Calming the fussy horse in the trailer

[TSHEventing]

Hi Everyone,

I have a young mare that has done a fair bit of shipping (she is a fine traveler and will self-load and unload), but not a lot of standing. This is the life for an event horse where I am (standing through the day at a one day event). Personality wise she hates to not know what is going on around her and the trailer blocks her from being “involved” in everything. I DO NOT leave horses tied to trailers unless I am immediately available, but I am nearly always on my own and therefore need to walk courses, have bathroom breaks, or what have you so she needs to stand on the trailer.

This past weekend was the first time I’ve made her stand for any length of time as we shipped with another horse that competed after we were done. She stomped and pawed, kicked and threw her body around. Nothing enough to hurt herself but with an aluminum trailer it is LOUD. I had to post a note on the trailer that this noise was normal, but to call me if there was a real emergency because we were attracting so much attention! Note: This was not behavior because her buddy left. She did it when he was standing right next to him too.

Does anyone have any tips on calming her in the trailer? I tried all windows open, all windows shut, giving her hay on both sites of her head… I feel like there is only so much I can do.

[Highflyer]

IME most of them just have to do it until they get over it.

[saje]

Is there any way you can take the divider out and let her have a box stall back there?

[Squirt]

With my youngins’ if they throw a fit like that, anywhere, that earns them an hour of sitting on the trailer. Actually that goes for all of them, not just the young ones. I make sure that they have hay in front of them but I’ll go do chores, go watch a sitcom, whatever. I have found with mine within a few sessions of this they learn that it doesn’t do them any good. Everyone always amazes at how well my horses just hang it on the trailer. YMMV

[Lusoluv]

I know it’s hard not to feel embarrassed when you own “that horse” that is causing commotion at a show But there isn’t really anything you can do, but what you’ve already done. It’s having patience and also putting her on the trailer at home for 1 hour sessions daily or every few days to acclimate her vs. only doing it at a few-several events each show season.

[Hilary]

My guy has little patience for standing on the trailer - he paws - but it’s worse when I open the people door. If he can see the action he wants off. Closing the door helps. He will also stand tied to the trailer with hay like saint, so I will do that.

[Rnichols]

So I just went to a schooling show this weekend where I was in the first class and another rider I hauled with was in the last class. As a result, we were there all day (8AM to 530PM). My mare is young (5 years old),but was GREAT all day. She stood tied to the trailer like a champ (with a hay net) and wasn’t bothered by the other horse we were with coming and going.

At the end of the day, around 445, my trainer suggested I put her in the trailer - that way when the other rider was done we could just load up and leave right away. My mare has never had an issue trailering…she goes in and out no problem, she’s super quiet on every ride I took her in. Anyway, I left her in the trailer (windows closed, but with hay) and came back about 15 minutes later and she was a little agitated. I opened the window, gave her a carrot and went to but something away and out of the blue she started FREAKING out. She tried to pull back and scared herself and then reared up, tried to get her hooves THROUGH the window, then put her legs up on the chest bar and wouldn’t move.Honestly I thought she was going to snap a leg and that would be the end of it. Long story short, I will NEVER leave her in the trailer again when it’s not moving. And on another note, I am SO glad I had her legs wrapped…I always debate about is it safer to have wraps or not, and in this instance I was very glad she had them on.

I did see lots of people tied to the trailer and left their horses. My trainer has twine to tie the horses to instead of the actual trailer, so if they pull back and act stupid at least the twine will break. But then you run the risk of having a loose horse running around the show grounds. I know there’s risk involved with everything, I just thought I’d share what happened to me when I tried to leave my horse in a trailer at a show. And she has NEVER given any indication she would act like this - she is normally very level headed.

[ThirdCharm]

I hate tying to the trailer, so my horses have all learned to stand on the trailer all day. Once I unpacked my Intermediate horse and left her tied while I took my cross-country gear off before bathing her, and she untied herself and LOADED HERSELF on the trailer LOL.
however. When I do tie to the trailer, I use a blocker tie ring, just in case!

jennifer
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[Cameraine]

I own a plow horse. Literally as long as he has hay he does not care where he’s tied. The mare on the other hand could never be trusted to stand quietly at the trailer. She broke quite a few trailer tie rings before I got the Blocker Rings like ThirdCharm has. I even use these inside the trailer because you can set them with different levels of tension and they give if the horse panics. But for the most part if I had to leave the immediate area of the trailer for any length of time the mare stayed on the trailer. My gelding on the other hand happily hangs out all day wherever with whatever going on. He’s even had horses directly behind him get loose and run off, he’s still standing there calm as anything eating his hay.

