unbalanced in trailer????Bit long-sorry!!

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hadfos

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Any info,success stories appreciated??full up 16.3 tb(not ya average build tb,quite chunky),12 yr old,dosnt travel very often at all!Travelled as a youngster (4yr old)in trailer with other horse and going round corners was scrabbling about for his feet!I then travelled him without a partition with NO probs at all!!Took him out to the beach with another horse on tues and it was hairy round corners to say the least,scrabbling all over,
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we dropped down to 10 mile an hour and he was fine???Travels well on the straight,and pulling off and braking no problem,but unfortunately they dont make straight roads from a to b,lol!!Could this just be down to inexperience of travelling???(he relies on the trailer wall and partition to balance himself which is fine but if he is leaning one way and you go round a bend the other way he loses his footing and scrabbles!!)I am wondering if any one else has ever had this prob and if so was it down to panicking,but the more they travelled the better they got,or,do you just have to travel them on their own??Or would you just allow extra time for your journey and take corners exceptionally slowly??Be nice if i could get him to travel with another without fallin over as daft to take two boxes!!Thanx for any advice offered,all thoughts will be considered!!
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One of my boys does exactly the same. He had always travelled in a lorry herringbone before i had him. I had an ifor williams and once i took the partition out he was fine.
I have now bought a lorry so i can take them both together. Sorry thats not much help but i think its unlikely he will get used to it, they all have different ways of dealing with travelling.
My other boy will travel in anything with or without a partition.
 
From what you are saying it appears that your horse prefers to travel in a trailer with the partition out. If that's the case then fine but obviously you won't be able to take another horse with you, some horses are like this. If he continues to have problems travelling with another horse he may actually end up with an aversion to actually going into the trailer because he knows he is going to have a bad experience. If that happens you'll be taking him nowhere.
Incidentally what have you got on the floor of your trailer, I was wondering because you say he is scrabbling with his feet? Possibly a change in whatever you have on the floor will give him better stability?
 
Some horses just cannot balance in a trailer with a partition in, by the sounds of it your boy is one of those. I think it's a case of travelling him alone minus partition or in a lorry herringbone.
 
Thanx guys,not looking good eh,lol,the trailer had rubber matting so dont think i will find anything better really!He travels great in a lorry too!Have noticed he tried to sit on the ledge in a lorry so wondering if he is trying to support himself by sitting on the breach bar which is making him lose his footing??I realise it will frighten him in time(this time considering he didnt do corners very well he went straight back in,bless him,but if happens every time i know he will resent travellin)which is why i thort i would ask you guys if you had any success or wether you just said sod it and took them everywhere without partition?Think it is looking like that is what i will have to do,for his safety more than anything!!
 
my boy is the same, will not entertain the trailer unless the partition is out and he has the whole thing.

partiton in and he just panics, leans on it, scrabbles, then starts to thrash, falls over and it is really just unpleasant. And that is before we have even done the doors up or started moving!!!
 
What size is your trailer? We have an old 505 and when this became an issue with Gem (with her it was mainly that she couldn't stretch her legs wide enough to balance and would put lots of her weight onto the side and partition to balance round corners) we looked into buying a different trailer (we'd had a box before and dad didn't want to pay the up keep!!!).

There's were a few options we were thinking of trying: rear facing trailer, herringbone trailer, various makes which were much larger than ours (height, width and length). In the end we stuck with our trailer as we have now semi retired her so she hardly ever travel.
 
We had this with a pony we loaned from my sister when she travelled in company. What we found in the end was she was low in the herd, and on the corners, when she was forced to shift her weight. She panicked because she naurally leaned to the right to brace herself on the corners, but this put her into in the personal space of the other horse (who was dominant).

she initially travelled on the left, when we found the problem, and so we swapped them, so she travelled on the right, and naturally leaned away from the partition, and it cured the problem.

Give it a try !
 
You are travelling a big horse in a trailer, it could be that he hasn't got enough room with the partition in. Horses tend to spread their feet to balance when travelling, if he hasn't got enough room to do this with the partition in then he will scrabble and will explain why he has no problems without the partition in the way. My 14.2 used to be travelled in a pony trailer & did exactly the same thing with the partition in, without the partition you didn't here a bang from the trailer for the whole journey.

With my big dressage horses, as they are both about 17 hands I have had to resort to buying a 3 horse lorry & removing one partition so it gives the two big lads enough room.
 
If he is not happy with the partition in, but travels OK when they are out, I wouldn't entertain trying it again. My 16.3 ID ended up upside down in the front of an Ifor williams when he kicked off, and after that 'bad experience' would never go back in the trailer again, so we ended up buying a lorry (which he walked straight in!).
Incidentally I have heard of this 'scrabbling about' a few times, more commonly in the aluminium floor trailers for some reason. Have also heard of horses managing to get the rubber matting up whilst doing it, which freaks them out more.
HF.
 
My boy use to travel in a 505 all the time then we sold it and bought a Lorry because we were staying over night and doing more traveling. The lorry was fantastic but quite expencive to keep on the road. Our boy had to have surgery and was off for over a year so I had to take the lorry for runs twice a week, so I sold it. When he came back into work I bought another 505 he travelled well in it for a few months and then all of a sudden he started to scramble for his feet every time I turned left. It was very scary and my trailer would shake. It got worse he basically stood diagonally leaning onto the side of the trailer. He never fell thank god. we took the partision out and he travelled fine. I decided to buy a Baitson Ascot just for a change of transport. I have the back partision out but left the front in he spreads his legs and travels very well in it. It means I can't travel any other horses with him which is annoying but at least he is Happy now
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I would take your partision out and get the other person to travel their horse them selfs.
 
Thanx for all the input guys!!He is very big and admittedly there was just enough room in my friends trailer for him!Dont think it will be worth try try try again as it will put him at risk,and i would hate for him to actually fall in there,would never get him out!!
Partition taken out it is then,travels absolutely fine then!!Better safe than very sorry!!!Thanx again
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I had the same problem, big 16.2 tb who just hated the trailer. then worked out he was on the left side all the time, so we put him on the right to see what happens and he travels well on that side. I presume its because he leans on the side and can balance, but if he is on the left and leans on the partition, it moves, and he can't keep his balance. We have three horses that can't travel on the left side, but never move on the right. Funny enough they are all Irish horses !!
 
If you are travelling one Horse in a trailer it's safer to take the partition out anyway. The partition only serves the purpose of separating Horses, not balancing them. My Horse travels fine with or without, if he's on his own I take it out. I've heard a few stories about partitions falling on Horses and when you see how little holds them in place and think how heavy a Horse is it's no wonder!!
 
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