Posted 2016-10-07 11:51 AM (#168573) Subject: horse can't keep feet underneath her in trailer
New User
Posts: 1
Hi folks....it's been years since I've been on here....so long that I had to create another profile because I don't have the same email address.
I've had my 19-year old mare for 10 years. She never traveled well in my 2-horse straight load. She steps all over herself and inside sidewall. She normally came out of the trailer with blood somewhere between hoof and fetlock (she wears shoes which makes it worse). I've used shipping boots but they just get destroyed. She's not nervous in the trailer. She loads without a blink. She just can't seem to handle the turns, curves, etc. No matter how slowly I turn corners, I can hear her stomping around. Every other horse that's been in the straight load travels fine.
She has always traveled well in our large LQ trailer, but that trailer doesn't move much at all, proven several times by our forgetting something and finding it sitting exactly where it was left. Assuming it was the difference between straight load and slant load, I was finally able to trade the straight load for a 2007 4-Star two-horse slant. I could feel and hear her stomping around again during turns, stops, curves. While she didn't come out with any blood, she managed to rip the butt-side matting on the wall. I don't want her destroying the inside of the trailer.
Any suggestions? I can wrap her legs but that doesn't help with the bottom of her back feet causing the damage to the matting.
Posted 2017-01-14 10:16 AM (#169118 - in reply to #168573) Subject: RE: horse can't keep feet underneath her in trailer
Expert
Posts: 1989 Location: South Central OK
YOu need to viseo or watch her to know exactly what's going on. If she rides well in one but not the other then it could be just a few things. Are you matting and bedding down the floor the same in each trailer? Are you driving the same with each trailer, or do you go slower and safter with the big one and jerk the tiny trailer around more? Get a friend and your cell phones and take a tiny drive around town or to the vet and back. Is she alone in both trailers?
Posted 2017-01-24 11:27 PM (#169173 - in reply to #168573) Subject: RE: horse can't keep feet underneath her in trailer
New User
Posts: 3
Horses normally likes open space. So when you try to load your horse into a trailer he'll feel as if he is trapped. So he may act weird. So first of all make him comfortable by asking him to move his feet back and froth across the trailer. When he is comfortable taking one step inside the trailer, ask him to take two steps inside. When he's completely comfortable let him rest inside the trailer for few minutes.
In order to getting him to crave inside the trailer, make him work outside the trailer and let him rest inside the trailer. If you repeat this process your horse will eventually will back off the trailer thinking that he'll have to work outside the trailer.
horse can't keep feet underneath her in trailer
