Meant to add in my earlier post but COTH was being squirrelly with adding an edit. I also went down a rabbit hole looking for physical causes too. Horse did have a previous history of mild Epm that was caught early and treated. I had two different vets do full work ups and help trouble shoot how to deal with this issue. It was almost like my horse had PTSD. You could see him almost manifest the scramble before it happened. Like learned helplessness he would just feel a turn coming and start to prepare to go down. Both vets ruled out any physical issues. So I tried a million different things to make the trailer work. Name it I tried it. Tried different trailers. At my wits end I called Rissa at BR and spoke to her for hours. I decided to do a Hail Mary and try rear facing. Believe me when I say I wrestled with this issue and how to solve it for 4 months. Every professional. Every possibility.
The rear facing trailer was and continues to be a Godsend for my horse. We’ve had it for over 2 years now. That and my trailer camera are the best investments I’ve ever made.
P S. If you’re anywhere near central Florida. LMK. I’d be happy to let you use my trailer to see if it would might be a solution. If you wade through the other possibilities and don’t find a solution, perhaps this might be helpful.
Ahh yes I remember your posts too ThreeWishes! They are part of the reason I believe backwards could be the solution for my horse too.
I also tried shavings vs not (and different types of shavings), different mats, driver vs passenger side, Soft Ride boots, different tow vehicles, different trailers, divider vs not, sway bars + WDH vs not, etc. Nothing made any notable difference. She would scramble any time we made any sort of turn (left or right) at any speed, even under 5 mph. She also had a history of EPM, years before the scrambling, so we retreated and it made no difference. Maybe some day, I’ll be able to afford a balanced ride or EquiTrek but with her being mostly retired anyway it’s not a priority. I do hope you sort your pony out OP and sympathize with how stressful and worrying this can be.
Our stories are like mirror images!!! I too wish the OP and her horse the very best.
Video shows exactly what my gelding started doing as a teenager, scrambling in trailer. Did it on straightaways, not just turning, if it went over any bumpiness. Turned out to be arthritis in the neck. Had a couple corticosteroid injections done between I think four vertebrae, and for the rest of his life he had to be hauled in a wider space. He could manage in the last open slant of a slant load; a box stall was best. Couldn’t balance without being able to spread his legs.
You said the scar went to her ribs behind her left shoulder, but where did it start?
I’d have the neck x-rayed, if it were me, based on my previous experience.
A friend’s horse scrambles like this. She didn’t when I first met her, but she became very unstable and wanted to lean on the center partition if loaded on the passenger side. I don’t haul her any more but she was much more comfortable loaded on the driver’s side. I think she wanted something to lean on. Horse had never been in a trailering accident.
Interestingly, one of mine fell in the trailer coming home from a hunt. Straight road, 25 miles per hour. I heard scrambling in the back and then it stopped. When I got back to the barn 10 minutes later, he was on the passenger side of the trailer, having gone completely under the divider. His halter was hanging empty from the tie. He was a big horse so I’ve never figured out how it happened and how he was unscathed. My guess is that he peed in the trailer and that the floor was slippery/frozen. He was pretty shaken up when he got off, but loaded just fine for the rest of his years (much to my surprise/relief).
Very peculiar and reminds me of an orphan foal that was completely grief stricken after his mom died and no suitable nurse mare or companion was coming. He couldn’t fight or flight his way out of the situation and he would lean and tremble like this on the wall.
