travelling yearling to equine hospital

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aimee8282

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Any advice on travelling my yearling for the first time? He has to go to the equine hospital at the weekend (bit of an emergency) and I haven't had time to get him used to travelling. I'm freaking out. I have a lady who has kindly offered to drive him in her Equitrek two horse lorry with side ramp. Any advice/help?
 
Step one -NEVER OPEN THE GROOMS DOOR WHEN HE IS INSIDE. There have been horrific accidents with horses thinking this is a way out.

I'd suggest traveling him with a sensible companion he knows that is used to travelling. This is presuming he ties up quite happily already. If not, I'd not transport him in the equitrek as its not safe to travel them loose in one. If he isn't used to being tied then a larger lorry with full height partitions and a large enough space for him to turn around untied is the only safe option. It is too short notice to teach him to tie up now.

Hope all goes well.
 
First of all don't panic!- he'll probably be fine!-If he isn't used to being tied up then maybe consider travelling him loose- many youngsters travel that way. If you are concerned maybe your vet will let you have some sedalin so you can give him a small amount 1/2 an hour or so before you load so the loading and travelling is as stress free as possible.
Make sure the yard is quiet and there is someone to help you (but not too many people so he doesn't get stressed!)

Also if he's never loaded before let him have a look at the ramp of the lorry, but try not to make an issue out of anything - wear gloves(and hat if you need it) a long lunge rein to lead him with and a rope halter might come in useful if you need extra control as well.

My yearling had to travel recently and he loves travelling and loading!- best of luck- you'll be fine!
 
allow yourself MORE than Plenty of time and be patient. Take some rescue remedy. you can't be nervous / wound up.

If you can, practice loading him the day before or earlier so it isn't a 'D Day' panic. if you can't practice loading him, perhaps you can practice leading him over a tarpaulin / rubber mat / board on the ground in the yard / school / field so that you can teach him to trust you.

I personally would take any partitions out and travel loose with a good bed for the first time but the preference is yours...
 
You're lucky you've got some notice! The first time I had to travel one of mine (apart from her coming back from the stud as foal with her mum) she was 3 days off 11 months old and had gone through a fence shredding a front leg. Called the vet out who wanted her taken to the equine hospital straight away. It was an Easter Monday afternoon and I had to desperately start phoning friends with transport. The last thing we thought about was would she load, how would she travel etc, it was just a case of getting her there a.s.a.p. She was extremely well handled, used to being tied up and she walked straight into the trailer and travelled "normally" tied up with absolutely no problems.
 
Thank you all so much for your advice! I called the lady with the lorry last night and she is coming tonight so we can practice loading him prior to the weekend. He already ties up, is well handled with vet, farrier, grooming etc so I think I will travel him 'normally' if I can. I think it may be me that will be more worried on the day! I may take some rescue remedy ;) I will keep you posted! Thanks again.
 
I recently picked up my 10 mth old colt, who'd never left the small yard he was born on, never seen a box, not been tied..etc etc

We'd hired a similar box to the equitrek - a theault, rear facing and fixed partition with anti weaving grill so he couldn't go sideways forwards or backwards. Original plan had been to travel him loose, but wasn't possible to hire a box we could that in on the day

He was a doddle! Didn't take five minutes to persuade him on with gentle support from behind and a pressure / release in front, side tided him with a haynet in reach and apart from him calling to his girlfriends as we left he travelled like a pro.

Hope it all goes OK
 
Thanks so much for all your advice, we practice loaded him for about an hour and a half, he took a while to understand the ramp situation and once we got him in we let him have his tea in there. We then tried a couple of nights later and took him for a short journey, I stayed with him in the back and he was a star. Stood perfectly and just ate his tea again. We then took him to the vet hopsital last weekend and he behaved perfectly, I am so proud. Just go's to show that all that worrying was for nothing! Thanks again x x
 
I'm glad he was a good boy and all your worrying was for nothing.

It's always better to practice than have trouble on the day - I still do with my youngster (had him 16 months) if he's not been in the box for a while as I don't like to take it for granted that he'll load. Everyone at the yard looks at me like an idiot but then I don't resort to beating him on...

how is he doing?
 
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