Travelling tiny pony in 511 ?

[RoseGrey]

I need to move a 12hh pony for a friend.
I have a new(ish) Ifor Williams 511 as I normally only move my bigger horses.
How do I move a 12 hand pony.....will the breast bar go low enough ...will it just be able to wander about loose ....eeek...I am not used to little critters !!
HELP !!

 

[Honey08]

We used to travel our 12h in a 510 without problems. We put the breast bar on the lowest setting, and tied to loops of bailer twine hanging down from the rings. We also had to tie the haynet to the central divider as there was no way the ponies could reach it when on the rings at the front..

 

[trottingon]

I would travel the pony loose, with all partitions removed. The weight of the pony should not affect the stability of the trailer if you take it easy.

In my opinion the front breast bars are far too high and if you were to brake sharply the pony could break it's neck, or if it's head was below the bar at the time of braking it could cause considerable damage to the pony's withers/back.

If you were to travel the pony on a regular basis you could buy more of the fixings and attach then to the trailer at height of the lowest point of the fixed part of the partition (if you see what I mean), which would make the breast and back bars a suitable height for the pony, but for a one-off I would travel the pony loose.

 

[poiuytrewq]

Not quite the same but when we travelled a Shetland in a 505 we were advised to cross tie him rather than use a breast bar. Right or not I'm not sure but it was the general opinion when I posted here about it

 

[Box_Of_Frogs]

I'd echo trottingon. I regularly travel 6hh miniature shetlands in a Renault master 2-horse lorry and do so safely with the partition out and the pony or ponies loose. It just isn't safe to tie a tiny pony up when travelling as awful things could happen with the lead rope. Ditto the partition...my ponies can turn round in a partition in the blink of an eye and many partitions don't come down to the floor so there's an additional danger of legs getting caught and whole bodies being trapped! The breast bar could be a further danger unless you have special low fixing points. I wouldn't rely on anything tied together with baling twine - anything could happen and, as we all know with horses, probably would! Partition out and travel loose.

 

[trottingon]

I'd not thought about cross-tying, but my first thoughts are that the pony would have nothing to lean against so if it pony fell, it could damage (or even break) it's neck if the ties (either those elastic thingys I can't remember the name of, or baling twine etc) didn't break in time?

I forgot to mention the worry with travelling a pony loose (even though it's my preferred way as per my post earlier) is that there is a recommendation not to allow anything heavy to push against the jockey door, so I would make sure it is properly closed and locked, or you could put a piece of hardboard over the door area, or across the trailer where the breast bars would normally fit and hold it in place with some rope or those log elastic bungees you can buy? - I suppose it depends how far you are travelling and how twisty the route is as to how much effort you feel you need to go to!!!

 

[holeymoley]

Following on from trottingon's post, what about putting shavings bales at the front to stop him going near the doors?

 

[RoseGrey]

I wouldn't want to travel it loose and it may have a friend for company on the ride.
Do Ifor Williams sell a modification to accommodate little 'uns?

 

[dornrose]

I wouldn't want to travel it loose and it may have a friend for company on the ride.
Do Ifor Williams sell a modification to accommodate little 'uns?

Yes you can put in brackets so the breach bar can be lower - personally I don't think it's safe to travel them lose without something to prevent them going in the front section, so either a barrier or breach bar is needed.

 

[Zebedee]

Just tie them to a loop of string on the tie ring with the lead rope running behind the breastbar (ie the same side as the pony) This stops them moving forwards, but agree with the poster who raised the point that the bar should be high enough to prevent pony getting lodged underneath.

 

[windand rain]

We travel 12 hh dartmoors regularly in Ifor williams trailers the breast bar goes low enough the only thing we have to do is tie the haynets to the bit just in front of the breast bar not all the way in. When traveling foals we travel mare tied and foal loose with hay bales in the front to stop the foal getting through to the door
As to having no breast bar our lorry doesnt have breast bars or lockers in the side the ponies travel very well side ways and dont hurt themselves when we go round corners

 

[RutlandH2O]

I travelled a very small 6 1/2 months old Baudet du Poitou donkey foal in my IW 510. I worried for weeks before we got her how best for her to travel. I was even going to place a heavy garden chair in the trailer and travel next to her (I didn't). Ultimately, I removed the partitions and breast bars and filled the trailer with fresh straw. I placed a bale of straw in front of the locked jockey door. The amount of straw I used practically swallowed the baby once she was inside. She was travelled loose. I put some hay on the straw on the floor and drove almost an hour home. She was fine. She stood facing the back of the trailer. If she had fallen, there was such a cushion of straw under and around her little body, nothing would have happened.

 

[Honey08]

Just tie them to a loop of string on the tie ring with the lead rope running behind the breastbar (ie the same side as the pony) This stops them moving forwards, but agree with the poster who raised the point that the bar should be high enough to prevent pony getting lodged underneath.

Oh absolutely, nothing should be able to get anywhere near underneath the breastbar. Our 12h pony was nowhere near able to get under the 510 breastbar when it was on its lower setting, it was on her chest, as it should be.