Travelling problems! Mare kicks or jumps when turning left!

C

Chesnutnutter

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Hi all,

Last night we took my friends new mare out in the trailer, she was abit of a pain to load until I took my horse out and let her go in before then loading mine back in. After we set off we went around 2-3 left hand corners fine after that she started to either kick out or jump every time we went left even when I practically stopped and crawled around the corners. She is bigger so was on the drivers side. Both horses where tied up tight so that they couldn't talk because the mare squeals. We think she has only travelled on her own before with the partition in so am unsure if it's her balance or if my horse leaning towards her was making her kick out????? Does anyone know what the problem could be?
Also I have a 510 so there is plenty of room and the kicking sounded pretty bad can they take a 16.1 chunk jumping around?
 
Sometimes they travel badly if they are experiencing back/neck problems - have a chiro look at the horse. Otherwise a deep bed of straw in the float works wonders with many bad travellers.
 
Has she travelled mostly with or without the centre divider?

They seem to find it much easier to balance without it, especially when travelling alone as they can stand on a bit of an angle and spread their legs out.
 
search this thread for related psots - there have been many threads on this. It's a far more common problem than you'd think. Most horses that do this, do it from not being able to spread their legs wide enough to balance (I've done quite a bit of research). Either pull the back of the partition over to one side and tie into place, or get a rubber-bottomed partition allowing more room - works for most.
 
I think it could be that fact that she was tied up tight. I followed behind my horse once who was put in with a new horse. The owner of the trailer tied him up tight as she was worried that her horse would try and bite him if he was looser. He went down while going around a roundabout and then did it again at another corner but didn't get up the 2nd time. We got the ramp down and he was sitting on the floor, thankfully not panicking. I believe it was he couldn't get his balance as he was tied up too tight. Once he started to slip he couldn't save himself.
 
Swap her to the right? I have two horses (out of 3) that only travel on the right. They kill kick out, scramble and go down if they are on the left side. My other horse will travel on either side. He is far smaller than them but I've no worries about having the heavier horse on the right. I contacted Ifor Williams and they said it was fine due to how the horseboxes are built and the type of axle they have .... it only really affects older boxes who cannot balance properly when combined with the road camber.

Many horses don't travel well on the left as it tends to be a bumpier ride. The majority of pot holes and uneven road surfaces are on the left hand side.... and the horse feels them. Especially if you ever have to pull in! Whereas horse on the right gets a smoother and quieter journey :)
 
My little pony was a nightmare to travel, her back end just seemed to collapse, and she kicked all the way up the sides of the trailer. She had been fine before and this came on all of a sudden. We took the partition out and she was fine, she is also fine in our lorry where they travel sideways :)
 
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