses to have problems travelling like this if they are stiff or a bit sore they cant spread their legs to balance themselves.

this, our old horse was floated extensively, and for a while did cope with being floated in a two horse float with another horse, but when we acquired him I was told he needed the whole float for himself. He is such a good floater otherwise one day I left the partition in, and 10 metres down the road had to stop and remove it because he immediately started scrambling, even though we had barely moved at a few kms per hour. He spreads his legs out as wide as they can possibly go, and if he cant do that he panics.

 

[Lulup]

This is not an uncommon problem and once it happens there is normally only one answer - much more space. Even if you travel the horse for the next year with double the space and regain her confidence you are likely to find that the problem comes straight back if you revert to normal size space.

I have only known this problem occur with trailers or forward facing boxes - the same horses are normally fine in backward facing or herringbone arrangements.

Give her two horses worth of space and try it - she will probably be fine

 

[katastrophykat]

My mare started this, we swopped sides for a while, it steadied a bit but then she started worse. We gave her the whole ifor Williams 505- same result, sideways in a wagon- no bother at all. We swopped the discovery and trailer for a 7.5 tonne box. Sorry! Expensive option! Lol

 

[Rebels]

Pad your breech bar. My pony became scared of the breech bar for some reason and tried to travel without touching any thing. Sounded like he was galloping on the spot but always loaded well. Travel boots wrapped around the breech bar 'cured' him

 

[Clannad48]

We had a similar problem with our mare earilier in the year in our trailer - she had been fine on the right hand side of the trailer initially, we then moved her to the other side and she was fine for a while. Then she , like yours, started throwing herself around in the back - after lots of advice from the lovely peeps on here we tried her in a double trailer on her own with full width breech bars front and back. She now travels diagonally in the trailer, so far not a single problem. Also we also found that we had a slow puncture on one side which may have contributed to the problem.

I actually travelled in the back of a trailer on my own to see what it was like for her-very scary - imagine being on a bus or train standing up, facing forward or backward with nothing to hold on to, whenever the train/bus stops or pulls away you get thrown to the floor.

 

[Katyharriet]

Thankyou sooooo much for all your replies! Definitely going to have a change around with the partitions and give her some more room and go for a little drive to see how she gets on. May also put her in a different place and see if that makes a difference as some of you have suggested. She was slightly better on our journey home but still unbalanced.

HardySoul1- This is very interesting. I myself am thinking about dissertation topics and this may be an option! But yes it does seem that she has just 'forgotten' how to balance herself will definitely give her more room

bgb- I think I will start using pads&bandages instead of boots because the boots seem to make the situation worse! She used to travel fine in a trailer but we only had half length partitions so I suppose she could spread her legs further...

Carthorse - yes your eyes aren't deceiving you! it is 3 horses facing forwards...It's a converted racing lorry with the back end basically chopped off and a side ramp put on. To be fair it is a wider than average lorry but we never travel 3 in it so it may be worth just removing a partition and moving them across.

 

[emma1902]

My horse did exactly the same in my trailer to the point of doing serious damage, I have taken all partitions out to give her room and she now travels perfectly

 

[mutley75]

What you have to remember just one bad corner or roundabout can unsettle them. It is then a very slow procese to get the confidence back. The one hole that makes the space 5cm bigger can make more of a difference. 3 facing forwards is standard, they actually have more room than herringbone!

 

[muff747]

I have come acrosss this problem quite a few times over the years, different people, different horses but practically always mares. I think their flanks are more sensitive and they hate having to touch the sides and partitions. In all cases, they removed the partition and that solved the problem so I would think more room to balance herself without touching the sides would help.