Horse leaning sideways in horsebox?

finbarrk

I was transporting a horse yesterday and I heard a lot of thumping coming from the box so I let someone else drive for a few km and I went into the box for a look. The horse who was on the left hand side was throwing all his weight to his right against the partition and pawing the ground at the same time. There was a pony in the right hand side. It wasn't constant but whenever we slowed down or took a bend. The driving wasn't fast either.
Has anyone any idea how to get him out of this habit because he could hurt himself the way he is going?

Wicked

it could be a number of things, first thing i would do would be to try him on his own and see how he travels, then i'd try him on the opposite side of the side you had him on,

could be the other horse to, your fella might not like travelling with the pony.

i know a friend who is a trainer and he has awful trouble bringing horses away because certain horses will only travel with others on certain sides - there funny old creatures.

finbarrk

He has travelled on his own before and no problems. Maybe he feels clusterphobic with the pony? I must try him without the pony.

Wicked

yeah try him without the pony, or with a horse his own size. and try him on the opposite side of the box, if he keeps leaning against the partition its not good because he could go down in the box on you and that would be a real panic situation

convert

I had a horse years ago who used to stand really queitly and square in the box until we went around a bend and they she'd stand like you described and lean either into the side of the trailer or the partition, depending on which way you were turning. She did this regardless of how slowly we would drive around the bend and which side of the box she travelled on, although she did improve with time and more frequent travelling. The only time she didn't do it was when we travelled her on her own without a partition, when she stood diagonally across the box.

Try him on his own again and see what he does. Has he travelled with other horses before? And if so, was he on the other side? Maybe he was just anxious travelling with the pony?

shanagarry

To follow on from what Convert has said, it sounds like it is a balance issue, especially given you say that it was more pronounced when negotiating bends or under breaking. Having him on the left probably made matters worse for him as he had the camber on the road to deal with too. Try putting him in the righthand side of the box, he may be better there. When travelling different size animals you should always try and put the bigger on the right anyway, to counteract the camber.

When you transported him on his own had you the partitions in? If he doesn't do well on the right you may have to transport him on his own with the partition out. You could also try tying him fairly loosely - he may balance himself better if he has more freedom with his head.

Just make sure he is well bandaged up anyway as he could easily stand on himself and do damage. And please, please don't ever travel in the box again - it's highly dangerous on so many counts.

convert

shanagarry wrote: »

And please, please don't ever travel in the box again - it's highly dangerous on so many counts.

I agree with you on this point - it isn't the safest to travel in a trailer. However, unfortunately there are situations where it is necessary to travel in the box for a bit - for example, where a young horse isn't settling in the box and is in danger of injuring himself, or, worse still, unbalancing the trailer making it extremely difficult to tow. While it is is always advisable to do a few short runs with a horse before travelling it on the road for the first time, and something I do, sometimes it isn't always feasible and requires a human presence to settle the horse for its first journey. Afterall, it must be quite a frightening and, perhaps traumatic, experience for them, regardless of how carefully, slowly and considerately one drives.

byhookorbycrook

my old chap used to love to lean from side to side, never liked travelling in company or in a box with a partition. Nothing ever worked to cure him of this.

finbarrk

Well I have tried it again since. The first time I put him in without the pony, on the left side again and same story, started thumping as soon as we pulled off. Then I put him in the right and left the top of the front ramp open to keep his mind off it and it seemed to work ok. I then put in the pony and he seemed ok with him. Next I closed the top front door and he still seemed fine with that.
So hopefully he will stay that way.

Esroh

Finnbarrk hopefully all will be well but I have dealt with a horse who had done exactly what yous is doing. If you can tighten the back partition up a little on the pony. This will give your horse a little more room and hopefully he will not panick.
If he does get upset again try him facing backwards

Theponylady

Some horses get panicky when they can't spread their legs apart to balance themselves. Most horses haul better when they are on a slant, or facing backwards. You will almost never see a horse who is left loose in a trailer facing forward, they will always turn around or stand sideways.

If he gets narky in the box again, you can try turning him around and allowing him to ride backwards. this works for a lot of horses. If he's on his own, taking the center divider out also works, but that's not the safest option with another horse in the box. I often haul two in the box with all the dividers out, and the horses tied to the side, so they can stand sideways. I can't remember the last time I had a horse scramble in the trailer.

I know you said the driver was going slow, which is good. One thing that happens sometimes though, is that drivers when turning corners will turn the tow vehicle very slowly, but will accelerate before the box has completely turned the corner. Even if you aren't going fast, that can cause a whiplash effect, and throw a horse off balance. Make sure you wait until the trailer has made the turn and is straightened out before you step on the accelerator.

Also, make sure you have not tied the horse's head up too tight. If the horse is facing forward, he needs to lower his head to keep his balance. If he can't, he's likely to scramble, and even pull back and then jump forward and get over the front bar. If he's tied long enough to put his head down, and to move back and sit on the back bar, he's less likely to scramble.

monflat

as mentioned above this is a balance issue , what you need to look at is what was the horse travelled in before was it a lorry??
Horses travel better in lorries than in forward facing horseboxes but we have to travel them forward facing as thats the way the horse box is designed and not all of us have lorries.

I know if you do turn a horse loose in a horse box he will face backwards but unfortulatly horse boxes are not manufactured to carry the weight of a horse this way 60% of weight on forehand 40% on hind quaters if you face him backwards you have 60% of their weight on the tail of the horsebox and the box may not supposrt the weight like this

If you travel a horse like this and then sell it or give it to someone else to travel the horse will only get stressed
we owe it to our horses to help them be as comfortable as possible when travelling
so if necessary take the horse for short drives as practice for longer ones where he will become more confident travelling