Your thoughts on sudden change in travelling behaviour (warning long post sorry!!)

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Littlegem

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My mare has suddenly developed what appears to be a inability to balance?? when travelling....just wondered whether anyone has any theories or suggestions or just comments! Apologies in advance for the essay!!

I have owned her for about 2 years and we've travelled without problem in various different friends lorries and trailers. But recently I have had a couple of quite scary experiences with her..

She's generally quiet and chilled out and even after the below events she will load happily into any vehicle and didn't appear to have been traumatised!

Recently I took her in a trailer on her own and as soon as i'd pulled off there was just almightly crashing. I pulled over as soon as possible, but couldn't see any reason. I carried on (was only going another 10 mins away) and she carried on crashing around particularly on corners. I am not new to towing and didn't give her a difficult ride, was steady and careful. When I arrived, she was dripping with sweat, had cut her leg and pulled off travel boots. Because she'd damaged the side of the trailer a bit I travelled her back in the left side of the trailer and didn't hear a single movement. I have tried her since in the left and she seems to be fine!

Last week I went to a comp with a friend in her lorry and we put my mare on the lorry first. After pulling off there was a lot of crashing around and I was able to watch what she was doing, it was almost as if she couldn't stand up , she was 'buckling' and nearly sitting down, almost throwing herself at the partition on her left as if trying to prop herself up. After a short distance we pulled over and adjusted partitions to give her more space, and although this did seem to help slightly, she was still obviously struggling. We had to pull over somewhere again where we were going to be able to get them out and swap them round. We tried her on the back end of the lorry and didn't hear another sound from her.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this... clearly I will have to be very careful how I travel!
 
All I can think of, is that the trailer/lorry axis or tyre pressure is upsetting her.
But, I'd opt for an ear infection as previous poster has suggested. Ask the vet to come out and check her.?
 
My mare started doing this in my old trailer which had a solid wood central partition almost to the floor - it was as though she had convinced herself the partition was the floor and was trying to get her back feet to stand on it. When my OH cut away the bottom half of the partition she was fine (but also hadn't travelled for a couple of weeks in the meantime so don't know if that made any difference). As above could be an ear-realted balance problem so worth ringing your vet to see if they can offer an opinion. Good luck. :)
 
My mare started doing this after two years as well. Same driver, same trailer, still walks straight in the box. We have never really got to the bottom of it. Again, its mainly on corners, on motorways we don't have a problem. We found that we had to take my husband's horse with us, who she is head over heals in love with, and who travels like a rock. I always put overreach boots on all four feet, and find she is better with bandages behind rather than boots.

I'd be interested in the answers you get - similar has been posted before, and ear infection and onset of kissing spine were frequently suggested - neither of which applied to mine. It seems to be mares more often than not.
 
My horse is awful to travel ever since his travel boot fell off, I would say this would cause the problem as it will have fallen off and caused her to slip, hence why I NEVER travel in boots anymore always bandages.
 
She might be having trouble with her balance if she has something wrong with her ear (as already suggested). When your ear gets blocked you often can't balance as well (hence why riding with a cold or the flu is often more difficult) as the two concepts (hearing and balance) are linked. I'd definitely get the vet out to give her an all-over check as balance is a physical issue - especially considering that she still loads happily (what a good horse!) - so I reckon a thorough physical examine should highlight something. Good luck.
Oh - you may already so this, but I find the rubber surface of our trailers slippery so we always lay down a thin layer of straw or shavings for extra grip, which seem to make a big difference, especially when the horses have pooed. Our mare is a very tricky traveller: she loads fine but really struggles with her balance and we have to go extremely slowly and carefully. A camera between the car and trailer might help to put your mind at ease as you can more easily monitor your horse's reactions to the places and method of driving.
 
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My mare is brilliant to travel in our trailer but when we hired a lorry and borrowed someone elses trailer she moved abut a lot more. The only difference was that our partition goes all the way to the floor and she will brace her feet against it but the partition in the lorry and other trailer didn't so she had nothing to brace against.
Maybe a possibilty?
 