[Auburn]

OP, I happen to have a mare that sounds like she is your mare’s twin. She self loads into the trailer and backs out quietly, too. As soon as she is on the trailer, she wants it moving, or she wants out. In her youth, she jumped the chest bar and ended up with her head smushed against the front of the trailer. The chest bar was under her flank, in front of her hind legs. She never panicked, but waited until someone lowered the chest bar, backed her up, then put the chest bar back into place. I was a nervous wreck, because she did this almost every time that we traveled somewhere. :eek: My husband put a camera in the trailer, so that I could keep an eye on her on trips. It began to be so stressful that I would try to rent a stall for the day at one day events.

Does your mare have issues with being kept in a stall for a long period of time?

Before my mare learned to do that trick, I tried leaving her in the trailer for an hour or two, at home. She would paw so violently, the whole time, that I thought that she would hurt herself. She was never afraid. She was just plain throwing a temper tantrum. I never succeeded in fixing her standing in a trailer. A good friend, who used to post on here as pinkdiamondracing, suggested that I weld a tie ring down low, so that she couldn’t Levade and jump the chest bar. Doing that has fixed that issue.

Fortunately, my OTTB mare will stand quietly in the trailer, eating hay, all day long. She may be higher than a kite to ride cross country, but her trailering manners are awesome.

I hope that somebody has a suggestion that works for you.

[mountainhorse]

@Squirt

With my youngins’ if they throw a fit like that, anywhere, that earns them an hour of sitting on the trailer. Actually that goes for all of them, not just the young ones. I make sure that they have hay in front of them but I’ll go do chores, go watch a sitcom, whatever. I have found with mine within a few sessions of this they learn that it doesn’t do them any good. Everyone always amazes at how well my horses just hang it on the trailer. YMMV

This. I would work on training with her to learn to stand quietly, regardless of where she is. Once she is quiet, take her off. Then do it again. Patience.

[kcmel]

When my young horse is left on the trailer alone he destroys everything within reach. He destroyed the padding on his chest bar (I had to laugh when I opened up the trailer door and there was foam everywhere), and then when my trainer put him in the other side of the trailer one day when I wasn’t looking he destroyed that chest bar. Now his favorite thing is to rip out the screen in the window. One day I closed the door and immediately I heard the ripping sound of the screen being removed. Sigh. Needless to say, cribox is my friend! I have to keep on top of it though.

Otherwise, as long as I close his door (I can leave the opposite one open) and put up the ramp he doesn’t do anything too crazy.

[Montanas_Girl]

@Squirt

With my youngins’ if they throw a fit like that, anywhere, that earns them an hour of sitting on the trailer. Actually that goes for all of them, not just the young ones. I make sure that they have hay in front of them but I’ll go do chores, go watch a sitcom, whatever. I have found with mine within a few sessions of this they learn that it doesn’t do them any good. Everyone always amazes at how well my horses just hang it on the trailer. YMMV

Another vote for this. Patience is a virtue that often has to be taught.

However, I’ve found that most horses are happier standing tied to the trailer, where they can watch the action, than standing inside it, where they can hear but not see. For a lot of trailers, it’s also much cooler/more comfortable for the horse outside the trailer.

[beau159]

@TSHEventing

Hi Everyone,

I have a young mare that has done a fair bit of shipping (she is a fine traveler and will self-load and unload), but not a lot of standing. This is the life for an event horse where I am (standing through the day at a one day event). Personality wise she hates to not know what is going on around her and the trailer blocks her from being “involved” in everything. I DO NOT leave horses tied to trailers unless I am immediately available, but I am nearly always on my own and therefore need to walk courses, have bathroom breaks, or what have you so she needs to stand on the trailer.

This past weekend was the first time I’ve made her stand for any length of time as we shipped with another horse that competed after we were done. She stomped and pawed, kicked and threw her body around. Nothing enough to hurt herself but with an aluminum trailer it is LOUD. I had to post a note on the trailer that this noise was normal, but to call me if there was a real emergency because we were attracting so much attention! Note: This was not behavior because her buddy left. She did it when he was standing right next to him too.

Does anyone have any tips on calming her in the trailer? I tried all windows open, all windows shut, giving her hay on both sites of her head… I feel like there is only so much I can do.

Sounds like this horse needs to be tied alone a lot.

Make her stand tied at home too, everyday. She’ll get over herself eventually.