Horse scrambling in trailer, video

[Pony123]

The backstory on this horse might or might not be relevant but here is the short version. I got this mare as an unbroken, unhandled 6yo. She’s 14yo this year. Been a very pleasant horse to work with and pretty easy. She has always struggled under saddle, canter especially. She’s supposed to be a dressage horse. Blamed saddle fit as she grew up, was better fed, and muscled. Multiple saddles and saddle fitters later she has one that fits. Struggles with tension, keeps her haunches turned to the right, most one sided horse I’ve ever ridden (left she does ok, right she will twist and turn to get out of bending through the middle). No bucks or rears ever. Tried two different trainers. One was doing her best, the other didn’t get along with her. Tried PEMF and chiro summer of last year. Chiro found a spot on her left side that she said was a deep scar right going clear to her ribs behind her left shoulder. I looked back and it was there when I bought her. Said it would have been a significant injury. She said that whole area was out of place, lower neck, ribs, sternum, shoulder. She was adjusted several times.

I haul out to my farrier every 6 weeks. She usually rode on the passenger side of the trailer and my gelding that is bigger would ride on the driver’s side. Standard two horse bumper pull Trail-et. A couple years ago, I loaded them up and felt the trailer shake. Long story, short it was every time I turned left. When I got home I unloaded the gelding and verified it was her. Took her to my vet, we checked a vector panel. Mildly positive for Lyme’s. Treated her with 3 months of doxy.

In the meantime, I moved her to the other side of the trailer. She did fine until this year when I put her back on the passenger side of the trailer. Once again, every left turn she would rattle the trailer. From the truck, it sounds like someone rattling a rock in a can. Treated her with another 30 days of doxy. Tested her in the trailer and it might be a little better but not much. She does occasionally make some odd steps on the left side going left but not as dramatic. Barn owner offered her camera and we got some video. The most bizarre thing I have ever seen.

https://youtu.be/Kne30J2DVyI?si=sQ1gi7zridj6IN6K

She’s been to 3 vets that have all said she is sound and is neurologically intact. Did a Bute trial that showed she has a pain component under saddle. Didn’t think to trailer her while on the Bute trial. She does have some arthritis in her withers but her neck was x-rayed and is fine. Last vet recommended Eqioxx and possibly pregabalin and said the next step would be a bone scan. Trialing the Equioxx now.

So, the question, any thoughts on what is causing her problems in the trailer? Could whatever is causing
the trailer issue be causing the riding problems? I’m contemplating retiring her but figured I would try here before I did.

[StormyDay]

Commenting mostly to help boost your post. That video is pretty weird.

[NaturallyHappy]

I would wonder if her injury to the left side figures in…I’m not sure how. Perhaps if she loses her balance a bit, her left side touches the wall in a manner that hurts???

[Dbliron]

I’ve had two which were scramblers, and both came to me with the problem and with trouble loading. I discovered after fixing the loading issues, and the hauling issues that both had been in significant trailer wrecks - the worst was a TB gelding who’d been in a trailer which rolled off the road and over, and he was trapped under the other horse, who’d broken his neck. The other was a TB mare who’d been in a commercial wreck. Both had to be hauled on the passenger’s side, never on the driver’s side, and I used Ace for both of them for loading and hauling for the first year. They both had very good reason for panicking and scrambling, but they both learned over time, with pharmaceutical assistance and VERY careful hauling, to let go of those responses.

[RedHorses]

I’ve seen and have video of that exact action in the trailer. Given the whole trailer width (remove divider, use a box) the horse was fine. Simply tying the divider to one side was not sufficient, and the horse scrambled. She needed the full width.

I’d had a vet say that some older horses need to be able to spread their feet out wider to feel balanced in the trailer, and seen it work for two horses, so I suggested it for this horse and it worked. Mine didn’t necessarily need the full trailer width - he was fine in an extra wide two horse, straight load. I think they also need room to sway their bodies without bumping into anything.

Each horse remained fine with the larger area until their ends.

[NancyM]

Remove the partition, haul in a box stall. You will have to decide if you tie her in the box stall… (I would not tie). But that also depends on your trailer construction and set up. The scrambling does not HAVE to be related to any old injury that she has. Horses who have never been injured like this can still scramble in a trailer. But anything’s possible with horses. Good luck.

[NaturallyHappy]

@NancyM

Remove the partition, haul in a box stall.

If one does this, how wide does the trailer actually need to safe if they try to turn around??? That’s always been my fear- they’d get stuck🤦‍♀️.

[RedHorses]

Tie them (with some kind of breakaway in case of emergency) so they can’t turn around. The trailer may need a butt bar or chain (though I’d be concerned about a chain of that length having enough play to let the horse get their bum underneath).

[Bluey]

Horses rarely have seizures, but for a second there almost looks like she was going to have one, unless it is the video not transmitting properly, but jerkily?

[Pony123]

I’m the only one that has hauled her so I know for a fact that she hasn’t been in any accidents.

I have thought about trying a box stall but I was afraid she was using the middle partition to keep from falling. I dont think she has fully hit the ground yet. No shavings on her side. I quit tying her after she broke a leather halter doing this. I throw the lead across the hay net and she thinks she’s tied. Once it warms up a bit, I will try her in a box stall and see what happens.

