When I bought my pony 4 years ago the trainer told me he scrambles badly. She said he does best in a two-horse straight load (which is what we have so I’ve never tried anything else), has to always be loaded on the left, is horrific if the trailer is backed with him in it, and is a panicked mess for about the first 10 minutes of a trailer ride but then does better and usually doesn’t scramble at all on the way back home. She says he leans on the center divider (had bent one before) and scrambles up the left side of the trailer wall with his back legs. He’s been a hunter show pony all his life (he’s 18 now) and I tracked down his previous owners who weren’t aware of any issues other than just reluctance to load. The trainer said she’d tried everything - stock trailers (leaving him loose), slant loads, giving him ace, and nothing has fixed the problem. The only time I’ve trailered him in 4 years is to bring him home (he had one scramble and left hoof marks on the left wall of our trailer so presumably he leaned on the center divider as she warned). I haven’t tackled the issue proactively but I do load him routinely (when we have the trailer out for other horses and it’s all done very calmly and at his pace). He’s uncomfortable but calm to walk into the trailer now, gets visibly more uncomfortable when I start playing with the center divider and butt bar (sometimes will shoot backwards at super speed) and when the back door is closed and the truck is turned on he starts fidgeting and backing up. When the truck was moved very very very slowly (we only did this once) his back legs started to sit down and he was at the very end of the trailer tie - had it pulled taut. A horse psychic (yep, I went there) said that he said that he gets dizzy. Anyone out there with similar experiences? Any suggestions? I’m not sure how sold I am on the dizzy argument but rather think that he had a seriously bad experience and just has a little bit of PTSD. I’m wondering if I should tie him longer so that he can lean/brace against the butt bar if he wanted to but not sure that’s a good idea. The trainer also didn’t use bedding on the trailer floor (she used cavallo rubber boots on his unshod back hooves to protect him because he’d slice up his hooves scrambling before). I’m pro bedding but am not sure if that helps or hurts traction for unshod hooves. We have lovely trails 5 minutes away and it would be great to be able to take him. Thanks for any thoughts!
He is scrambling because he is trying to spread his legs. If he leans on the wall and there is a cushion, his weight squishes the cushion, his hip is now against the wall and he can’t spread his leg wider than the side. The same if the divider is to the floor.
You can replace the cushions with wooden ski bars.
I did have a word diagram of how to do it. I can see if I still have it or take photos of our float if I can’t.
Over here you can buy a JR Traveller float, it is like a triangle to stop scrambling.
I couldn’t find it but I did find a post I wrote:
The diagram says to bring the ski bars out one hoof’s width. Other than that you can leave the padding in and put the ski bars above or below it and just bring them out as far as the padding is.
We took the padding out on the walls and left the padding on the divider. Our divider does not reach to the floor. I think it cost us about $50.00. Neither horse has scrambled. I didn’t float them prior to putting the ski bars on, but as Andy had only ever been trucked I didn’t want to take the risk.
To add to above. Try to start the journey on even ground. If he is the only one in the float remove the divider. You have to be careful. Never hold a ramp that a horse puts a hoof on. Drop it. People have become paraplegics. The horse has to be taught to stand. Tie after ramp is up. Untie before lowering the ramp.
Thank you! I’m intrigued and will see if google can produce some pictures. He leans on the center divider (not the wall) and the center divider doesn’t go down to the floor so theoretically he should be able to spread his legs but he stands in the trailer like this: [ /| ] (he’s the forward slash).
If there is a cushion on the divider I would change it.
I also had an experience of a horse who scrambled. I got out a chiropractor I trust. He didn’t scramble after that.
What does he do if the center divider isn’t there for him to lean on? My first pony was a scrambler, but we had a center divider that went all the way to the floor and she just wanted to spread her back legs more. Once we tied the divider over (giving her a triangle to stand in), she stopped scrambling. Sounds like this isn’t the same situation you have, but if he can’t lean, maybe he’d hold himself up. My current horse sits on the butt bar. She never scrambled and started doing this about 2 years ago, for some unknown reason.
Thanks Mango20. I haven’t tried tying the divider to the side as he seems so dependent on it but I will. It’s an oversized trailer so he can’t reach the buttbar when he’s tied - do you leave your current horse untied or just use a trailer tie long enough to let her sit on the butt bar? I’m wondering if that might help him. Thanks again.
I leave her tied, but long enough to reach (she is a compact 14.3 hands). Lots of resources say it’s best to leave them untied, mostly so they can lower their heads and clear their noses, but also for balance. I still like the security of tying them, especially for the ponies who might try to turn around, so tie them long enough for them to move freely, but not so long that they can get in trouble.
We had a mare that would do this, and was sooooo much worse if there was a center divider. I agree with the previous poster that he’s panicking because he can’t fully spread his legs to keep his balance.
In our case, it was safer to trailer our mare loose in a stock trailer, with a little bit of Ace. Obviously not ideal if you were going to trailer for the purposes of a show, but it worked in our case because we never trailered her with that purpose.
With a small amount of Ace and allowed to stand however she wanted, she never scrambled once.
Thanks. I haven’t tried it because the trainer said he was worse when aced or loose in a stock trailer for some reason.
