This is a horse that has never seen the world and never been anywhere and may have to be shipped a bit of a distance to a new home if possible. She is herd bound and would not be shipping with her two horse herd. I know they manage to ship feral mustangs–is this do-able using a commercial shipper, another private shipper with specialized expertise (?) or should I just conclude it would be a disaster in the making and shift course -(like if we cannot walk there or ship within one tranquilizer dose distance she is not going…) TIA
Edited to add-I only compare her to a feral mustang because of her herd bound issues–she leads and has been handled, etc.
How far? And does this horse load well? Do you have time to practice trailering before the move?
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Maybe when young- she practiced loading but has been years-I have a feeling the loading is less of a worry. My main worry was the on-the-road–now what do we do. Usually I find even inexperience horse settle in–but I have no experience with her and she will not be going with her herd.
The fact that’s not seen the world does not count her out for doing okay with the move. Neither does being herd bound.
IME, unless you have known issues or a history of her panicking while trailering, I think you’re probably borrowing worry unnecessarily. If she will load and do so cooperatively, once you’re on the road she’s going to likely be too busy taking in the stimuli and balancing herself during travel to do much of anything. If she calls to her friends, chances are she’ll stop after a bit. She may struggle to settle in her new surroundings and try and attach herself to any horse she can for comfort but that is to be expected. You should plan to work on the herd bound piece once she gets to her new location but otherwise give her a chance.
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If she is the herd bound type, she may scream for a few minutes, then bond with whomever else is on the professional rig, and settle down quickly. Just make sure she loads.
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Giving her a box stall in the trailer rather than a standing stall may be useful. If she can move a bit, this can avoid a full blown panic. That, and acepromazine given in advance of loading. Once that dose of ace has worn off (on a long trip) she will be resigned to the situation and not need another, unless she is going to be off loaded, overnighted somewhere, and reloaded the next day. If that happens, then MAYBE she might need another dose, or maybe not. Good luck.
I bought my guy as an unbroken 5 year old from texas. He was on a trailer one time for his warmblood inspection with his mother. He lived at that farm and never left. Until I shipped him to PA when I bought him.
Maybe some ace. Is she a happy eater? My gelding saw the hay bag and settled well. He was a bit nervous at first but chilled out. The other horses helped too.
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We breed between 40-60 foals a year and while most are sold as yearlings, we do have a group each year that were bred to race and will eventually ship directly to the track from the farm. These guys are fairly herd bound, although they do lead and regularly come up into stalls. However, they have never shipped anywhere outside of loading into a trailer for a short ride across the farm if needing to move barns. We give a light tranq to get them loaded into a box stall and send them on. We have never had any issues and most of these guys ship from KY to south FL in one trip just fine.
Thanks everyone, you all give me a bit more confidence to move forward.