[Pony123]

That is was I thought. It’s the same thing every time and she just pops out of it like nothing happened.

[cayuse]

I also thought this.

[sascha]

Three thoughts.

Are you taking those left turns in 1st gear idle speed and watching your mirrors for the trailer to be fully straight before accelerating? If it happens on left curves at speed are you carrying the same speed through (or slowing down well before) the curve? It’s easier to balance when only one thing is changing at a time. Being very conscious of this can take a meh hauler to good hauler status. Doesn’t really explain why yours is only scrambling on left turns, except I think many of us take left turns a little quicker than right turns since we’re usually crossing a lane of traffic and it’s a much wider turn so we feel we can afford a little acceleration.

2nd thought is to try reversing as quickly as you can as soon as you’ve loaded. I fixed one scrambler this way. I think it made him aware there was another way to balance. He hauled like an old pro after 2 short, quick reverses and never scrambled again. His owner and I were both flabbergasted. It was one of those well crap we’ve tried everything what haven’t we tried situations.

3rd thought and I don’t think this applies, I had one bad hauler who suddenly stopped moving. I actually pulled over to check he was aluve. He had found the window and was finally quietly watching the world go by … after 3 years of hauling like a complete nut case I doubt there are others like that one, but I’m just putting it down as a way to spark out of the box haha thinking.

These were all largish warmbloods in regular straight loads with divider in place.

[betonbill]

Solid partition? Had one that scrambled but stopped when we cut out some of the partition from the bottom. Also, he always had to ride on the driver’s side in the trailer.

[kaya842]

I have a thread with a similar story. I tried different trailers/ divider set ups, ace, bute, etc and wasn’t ever to fully resolve the issue. She hauled quiet as a mouse for about 10 years, most of that time I was the only person to haul her. The one thing I havent been able to try is hauling her loaded backwards. While I have no evidence, I believe my mares issue is related to her on going issues with her right front hoof (now leg). However, she hauled just fine (no scrambling) when she was at her worst and going in for surgery and still scrambled even when given a clean work up for lameness so I could be wrong.

[NancyM]

It’s amazing how narrow a space can be, and the horse can fold himself adequately, and turn around in there if they want to. Then they can ride however they want to, backwards, or angle. They can spread their feet adequately to be stable (the partitions all the way to the floor restrict this, if you have a partition that goes all the way to the floor). If the partition does not go all the way to the floor, feet can spread out better, which is why sometimes a partial partition often helps). If it’s an EXTREMELY narrow width trailer, and/or the horse is HUGE, they may not be able to turn around successfully to ride backwards in the trailer. But both these possibilities may not apply in this case. I’ve never had a problem with a horse getting “stuck”, unable to turn around in a trailer box stall.
My previous trailer was previously a 6 horse slant. An OLD featherlite, built back when they were well built… 1980s vintage. I had all that stuff ripped out of it, and turned it into a 3 box stall trailer with two swinging partitions. Every horse I shipped in that trailer shipped well. I had it for about 10 years. No issues. Several times, I had two horses in each box stall, no problems. Once, in a pinch… 3 smaller horses in one stall. Horses usually shipped untied. Every horse found it’s spot, spread it’s feet, and shipped great. I sold it a couple years ago now, and purchased a two horse gooseneck. Used it once with the partitions in… my horses didn’t like it like that (they are spoiled). And since I don’t often now need to ship more than one horse, I’ve ripped that partition out, and it’s now a box stall. Which is just soooo nice. No problem with turning around in there, lots of room. Unload frontwards.
All TB and TBX horses.

[NaturallyHappy]

Thanks! When my horse arrived from the track, he was in a 6 foot wide Valley trailer. He turned around in that and walked right off. I’d forgotten about that until just now.

[dmveventer]

This is my thought as well. If it was just scrambling in the trailer that’d be one thing but with all the other symptoms coming back to left side pain there’s clearly something more going on. OP did you ever figure out what the nature of her original injury was? It sounds like there’s lingering damage that’s causing all of her issues including the trailer. Maybe a fracture that never healed properly or something along those lines. That’s not an area that’s easy/obvious to examine so you may need to be a little pushy or get a vet that’s willing to think outside the box in order to pin it down. I think there have been other posts on here where a bone scan did end up pointing to issues in the ribs, maybe run a search to see if anyone else’s case matches up with yours.

[ThreeWishes]

I’ll raise my hand. Same problem. Horse traveled fine in my old two horse trailer for years. One day on the way to a horseshow I got cut off On the highway and made a slightly abrupt swerve to the right. When I opened up the trailer it was obvious my horse had gone down. Shipping boots ripped up. Legs cut. Shoe torn off.
From the moment onward as soon as I took a turn horse would scramble. No matter how slowly I turned. No matter if he was in with the partition up or it slid and fastened over. Shavings no shavings. Special grippy mats etc. I tried everything.

IMG_7504

IMG_7503

I bought a Balanced Ride rear facing trailer. It’s perfect.

Not sure it’s your solution but it 100% solved my issue.

[endlessclimb]

I was hoping you would chime in!