At 21:29:03 on 11.06.11, Biche wrote:
Can anyone give me any advice.My horse keeps going down in the trailer when i out with her. She travels ok, but i dont know whether she slips or just loses her balance. The first time she was down ,i couldnnt get her up,ramp was down but instead she came out the jockey door and smashed the trailer up ,but she was ok. Thusday after my lesson i got home to open the jocky door to untie her ,and yet again she was down. This is starting to really worry me, as i am always on my own. The trailer has rubber floor,and she has shoes on. Any surgestions i would appreciate,to help us having safe travelling.

At 11:14:42 on 12.06.11, NoraPieterse wrote:
Do you have a partition in your trailer?

At 00:42:25 on 13.06.11, JessAndGrenville123 wrote:
My horse goes down in trailers that are forward facing but he is fine in wagons where he is stood sideways because he is really long and he can't get him balance in trailers so just falls over so i just don't travel in trailers which is really inconvenient if everyone is going to the beach and i cant because the only person on the yard with a wagon is leanne and she is always working and when i have to take him down to the vets i have to ask them to come and get him in their wagon because i can't use the yard trailer lol, if your trailer has a partition you could try taking it out to give her more space

At 08:06:51 on 13.06.11, kibby wrote:
Can you get someone else to take a drive and you go in the float with her and see whats happening. If you can take the divider out that can often help.

At 09:57:29 on 13.06.11, Em28 wrote:
Is she quite large in the trailer, she may need more room to spread her legs. Also does the partition go to the floor, if so again moving it may help her get her balance by spreading her legs. I would say check to see where she starts to loose her balance, eg round corners (left hand bends more common)/ slopes, way home. Then you will know what is going on. Do you have to use a trailer? Have you tried using her in the other side, or does she always go on the same side? Also have you had her back checked recently, problems can prevent the horse balancing. Hope you get it sorted must be quite scary for both of you being on your own.

At 13:00:02 on 13.06.11, Thelwell wrote:
I agree with Em28, if the partition goes all the way to the floor, she cannot spread her legs to balance. Is there scramble marks 0n the rubber? Throw some sandy dirt on the floor as rubber can be slippery with shoes esp if wet. Are you tying her loose enough so she can lower her head, again for balance. If after travelling in the back with her, you find she just cannot stand/balance and has room to spread her legs, you made need to give her time to learn how to travel. Go very slow (walking pace/5kmh) up & down a quiet street so she has time to adjust to the movement. When accelerating and cornering, make sure the driver keeps a constant power on, as this will make the balancing easier for the horse. Some drivers either brake or accelerate too harshly, or corner too fast (even if they think they don't). No matter how hard it is for a horse to balance in a trailer, if you drive slow enough the only way he will go down, is if he lays down. Hope this can help, as i did this for a horse that used to scramble up the sides of the float and once he found he could spread his feet at a low speed, he stopped panicking and improved as his confidence did.

At 14:40:21 on 13.06.11, ToriSilverson wrote:
i would either get a single box or remove the partition. and drive rediculously slow, it might have become a habit for her to just give up and fall, so drive as slow and as smooth as possible to help her keep her balance. maybe take her on short drives like 5 mins to help her learn how to find her balance

At 12:40:18 on 14.06.11, NoraPieterse wrote:
I agree with what the others are saying. Maybe she also just needs some practice in travelling. If it has become a habbit, you need to try and get her out of it. Practice loading her and tying her up in the trailer, closing all the doors and then waiting for a few minutes, then taking her out and ding it again. Then gradually starting a bit of driving, etc. Sometimes when there's a problem, you need to go back to basics and start all over again to figure it out and solve it. good luck!

At 17:10:11 on 14.06.11, NMH wrote:
I think Thelwell's advice is really sound; I've heard of horses doing this that were cured when they could really get their legs spread wide (an Irish hunter I had jammed one back hoof against each side- in a double trailer!) But your horse is going to have to learn this, instead of trying to scrabble sideways or whatever it is that is putting him down, so the extremely slow speed, preferably only on the straight at first, is important. Trailer mishaps are so scary, good luck.