Do you have any idea what your horse experiences in the trailer? Most of us load our horses, drive to our destination, and, as long as we don’t hear kicking and our horse is in one piece at the end, we figure they are just fine.
That’s how I always felt. The only signs that my horse, Tupelo Honey, might be having trouble were that whenever I unloaded him he was really sweaty, and people driving behind me would tell me that he looked like he was falling a bit on left hand turns. But he never seemed nervous loading, he sweats a lot anyway, and I thought I just needed to take turns slower.
On a recent trip the friend behind me told me that the falling was much worse. I finally decided to find out what was going on with him, so I rode in the trailer with my horse. [Please do not do this at home; it’s dangerous and in many places illegal. I have some better ideas below.] What I saw terrified me. Kerrie is driving the truck very slowly – only about 5 mph.
I am a firm believer that with most problems the first course of action is to rule out physical problems, so I made an appointment with my vet. In the meantime, I tried a few ideas people had given me. Nothing had any effect. Here he is in a slant load, again going very slowly.
When the vet came, she examined him and did a lameness exam including flexion tests. I was shocked to hear that he had lameness in both hind legs because I had never noticed any limping. According to Doug Thal of Horse Side Vet Guide, “Lameness is a term used to describe a horse’s change in gait, usually in response to pain somewhere in a limb, but also possibly as a result of a mechanical restriction on movement. We all think of lameness when a horse is obviously limping, but lameness may only cause a subtle change in gait, or even just a decreased ability or willingness to perform.”
Tupelo is a 16-year old draft cross, so it’s not surprising that he would start to have some weakness or pain in his hocks. My vet gave me several options for treatment and I decided to go with hock injections. He is moving better and is more stable in the trailer now.
This experience taught me many lessons. The one I want to share with you is the lesson of knowing what the trailering experience is like for my horse.
If your horse trailers perfectly you might assume he or she is perfectly comfortable. Maybe. Maybe not. You know what they say about assumptions. During one test run in a friend’s trailer I was almost deafened by the rattling of the metal head divider. It was high-pitched and so loud that it must have stressed the horses, and perhaps even damaged their hearing on long hauls. She has since fixed it.
Even if your horse seems fine, there could be all kinds of uncomfortable or dangerous things going on in the trailer that you are unaware of, such as:
- A swinging hay net hitting your horse in the head
- Shavings or hay dust flying around getting in horses’ eyes
- Wind or trailer movement causing items to flutter or swing around
- Rattling, whistling, or other noises
- Horses trying to turn their heads around or under the divider if they are tied too loosely
- Horses biting at or kicking each other
- Horse kicking the wall
- Horse leaning too heavily on the divider
- Unstable horse on turns or hills if you are turning too fast or braking too aggressively for them.
I am not trying to scare you with this list. Chances are that everything is fine back there. But don’t you want to know for sure? Here are a few things you can do to put yourself in your horse’s shoes and find out what their experience in the trailer is like.
- Put on a pair of sunglasses and walk into the trailer as your horse would. Horses’ eyes can take up to 15 minutes to adjust to different light levels (check out Kerrie’s post about horse vision). If you find it difficult to see in the trailer with sunglasses on, your horse might too.
- If your trailer has chest and butt bars, lean against them. Move around a little to simulate the trailer moving. Is there enough padding on the bars? [When I bought my trailer there was no padding on the butt bar so I immediately made pads.] Are there any sharp corners or protrusions? When your horse is in in the trailer, look at where the bars come on their chest and butt. [My trailer is a Thoroughbred model and my horse is only 15.3 so the chest bar was pressing against his trachea. I had the bars lowered.]
- Without hurting yourself, gently throw your shoulder against the wall and the divider (if there is one). Imagine how it feels for your horse. Is there enough padding? Is it at the right height? Does the divider move a lot?
- Look around for anything that might hurt your horse, like protruding bolts, screws, broken or bent things, and anything that your horse could get a leg or their head trapped in.
- Most importantly, take a video inside the trailer in motion, with your horses loaded. If you are lucky enough to have a trailer cam, you already know what is going on. If you don’t, you can mount your cell phone in the trailer and take a few minutes of video while driving. Make turns in both directions and if possible drive on both dirt and paved roads, as well as up and down hills.
Here is a video of how to mount your cell phone in the trailer with duct tape. Be sure your phone is in a case, and protect the screen from the tape as shown. Note: You undertake this at your own risk and we are not responsible for damage to your phone!
My experience with Tupelo made me realize that just because my horse willingly loads on the trailer and gets off in one piece, he might not enjoy it very much. I want to make it as pleasant for him as possible (or perhaps I should say the least unpleasant as possible).
I think we owe it to our horses to understand what they are experiencing in the trailer. The only way to do this is to get in there with them or get video. Please don’t do the first. If you insist on doing so against my advice, wear a helmet and stay on your own property, and you do so at your own risk. Instead, play it safe and mount a camera in the trailer. If you discover some ways to make your horse happier and safer in the trailer, we will take responsibility for helping you out!!
Happy trails!
Monica
I am always very worried about my pets how they cope with moving. In the trailer, of course, I’m unlikely to risk going, but recording a trip on camera sounds like a great idea!