Travelling with saddle on?

tashcat

tashcat

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Thinking about getting the boy out and about this spring and summer, but he's not very good once arriving at the venue - he gets very agitated and can't stand still or be tied up. He's not being naughty - he's ex-racer and just gets very excited and worked up, and I really can't see it as something he can be trained out of.

Getting his saddle on him is near impossible, and we tend to travel in a trailer with another horse, so too dangerous for me to go in there and pop it on once we've arrived like in a lorry (I'm saving up!)

I've been toying with the idea of travelling him with the saddle on - for journeys around 30 - 45 mins. I used to do it occasionally when taking the old boy to lessons after work and didn't have time, but he was excellent with everything and had a lorry at the time.

He's quite a big horse and so risk of the saddle being hit once unloaded on the side of the trailer, unless we unload him backwards. But I see a lot of hunters doing it at meets..

I want to take as much stress out of the situation as possible.. but does this sound like a really stupid idea? Looking for any advice!
 
For journeys up to 1 hour I travel mine with saddle on & a rug or saddle cover on top of the saddle. This is really for my convenience as my horse is very good to do things with in or out of the trailer. It also means his back is already warmed to the saddle.
 
Most hunters travel to the meet already tacked up. Put a rug on so that the stirrups and saddle are protected. If you don't want him to travel with the bridle on put it on before you unload him (always do that anyway).
 
We travel with the saddle on for journeys to hacks. We take the stirrups off altogether and put a rug over the saddle. When unloading we pin the front half of the partition back (ifor trailer) and swing out wide into the trailer front space before turning down the ramp to avoid the saddle getting caught on the turn. Wouldnt be possible if travelling with another horse but I think it would be ok anyway if you can persuade horse to go slowly and carefully off the trailer.
 
Lots of people do. For me - the damage to the saddle is too great. But if you really have no choice - take the stirrups off (and getting them back on an agitated horse is almost as much fun as saddling him from scratch....) put a fleece cover on the saddle and a travel rug over all. You'll still damage the edges of the panels - trailers are narrower than boxes - but you'll keep it to a minimum. If you travel with a bridle remove any gag type bit -or the haynet.

I like my saddles - so we adopted a 2 person procedure to traveling an agitated competition horse. Headcollar - no saddle. Pop the bridle on before leaving the trailer. Have the handler walk in a fairly open circle - 10 - 15m? - as calmly as possible (fairly easy if you park right at the back of a competition venue - all but impossible out hunting. But we did both.) Then saddle on the move. The circle has to be large enough that the horse doesn't get wound up and also so his back is as straight as possible so the saddle goes on correctly. You only have to get it into the right place and the girth tight enough that it won't move too far. The you can work on getting him settled enough to mount so you can tighten the girth the rest of the way.

But I do accept that several folk told us we should just accept the damage to the saddle......
 
I always travel to hunt meets tacked up, and to any jumping show I tend to boot up before hand to save time and fiddling around with an excited horse. I never travel with the bridle on though, It only takes 5 mins to put on when they are safely locked in the box!
 
I have been travelling horses tacked up for more than fifty years .
I have never had one damage a saddle And I have a lot of very very nice saddles .
You do need to check the girth is tight enough and I would not do it to with a dodgy traveller .
You do need to check the stirrups are in place on the bar before getting on just in case .
I never unload forwards though that’s not to do with the saddle I simply do not consider it to be a safe thing to do on any level .
 
I always travel mine saddled up, regardless of distance. He can be a wally to saddle at the best of times, let alone when we've just arrived at a party. I keep everything on and just put a fleece cover over the top, then either a rug on top of that, or just use an exercise sheet. Never had any issues and it makes my life 100000 times easier when we arrive.
 
I do it, with a fleece saddle cover and rug on top. However I've noticed my son's tech Venice stirrups have a thinner edge than a standard stirrup iron so it may mark the panel.

I always unload forward though..... Feel it's much safer.

Fiona
 
Only time I did it, horse fell over in trailer��. It was the first time he'd travelled on the left as someone gave us a lift so was a one off though
 
Mine is a Jekyll/Hyde character when out and about, so I started travelling him tacked up. He's an excellent loader and traveller, it's his behaviour when you get to where you're going that is unreliable! He can be very reactive to noise and environment and you just never know what he will be like until you get there.

There were occasions when just trying to get him tacked up made me want to kill him and therefore made his behaviour worse because I was stressing. So started taking him saddled with a rug over the top to protect the saddle. Leave him on trailer until it's time to ride, then just pop his bridle on, unload, and off we go. The less time spent faffing, the better he is - or rather, he doesn't get any worse :D

Makes things so much easier and less stressful for both of us, which for me is worth risking a few scratches on a saddle.

Then of course there are the times when he's totally chilled out and behaves impeccably, and people think I'm the mad one for taking precautions! :D
 
Similar to Embo - for journeys up to about an hour, I have traveled fully tacked up - bridle with all bits tied up, saddle with rug or cover over the top (not too loose so it doesn't move), boots on. Helps reduce fiddling around time when we get there. Only needed for hunting as he does get quite fidgety when he's excited and it annoys me! Never had damage to a saddle but my horses have been good travelers.
 
I do it on one of mine for journeys of up to 1/2 an hour - usally for lessons after work as I'm always rushing and it's quicker to do it at home. I've never damaged a saddle but they always have a rug on top and one of them has put holes in 2 rugs exactly where the stirrups are (I leave them on). He must lean exactly on that point. I just put the same rugs on him if he's tacked up so he doesn't ruin any more rugs! Neither wear martingales so that makes things easier as I don't travel them in bridles. One used to have one and I bought a breastplate style martingale with a dog clip for the martingale attachment rather than a buckle so I could just clip it on quickly.
 
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