Bad traveller - any ideas please?

[jill]

The lovely Lily, who you may remember I bought to keep her from an unwarranted sale, has allegedly had a nasty experience in a lorry in the past and when I collected her in May, tried to go down in the trailer, while it was still stationary. When I stood by and waited for her to get back on her feet, she did and then travelled quite happily, without even sweating up.
Now comes the hard part - I sent her on loan (WVTB) yesterday, and also a cob for company. The loaner rejected my suggestion of a professional transporter (a good hours journey) and instead opted to borrow a trailer. I had misgivings about them both travelling okay in a trailer, so took the precaution of getting them some sedalin just to take away any panic, and they both loaded very well, and set off on the trip.
The loaner rang me a couple of hours later to say that Lily had tried to go down several times on the way, had damaged the trailer, cut her leg, the cob fortunately was fine though. She is doubtful about wanting to keep her as she had planned to do some fun rides and travelling is therefore a problem.
Now the question - it's not my problem in theory but how do we get them back? And any experiences of really bad travellers welcome - maybe she would be better without the sedalin but in an open trailer without the partition? And if so, perhaps she could travel happily thatway to fun rides etc?
I can, given time, potter her around in my trailer, but I can't prepare her for someone else maybe not driving so considerately - the man who was driving (just a Freelander!!) said he didn't have a lot of time so maybe that was the reason, I just don't know.

[wabuska]

I don't believe in giving horses Sedalin to travel. She may have had enough to make herself unsteady. I would certainly not to that. Not sure what to suggest otherwise. What a pain!

[janej55uk]

We did have a mare who would go down with a partition but travelled ok without one, she was happy with two in the trailer as long as there was no partition.
It is surely worth a try with out the partitionand see what happens?

[lindsas]

As she travelled OK with you before, I would try some short trips under the original conditions you had until she is used to it. Freelanders aren't up to the job and would make the trailer feel a lot less stable, and it does sound like he was probably driving less than considerately - which would definitely not help .

Hopefully she will learn that things will be OK, but you will have to be very careful who you allow to drive her in future. Good luck.

[Karon]

A Freelander with those two? Why do I have a feeling that wouldn't have been legal, either? What trailer did she borrow to take her in?

[jill]

It was an elderly double horse trailer Karon, not as well designed as an IW but not as substantial as the old Rice ones. Looked like a locally made job TBH. I am more and more convinced that he wasn't the most considerate of drivers, he had to get a tow bar fitted to do the job so not recently that experienced.
Kanga the sedalin was suggested by a professional transporter I know, and approved by my vet, because the cob can be a tiny bit claustrophobic and has been known to stress and barge in the past. Last thing we would have needed was him panicking while Lily was trying some acrobatics!!

[lynette]

It sounds like a combination of bad driving or should I say an inexperienced driver with no patience. Although Sedalin was suggested to you this would not have given Lily a good experience or the reaction time to save herself if he drove too quickly into corners and threw her over and braked severely. I am surprised it was suggested by your friend and vet as under the Animal in Transit Welfare Act it is now illegal to travel a sedated animal. The Freelander is not up to the job. The maximum weight I think you can tow with it is 2.5 tonne and the old Rice Trailers are very heavy so this would have exceeded the maximum gross towing weight of the trailer.

If you travel her back then I suggest moving her in a trailer with no partition so that she can find her own way of standing.

[jill]

Thanks for that Lynette, I will pass on your comments about ATWA since I am sure she didn't know that. I think giving her the whole of a trailer is the only answer really, and making sure she is driven carefully.

[wabuska]

Not judging in the least honestly... I was coaxed into sedating a young horse of mine some years back too. He wobbled in and wobbled out. It was pretty worrying stuff. Horses being horses, chances are she will walk in and travel fine this time.

[dizzy]

We have a mare that after coming back from loan will not travel in an Ifor Williams trailer with a partition anymore. We tried driving at 5mph but she just scrabbled up the wall and threw herself all over everytime we went round a left bend. Heaven knows what had happened to her as she used to be a perfect traveller.
Anyway, we managed to travel her without the partition and cross tied. She stood ok but always arrived sweated and unhappy. We now have a rear facing trailer and she travels perfectly in that even with the partition in. There aren't many of them about though.
I would definitely try Lily without the partition in.
Poor mare, by the sound of it is the right thing to have her home anyway.
Good luck.

[oberon]

Probably not helpful but I use a 7.5t lorry with no partitions and travel loose in the back, like a travellling stable.

If it had to be a trailer, I would take the partition out and try cross tying to prevent her from turning.

PS I am sorry about your mare.

[donnalex]

A friend of mine has just told me that her pony who has been bad to travel as long as shes had him has been improved greatly by having a physio check. At first I was sceptical and though no chance but he really has improved and she explained that it was because he was sore in his back end muscles and could not lock his legs in the wide stance that they use to travel. Apparently he now travels a dream. She was advised to get him checked by a new person who moved onto her yard and told of one they had that suddenly started travelling really badly after loading willingly. That one improved dramatically after a few treatments.
It makes you think dosent it?

[kafee]

This reminds me of one of my ponies. Until recently my only trailer has been a George Hobbs Olympic double pony trailer (rear unload).

He's always been a bit reluctant to load, and hasn't always travelled well, no matter how carefully I drove. He would try to climb up the outer wall of the trailer and as the kick boarding was only 18" high, he'd get his hind hoof on top of it denting the outer wall. While he was out on loan for 18 months he was fine, they have an IW front unload hosre trailer.

Then one day, I travelled him and the other 14.2 without the partition in. He was happier than usual to go in and travelled well, and I noticed when I lowered the ramp that he was standing with his hind feet further apart than usual, leaving very little room for the other pony, who fortunately is very laid back about travelling.

The trailer is only 5' wide, so I think that he simply doesn't feel comfortable with just 2'5" to spread his legs in. There is no rubber skirt on the partition so that's not the problem.

So if half a 5' wide pony trailer isn't wide enough for a particular 14.2 pony, perhaps half a 6' wide trailer isn't enough for some horses.

[chrissiew]

I would also never travel a sedated horse after being a witness (not involved thank god) to a really really nasty incident that could have been fatal for horse and handlers.

My friend's little connemara never travelled well in trailers or rear facing Renault Master type boxes, she upgrade to a 7.5T forward facing Dodge and the mare was never a problem to travel again. Not sure why, maybe the bigger boxes are more substantial, further away from the road, so smoother? I don't know.

Best of luck though, sounds a difficult situation.

[jill]

The good news is the loaner is happy to keep her - for now, she has calmed down after the stress of the journey, and I have suggested she tried taking her round the block in a trailer without a partition.
We have two month loan with a view to buy, because I need her future owner to be aware of her quirks. I do so hope that Lily can stay there and learn to trust her new "owner", and that the new owner sees her quirks as a challenge to be resolved. So far so good.