Travelling this pony: which way is safe??

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Thai

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About a year ago we bought a pony for my daughter. The people we bought her from had only ever travelled her in a horsebox & they competed her regularly. She travelled 3hrs to us is a horsebox too. The first few times we took her out in our trailer she was fine: she loaded brilliantly, didn't get het up or anything.

However, about the 4th time we took her out it was a disastor; she was covered in poo and had obviously been down. We tried her recently in the trailer again, this time without the partition and cross tying her. However this proved unsuccesfull too as she still tried to go down.

We have now bought a horsebox (ford cargo, takes 3 horses) and a few weeks ago we tried her in this as we believed she would travel better in this as she had with her last owners. But we only got 1metre down the drive before she started again. She leans heavily against one partiton & scarabbles with her legs. Its almost if she is trying to go down but is unable to. She loaded on like an angel and stood in their for a few minutes while we were doing the ramp up etc. After we had moved a metre and realised that she wouldnt travel like this, we took her off and she was completly calm. When she was trying to go down, she was calm and there was no neighing or whites of eyes showing or anything.

A few people have suggested different things to us that we should try:

Travelling her loose in the horsebox without the partitions. They say that this way she will be able to travel where she feels happiest. Apparently this is how people travel broodmares and foals.

Travelling her loose in the trailer without the partition & just the long front and back bar.

Travelling her in the trailer with the partition but untied

Travelling her in the horsebox with the partitions very close together.

Getting an equine behaviourist to try and sort the problem. I have been told this a long and complicated process, and expensive.

Which one do you think we should try?? Or if anyone has any other suggestions about what we could do, it would be very much appreciated :)))
 
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I had similar isssue with our mare last year.
If you can be bothered to trawl through my posts, you find some very helpful advise(and one or two not so helpful with remarks about my driving ability, without even knowing me etc)
However, one person said do not travel horse next the partition where the living is, for some reason, the full partition seems to make them go down more than the horse dividing partitions.
We now actually travel our mare herringbone, but facing backwards, if that makes sense. The "correct" way in my box is with the head forward of the body to the left hand side. But, the mare will not travel that way, prefering to have her bum towards the left, and then she travels on an angel to the right, so her bum is at a backwards angle. That, plus a Kelly Marks course and not travelling near the living has- touch wood- helped immensly.
Good luck.
 
I know another that also wont travel with the full partition. He couldnt seem to spread his legs far enough
 
the partitions we have at the moment arent full length, and the trailer partition was a half one with rubber to the bottem. The rubber is able to move as it is flappy.
 
I would ask myself why the pony suddenly has issues and wants to lie down to travel. If you can discover that, then you know what you could do to help. Is there a physical issue there wasn't before? Is the pony struggling to stay upright in a moving vehicle? To see what happens you could pop them in without a partition and just drive VERY slowly and carefully around the block, with a camera in there so you can see what the pony does (and stop if there is any issue at all). Perhaps get a vet out to check for any issues that could have come up. A normal horse SHOULD be able to balance fine. The question is, why can this pony no longer do so?
 
I've had two friends that have had this problem. The first was a 6 yr old 14.2 pony that had been travelling on a regular basis in the trailer & then suddenly wouldn't travel in anything at all, he did exactly what your pony does, scrabbles about & tries to go down within minutes of moving off. They eventually found a small screw that was wedged in the rubber matting & think that while he moved about to balance, he was treading on it & it was pricking him. It obviously worried him enough that he thought it was going to happen in any form of transport. It took about six weeks of daily short, slow journey's to get him back to normal.

The other friend's mare is quite elderly & turned out to have a back problem, she isn't able to travel at all any more.

I would get your pony checked out by a vet to rule out any problems & then it is a case of going very slowly to build up her trust again.

Good luck
 
Whatever you decide, please DO NOT travel her loose with the partition in. She is likely to try and turn round, get completely stuck, and freak out.

If a horse has to be travelled loose it must be with as little impediment as possible.
 
I would take all partitions out the lorry, bar maybe one blocking the wall to the living and travel her loose in there and if you can have a camera so you can see what she does.

I would also get a vet to look over her just to check something isn't wrong physically :)
 
All I'll say is if you are considering travelling any horse loose in a horse trailer, the trailer must have rear top doors to ensure security of the horse not jumping/climbing out.
 
Another thing from experience is a horse I knew could only be travelled behind the rear axle of the horsebox, she'd try to lie down if you put her infront! God knows why, whether it gave a better ride feel for her?? Would also echo what another poster put, horses usually travel better rear facing, so if it's set up herringbone, alter the partitions to be rear herringbone rather than forward.
 
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