I have a 2 horse trailer that you pull by car (normal in Europe 
)
When we trailor we do not do any testhings. What for, gets them only the impression that they can get off directly after loading.
Day when when they need to travel they get on and we drive. No big deal. Division is in and bot are tied. Foal long enough that it can move backwards until it comes to the end of its “stall”. I am afraid of haynets.
If I would face a very long ride where the baby can not drink, I would tie mom in and leave baby loose but preferable would travel the foal tied.
[QUOTE=Kyzteke;5736698]
A commerical shipper once told me he had never seen a healthy horse older than yearling lie down in a trailer, but I really don’t know if that’s true. I’d like to hear from others on this.
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We had one foal who consistently when we came to the end of our “trip” we would open the trailer doors and he would be laying down in back of trailer (mom tied in front). Granted he was an unusually large foal (11.3h at birth!:eek:) and our trips to the repro vet are 3 hours round trip. I couldn’t even imagine him standing the whole time. He was perfectly healthy… just big boy.
I agree I have never had an older horse lay down in the trailer.
They went on a short trial run yesterday evening, just a 5-10 minute trip. No problems at all. Loaded up fine, didn’t care about being shut up, and unloaded quietly. Lily even started walking back on the trailer when I started to lead Mom back to her field!
I have a three horse GN, but its a bit of a narrower old style GN, and the dividers are higher. My tentative plan was to put mom in the rear slot (who trailers very well) and shut her divider, and then let baby loose in the other two stalls with some straw bedding so she can nap if desired. I’m just worried that if the divider is open, mare will swing around and possibly step on the baby.
She’s going to her inspection in August as a 4 month old and its going to be about a 3 hour drive…so I need to figure this out soon!!!
[QUOTE=Jumper_girl221;5738821]
I have a three horse GN, but its a bit of a narrower old style GN, and the dividers are higher. My tentative plan was to put mom in the rear slot (who trailers very well) and shut her divider, and then let baby loose in the other two stalls with some straw bedding so she can nap if desired. I’m just worried that if the divider is open, mare will swing around and possibly step on the baby.
She’s going to her inspection in August as a 4 month old and its going to be about a 3 hour drive…so I need to figure this out soon!!![/QUOTE]
Based on my experiences, I would be more worried about the baby getting upset and trying to get over the divider than being worried about Mom stepping on baby if they are together. I have trailered mares and newborn foals up to 4 hours and have never had a mare step on a baby.
Box stall (maybe 7’ or 7’6" wide 12’ long) no one tied, hay on ground. Hauled many times like this with very young foal. Never have done a practice run. Hauled 5 hours each way to inspection this way as well.
I would rent a stock trailer (can rent one here for $50 a day) before I would ever use a trailer with a partition that I couldn’t remove. Just my personal preference.
She wouldn’t be able to go over…maybe under though.
She’s also not an “upset” type…although i’m sure that’s liable to change since she’s in a strange environment. She’s always been ms. independent, and is constantly off by herself in the pasture out of sight of her dam…I’d imagine she’d be fine as long as she could see her, and we have a stall so she won’t be sitting in the trailer.
I’ve been pre-weaning her lately, leaving her in the stall while tacking up the dam, and she comes out by herself for the farrier and vice versa. They are still in sight, but physically separated and she could care less, her dam has a harder time of it.
Its not hard though to take the second divider out though, so not a big deal.
I once had to ship a couple of llamas - when we opened the door they were happily lying down in no rush to get up and out.
Obviously, when driving inexperienced horses, one drives ultra carefully.
And that’s the danger. You don’t want them to get caught underneath the divider somehow.
Also, even very independent babies often revert to clingy little kids when they are put in a new or strange environment. Plus even babies at 3-4 mos of age want to nurse more than every 3 hrs., so (my philosophy) is better safe than sorry.
Like the others I would feel safer leaving the mare tied (assuming she isn’t a puller-backer type) and leave the foal loose. If you make alittle straw “bed” on the floor abit of a distance from mom, chances are baby will utilize that and stay out from under mom.
[QUOTE=Kyzteke;5739038]
And that’s the danger. You don’t want them to get caught underneath the divider somehow.
Also, even very independent babies often revert to clingy little kids when they are put in a new or strange environment. Plus even babies at 3-4 mos of age want to nurse more than every 3 hrs., so (my philosophy) is better safe than sorry.
Like the others I would feel safer leaving the mare tied (assuming she isn’t a puller-backer type) and leave the foal loose. If you make alittle straw “bed” on the floor abit of a distance from mom, chances are baby will utilize that and stay out from under mom.[/QUOTE]
She doesn’t pull back (thankfully…do have one of those, annoying!). I’ll probably do that then. She’s really really attentive to her baby so I doubt would step on her. Plus my hubby is insisting on driving since its “his” baby eyeroll and “I don’t know how to drive in the mountains and will get her hurt” (its NOT in the mountains…outskirts so possibly slightly hilly). He’s driven BIG trucks his whole life and has a CDL so is VERY good with the horses, so that should help make it a good experience.
