Posted 2005-08-29 11:23 PM (#29748) Subject: Kicking in the trailer
Member
Posts: 15
Location: East Haddam Connecticut
We have a Hawk 2 horse straight load trailer. Is there a manufactuer that makes a divider that goes all the way to the floor between the horses? Sometimes the horses kick at each other. This is the second time that the vet had to come out to stitch up the wounds. Does anyone have any ideas how to make an extention to connect to the existing divider?
Posted 2005-08-30 7:40 AM (#29752 - in reply to #29748) Subject: RE: Kicking in the trailer
Expert
Posts: 2689
Originally written by nerspellsner on 2005-08-29 11:23 PM
We have a Hawk 2 horse straight load trailer. Is there a manufactuer that makes a divider that goes all the way to the floor between the horses? Sometimes the horses kick at each other. This is the second time that the vet had to come out to stitch up the wounds. Does anyone have any ideas how to make an extention to connect to the existing divider?
They might be kicking at each other, they might be just trying to spread their hooves wide to maintain their balance. Is there a tendancy for the one on the left to injure the one on the right more than the other way around ? THAT can be a symptom of something else (-:
There can be other problems with dividers that go to the floor, or very close to the floor.
Posted 2005-08-30 7:55 AM (#29753 - in reply to #29748) Subject: RE: Kicking in the trailer
Member
Posts: 22
Location: Houston, TX
There is a member on here that has a Hart 3 horse slant, and he made one of his dividers a "full divider" by hanging a peice of heavy rubber mat from his divider to the floor.
He has pictures too!!! This might be right up your alley.
Posted 2005-08-30 12:41 PM (#29770 - in reply to #29748) Subject: RE: Kicking in the trailer
Member
Posts: 26 Location: Ontario, Canada
Do you know for sure that they are kicking at each other, or are the scrambling trying to maintain their balance? Does the kicking often occur at corners and turns, or is it on the straightaways? Also, what are you currently doing to protect their legs? We have sets of high quality, really tough shipping boots, they cover the leg from the hoof itself right up to the bottom edge of their belly, they really protect while trailering and loading. Just make sure tht you take some time with your horse to get your horse used to them the first few times they wear them, a lot of horses develop the 'high step' the first few times the boots are on.
Another thought.....not saying this is your problem, but something to keep in mind, is that I have seen an injury or two from the trailer itself that was originally blamed on a kick....sometimes if a horse gets kicking at a fly or something they will hit a shar edge on the bottom of something that is hard to find normally, double check the bottom edges of things in the trailer.
Kicking in the trailer