Even though you have had the advice to NOT ship loose in a box stall because it gets worse, I would give this a try anyway. Because either loose in a box stall OR tied in a wider stall has been the classic fix for horses with this problem. IF a former shipper found that this did not work for this pony, there may have been other reasons why it was a bad experience, eg. the trailer frame carrying an electric charge from the brakes (yes, it has happened), or some other problem that the previous owner was unaware of. And yes, atravet (acepromazine) can be helpful too, to keep stress levels down for shipping, to give the horse an experience of shipping without his regular stress levels being a problem for him. NEVER, in my 45 years of being involved with shipping horses, have I seen atravet make a horse worse with shipping (this does not guarantee that yours is not the first one). So some of the info you have been given does not make sense to me. Try it yourself, to see.
You need to tie so they don’t turn around and try to jump out the back if at all possible.
I have taken a photo for you but photobucket is not working for me.
You may have had more luck than me googling ski bars on horse float brought up images of floating drinkers on water!.
I will see if i can send it to you via pm.
Nope I cant figure out how to do that either. If you pm me your email address I can send it to you via email.
We had one who would only scramble if you loaded him on the left. Hauling on the right he was fine.
I know they always say load a single horse on the left side because of the crown of the road, but if it makes them scramble it’s just not that important.
Yes my scrambler went down on left side. 
Another is to make sure you dont push him over with the divider.
If you push a horse they push back even if it is 5 minutes later.
Teach them to step sideways when asked instead.
I had a little horse who was a scrambler – he wanted to spread his back legs so bloody wide that you really could not safely haul another horse with him. We would arrive at our destination and find his feet almost edge to edge. Any divider would send him into a scrambly panic. Definitely try removing the center divider altogether, or tying it off to one side, so he can spread out to his heart’s desire. FYI, this fellow was much happier when we changed to a slant load and let him stand untied however he wanted.
I have seen other horses whose back feet were just plain slipping – combo of older mats and barefoot horse. (Your description of back legs underneath him reminds me very much of this.) Even if he isn’t actually slipping, it may have happened in the past.
Thanks all. I guess I need to experiment a bit but I’m just worried about him hurting himself during the process. Our trailer is new and the mats seem grippy but any thoughts on whether it’s better to put shavings down or to leave the mats bare?
[QUOTE=farak;8950798]
When I bought my pony 4 years ago the trainer told me he scrambles badly. She said he does best in a two-horse straight load (which is what we have so I’ve never tried anything else), has to always be loaded on the left, is horrific if the trailer is backed with him in it, and is a panicked mess for about the first 10 minutes of a trailer ride but then does better and usually doesn’t scramble at all on the way back home. She says he leans on the center divider (had bent one before) and scrambles up the left side of the trailer wall with his back legs. He’s been a hunter show pony all his life (he’s 18 now) and I tracked down his previous owners who weren’t aware of any issues other than just reluctance to load. The trainer said she’d tried everything - stock trailers (leaving him loose), slant loads, giving him ace, and nothing has fixed the problem. The only time I’ve trailered him in 4 years is to bring him home (he had one scramble and left hoof marks on the left wall of our trailer so presumably he leaned on the center divider as she warned). I haven’t tackled the issue proactively but I do load him routinely (when we have the trailer out for other horses and it’s all done very calmly and at his pace). He’s uncomfortable but calm to walk into the trailer now, gets visibly more uncomfortable when I start playing with the center divider and butt bar (sometimes will shoot backwards at super speed) and when the back door is closed and the truck is turned on he starts fidgeting and backing up. When the truck was moved very very very slowly (we only did this once) his back legs started to sit down and he was at the very end of the trailer tie - had it pulled taut. A horse psychic (yep, I went there) said that he said that he gets dizzy. Anyone out there with similar experiences? Any suggestions? I’m not sure how sold I am on the dizzy argument but rather think that he had a seriously bad experience and just has a little bit of PTSD. I’m wondering if I should tie him longer so that he can lean/brace against the butt bar if he wanted to but not sure that’s a good idea. The trainer also didn’t use bedding on the trailer floor (she used cavallo rubber boots on his unshod back hooves to protect him because he’d slice up his hooves scrambling before). I’m pro bedding but am not sure if that helps or hurts traction for unshod hooves. We have lovely trails 5 minutes away and it would be great to be able to take him. Thanks for any thoughts![/QUOTE]
I head a pony that would panic in the trailer. She actually jumped out on the PA turnpike (long story). Anyway- I bolded part of your post.
Do you think this pony (a seasoned show pony) had a bad trailer ride or a few bad ones? Have you tried short, non eventful rides, lots of praise, feeding in the trailer.
Throwing it out there because a mare of mine was with a trainer for a few month while I was out of state for work, took her to some shows etc. The mare HATED the trailer when she came home, would scramble where she never did before or just flat out refuse to load. This was a mare who grew up showing on the line and never had an issue. Ever. Until this trainer. Mare is now back to normal but it took about a year after I got her back of regular trailering (by me) and non events to get her back to her reliable self.
I mentioned this to my braider and she said “I surprised more of X’s don’t act like that. She drives like an Ahole”.
Yes, I know that scramblers are a whole different issue but it seems to me this one may be rehabilitated. My pony and mare were able to overcome.
Just a thought.
[QUOTE=SuzieQNutter;8951890]
You need to tie so they don’t turn around and try to jump out the back if at all possible.
I have taken a photo for you but photobucket is not working for me.
You may have had more luck than me googling ski bars on horse float brought up images of floating drinkers on water!.
I will see if i can send it to you via pm.[/QUOTE]
This is why you use a stock trailer type if you’re going to haul loose, not a regular “horse trailer” with a ramp/open top doors in the back.
I had a scrambler who was only happy in a two horse slant load, by himself, with the divider removed.
Good Luck!