My mare travelled almost weekly in my trailer for two years , then suddenly decided she couldnt stand up with the partition in, so five years later she will still only travel without the partition with or without another horse.
 
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Thank you everyone for your comments and suggestions..the possibility of an ear infection hadn't occured to me so I will definitely follow that up, she is quite sensitive about me touching her ears to clip etc, one more so than the other, so I wonder if that again suggests there could be something.
 
If you rule out anything physical with the horse and/or the trailer, do try taking the partition out. Sometimes these horses just need a bit of extra space to remind themselves that they can balance.

My old lad went through a phase of doing this a good few years ago - he'd load fine and then flip out on corners. Taking the partition out worked wonders and meant we were mobile again. When I replaced my trailer a couple of years later, I got the extra big version so that he had even more space, and he's fine travelling in that without adjustment. If I do need to travel him in a wagon, we widen the space for him so that he has extra leg room.
 
How does she travel in a horsebox ie herringbone??

my horsebox partitions are all the way almost to the floor so they have something to brace themselves all the way down.

have you thought of a larger foreign trailer where they are herring bone?? some horses prefer this .

I had an accident with a trailer in 89 coming back from wales after having bought my filly the horrific thing of snaking .....speeding up or braking didn't help result. faced the wrong way up M4 trailer on side roof off trailer my worst nightmare my mare 15 months old never traveled before . I thought that's it she is dead..............................................

I also wont travel without a pole guard my friend didn't got to new forest and Addie had a slit in his head 4 inches long and you could see his scull. .

I always remember one sentence in Flika film when Rocket the horse died


" IT ONLY TAKES A LITTLE LICK IN RIGHT PLACE TO KILL HORSE "

Never forget that line one small knock and that's it
 
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Some people I've spoken to have had this happen after their horse had had a back injury. It might be worth having a chiropractor look at her.

The other thing to consider is putting down straw on the floor of the trailer. The best is some from a box that has been used - tends to pack down better. It not only deadens some of the road noise but also gives them a good grip - especially if they have done a dropping. Wet rubber floors can be slippery.
 
This happened with our mare a couple of years back, travelling perfectly well, then one day I started to feel the trailer judder as we took left hand bends.The brake pads on the left had started to stick and the trailer was literally "jumping around the corners". Our mare, whilst travelling on her own on the right side of the trailer had to lean heavily to the left to support herself to the extent that she pushed the partion off its lower support. She has never got over this and we now have to travel her without the partition, and she stills leans heavily against the left side of the trailer when we take left corners.

I would not suspect inner ear problems as a cause as this would be apparent at other times - not just travelling. Maybe something is painful -joints or muscles?
 
We have found that trapped nerves that cause referred pain to the back end can cause horses to suddenly loose balance when travelling, deffo worth getting your chiro to check and also ear infections by the vet.

You could try taking our the partition in the trailer and cross tying...your horse can then position herself so that she can balance.
 
Sorry haven't read all replies But hips could be out?

My instructor knew a horse who was always perfect to travel then suddenly started doing this and his hips her out and he couldn't balance as well and that was the only sign !
 
i know many horses who wont travel alone on the correct side of the trailer - so the owners end up taking out partitions or travelling on 'incorrect' side - tbh - i donpt see it as incorrect though - becauser to me the side they have a hissy fit is the dangerous incorrect side - i'd do whatever suits the horse - for mine its no partitions

fwiw - and its prob not at all relevent in this case - when my mare started to have traveling issues it turned out to be the drivers side window in the top door of the trailer (ovber the unload ramp) that she was scared of - covered it up with a tea towel and troubles stopped - she didn't like seeing the other cars on the road lol!
 
posie_honey said:
i know many horses who wont travel alone on the correct side of the trailer - so the owners end up taking out partitions or travelling on 'incorrect' side - tbh - i donpt see it as incorrect though - becauser to me the side they have a hissy fit is the dangerous incorrect side - i'd do whatever suits the horse - for mine its no partitions
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Travelling one horse on the left side tends to take the trailer into the gutter all the time - doesn't tow so well.

Covering the window does work with some and well worth trying
 
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