Travelling with no partition - does your horse move much??

[Joyous70]

As per title really, since we have removed the partition and let my mare have the whole trailer, she loads perfectly without hesitation every time, the issue I now have is she is very nosey, and despite having a haynet to keep her occupied, she constantly moves around, to look from side to side behind her I can see her in the window and can feel it.

Does anyone else have a horse do this? I have thought i possibly need to tighten the cross ties, but don't want to upset her and stop her from loading,

Also on the subject of cross ties, I am looking to buy some of the trailer ties, how many of you use these rather than lead ropes and do you find they are long enough for cross ties on a trailer

 

[holeymoley]

You need to tie much shorter. She shouldn’t be able to turn round or get her full head round in a trailer- this is a safety aspect.

 

[Joyous70]

You need to tie much shorter. She shouldn’t be able to turn round or get her full head round in a trailer- this is a safety aspect.

Thank you for taking the time to reply, so it might be a stupid question, but how short do i need her to be? She doesn't turn around fully, but she swings her head around if you see what i mean

 

[holeymoley]

I used to be guilty of leaving them what I thought was short. It wasn’t until I travelled him with a proper transporter that he really shortened him up. You want enough to let them have their head and neck to balance (and reach the hay) but short enough that they can’t freely move. It’s difficult to explain, I have it so the lead rope is almost taught but with a bit of give. There definitely shouldn’t be obvious loops.

 

[Joyous70]

Mmmm sounds as though i have given her far to much rope then - i suppose before it wasnt' too much of an issue as the partition would stop her moving so much, but now its out, she just swings herself around. I was going to get some of those trailer ties, or should i just stick with lead ropes

 

[Tarragon]

The biggest problem I had using cross ties was getting it right so that they can reach the hay net! if you cannot hang the hay net centrally, then one side of the cross tie has to be really short and the other really long, which doesn't work with the lovely quick release ties I had bought!

 

[Joyous70]

The biggest problem I had using cross ties was getting it right so that they can reach the hay net! if you cannot hang the hay net centrally, then one side of the cross tie has to be really short and the other really long, which doesn't work with the lovely quick release ties I had bought!

Its an Ifor HB506, so i have the tie rings, but if i were to put the haynet centrally it would have to go in the nose of the trailer, now there are two bars across the front of the nose of the trailer where the window is, I think the tack locker was attached to it, but it was removed before I bought it, but im still not convinced she would reach that etiher?

 

[holeymoley]

I have my haynet at the front of the trailer. My guy is only 14hh, he manages to reach it. It doesn’t feel right if I was to hang it on one of the tie rings were the lead rope is, I think he would be at a strange position.

 

[ycbm]

It sounds like she wants to travel backwards and I would alter the trailer to do that.
.

 

[Widgeon]

Nothing to add regarding your horse's preference for facing forwards or backwards (!) but re trailer ties I use these. They are very good. I put the quick release end on the headcollar and the clips on thinned baler twine on each of the side tie rings. They're lighter and less faff than leadropes - when I take horse on or off I just clip him onto the safety ties and remove his leadrope, which then travels in the car with me. I have the ties quite short, so when he's stood centrally facing forward there's just a slight sag in each of them.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/402315010620

Re haynet, I hang the haynet loosely from the nose, then I have a short piece of string with a carabiner clip tied to the left hand tie ring, and I attach the clip to the haynet, so the net is effectively suspended halfway between the horse and the nose, across the jockey door (high enough that it's not a problem to duck under). That way he can reach it easily. My trailer is a 501 so much narrower, but maybe you could clip the haynet to the breast bar instead? Obviously any of that only works if you have a horse who won't try to climb around and put their feet through anything they can find.

 

[Joyous70]

Nothing to add regarding your horse's preference for facing forwards or backwards (!) but re trailer ties I use these. They are very good. I put the quick release end on the headcollar and the clips on thinned baler twine on each of the side tie rings. They're lighter and less faff than leadropes - when I take horse on or off I just clip him onto the safety ties and remove his leadrope, which then travels in the car with me. I have the ties quite short, so when he's stood centrally facing forward there's just a slight sag in each of them.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/402315010620

Re haynet, I hang the haynet loosely from the nose, then I have a short piece of string with a carabiner clip tied to the left hand tie ring, and I attach the clip to the haynet, so the net is effectively suspended halfway between the horse and the nose, across the jockey door (high enough that it's not a problem to duck under). That way he can reach it easily. My trailer is a 501 so much narrower, but maybe you could clip the haynet to the breast bar instead? Obviously any of that only works if you have a horse who won't try to climb around and put their feet through anything they can find.

I like to look of those ties, i like the fact they can be altered in length, which would be useul, also really good idea re the haynet thank you definately something to consider.

 

[Joyous70]

It sounds like she wants to travel backwards and I would alter the trailer to do that.
.

She is incredibly nosey, and likes to see what is going on around her, i cannot shut the back doors as she would have a meltdown, im not sure if I reconfigured the trailer for her to travel backwards once the doors were shut she would be any happier.

 

[scats]

Mine travel in my 3.5 without a partition. I cross tie them.

 

[ycbm]

She is incredibly nosey, and likes to see what is going on around her, i cannot shut the back doors as she would have a meltdown, im not sure if I reconfigured the trailer for her to travel backwards once the doors were shut she would be any happier.

Why would you shut the doors? I assume you mean the ones above the ramp

 

[irishdraft]

I have traveled my horses in a ifor 510 without a partition for many years but have never had any of them move about whilst on the move . I cross tie with ordinary lead ropes but not that short cos they cannot reach the hay which i hang on one side as nowhere in the nose annoyingly.

 

[Joyous70]

Why would you shut the doors? I assume you mean the ones above the ramp

I don't know i just assumed if she was facing the other way she would need to be closed in

 

[Joyous70]

I have traveled my horses in a ifor 510 without a partition for many years but have never had any of them move about whilst on the move . I cross tie with ordinary lead ropes but not that short cos they cannot reach the hay which i hang on one side as nowhere in the nose annoyingly.

i can see her in the window, and can see her body moving, sometimes she will go completely across the diagonal but then puts herself back to the right hand side of the trailer. but she is constantly looking behind, someone was following me on Sunday, they said she doesn't stand still at all, it must be exhausting for her

 

[Antw23uk]

I would cross tie shorter and then repeat the friend travelling behind to see if that helps. You can always do a short journey without the haynet and then work out where it goes after you have established if the length of the cross ties where the issue!
If the partition out os a fairly new thing she may just still be trying to find her preferred stance and will settle once she gets comfortable and confident with the extra space.

 

[irishdraft]

i can see her in the window, and can see her body moving, sometimes she will go completely across the diagonal but then puts herself back to the right hand side of the trailer. but she is constantly looking behind, someone was following me on Sunday, they said she doesn't stand still at all, it must be exhausting for her

My mare was very nervous about lorries coming up behind her so with her I shut the top door on the driver's side and especially if I was on very busy roads this might help . It could be your horse is just adjusting her balance if she isn't actually scrabbling or becoming stressed I wouldn't worry too much, I quite often see horses looking back if I get behind others in trailers

 

[lannerch]

To solve the hay being only just in reach problem when correctly cross tied shortly I use this https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Haynet-H...p2349624.m46890.l6249&mkrid=710-127635-2958-0 works a treat