Same here.
All of my horses have been easy loaders – they quickly learn that loading is what we call “a carrot opportunity.”
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Petey had his cast removed today and according to the vet, it couldn’t be healing any better! He recommended the stitches stay in for another 3-5 days so we don’t go from full support to zero support. He is bubble-wrapped in a very sturdy-looking Elastikon and duct tape boot until then. I’m so relieved.
(He’s not club-footed—that’s just a weird angle.)
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Wow, that does look great!
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It looks really good. Good job!!
I usually take my horse’s fly mask off, load him, and then put the fly mask (or a clean mask) back on. Sometimes I forget to take it off before loading.
I prefer no shavings in part because I’m generally going somewhere, riding, and coming home. again without having any period of the horse just hanging out on the trailer. I sometimes put a thin layer down behind the horses back feet to make cleaning up quicker. When I was doing the show barn hunter/jumper thing we had a good deep layer of shavings as every horse had a period of hanging out on the trailer during the day.
My older horse was having stability trouble in the trailer, and ended up jamming himself against the back corner as his front feet vibrated backwards. After I did some experimenting with various set ups he now wears Cavallo Treks with ice studs on bare mats for trailering and is very happy with the traction that gives him. It does wear the mats out faster, but I’m okay with that if he’s happy.
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I always put shavings in the trailer, and bed deeply.
I also always put fly masks on my horses (ears and long nose) because I know those shavings fly around when traveling, so it keeps it out of their eyes, and also (mostly) out of their nose.
I feel it makes the ride softer, and also saves my floor more by soaking up the pee.
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I also bed with shavings, and quite heavily when traveling a distance. I’m surprised with so many saying their shavings fly around as I have been back in the trailer when going down the road with windows open and nothing is flying around. Like at all. But we have a straight load trailer and have the slider windows open only. The back doors get opened on hot days as well, but not nearly enough wind from any of those to cause any shavings to fly around.
I did once go in the back of our trailer and the side ramp top door was open (so like an 8’ wide by about 2’ high opening) and the shavings did fly around a bit then. We don’t have that trailer anymore so we don’t have that problem, but from that day on with our old trailer, we traveled with the top door closed and just slid the window open.
We also have 12volt fans that I love. They are at the top of the stalls and face towards the ponies so they get some air flow if we happen to be in traffic. But they are not nearly strong enough to move any shavings.
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I’m right there with you. Yes there are some fine particulates, but I blow the walls off my trailer after almost every trip and it’s a nominal amount of dust above knee level.
And I guess if your horse spends zero time in a stall with a fan on, walking around, kicking up fine particulates or eating hay ground level with all those particulates that are promptly blown around by the fan, then maybe the amount of dust that is incurred while shipping with shavings is significant. But I also know how much dust is kicked up in a stall (or a dry arena) so that ship has sailed for most horses.
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I always put bedding down in the back of my trailer, farther up for geldings, really back only for the mares. My trailer has WERM flooring that has lots of little grooves, great for traction, terrible for catching poo and not releasing it. I use large flake and never find them up in front of the chest bar, so it shouldn’t be floating into their nostrils. I pick out the poo and trash it, then sweep up the bedding and put it in a muck tub in the trailer and use it again the next time until it starts to get too gross. I haul a lot, usually less than an hour each way, and go through about a bag of shavings a year in the trailer. I used to have a gelding that peed every time he was in the trailer, but the other three rarely pee on shorter trips, two of them have never been hauled without bedding. I also always use a fly mask (my trailer doesn’t have screens over the front windows, don’t want a bug slipping through at 70mph to take out an eye). I have an in-trailer mask for my biggest two, just easiest to not forget it, but I also load with masks on when they’re already wearing their pasture masks in the summer. No trouble either way. My trailer is a 2-h straight load with emergency doors on the front sides, so I can walk in and mask after closing the back. With a 7’4" clearance, there is no way a freak head toss would hit the roof, but they’re pretty good with keeping the head low to mask.
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I use a garden watering can and water my bedding in the trailer. Just enough to eliminate dust.
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My gelding pees every single time he gets in the trailer, so I bed it well. Gross, dude! But I love him so whatever he wants…
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Petey’s wound is looking so good that I had to bump this thread for another update! I left the stitches in for over a month at the advice of my regular vet. Having had a dog’s surgical incision burst open after sutures were removed, I was okay waiting.
I do think there’s going to be some weird hoof growth and he might need a shoe for a while, but he’s sound on it thank goodness. I started riding him lightly this week and as you can see in the pic below, he was a real wild man! I’m very lucky to have a 5-year-old who can casually stroll around on a loose rein during his first ride after a month off. (Doesn’t hurt that he’s easy on the eyes either!) 
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And doors. Can I add doors coming open to the (ir)rational fears? I’ve had some doors come open for various reasons, so the anxiety is real. Right up there with floors and fire. Also, ever had a horse come through a window? I have. Luckily at a stop. But just makes you wonder (or try to stop the wonder) about if that happens while moving.
On that note, I likely won’t be getting much sleep tonight…
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