Trailering and Travel Stress (for horses AND people)

[FjordBCRF]

This falls into the “Didn’t think twice about this as a teenage horse owner but now I do as an adult horse horse owner” category, which I am finding more and more instances of.

I have the opportunity to hitch rides with another boarder at my barn to haul into our trainers barn for lessons if our trainer isn’t able to travel to our barn for the week, and also for the winter as we do not have an indoor. Its about a 20 min haul so pretty close. I do have anxiety about having him hauled, I was on edge the day that he had his 8 hour haul from his seller to me and find myself there again thinking about this.

Charlie is 3 and my goals for him are to have a solid foundation, all around manners, solid transitions, and confidence on the trail (which he already does). Everything else is coming along quite nicely. After discovering working equitation, that has given me a little more direction as I would like to be able to complete the asks required. I don’t have ambition to show per say, but would entertain hauling out to new trails, hunter paces, fox hunts as he gets a bit older and we can train harder once he’s closer to done physically developing. If working equitation ever becomes popular in my area, that might be something I try out showing wise again.

I want him to be a good citizen hauling, and especially in case of an emergency. I think logically, hauling out once or twice a month to the training barn makes sense and gives us the opportunity to work with him being comfortable in new environments. The irrational part of me “doesn’t want to add stress to him” which I suspect is just me deflecting my own stress. With reading more about stress causing ulcers due to the lives we essentially impose on them makes me think twice too as I am in no rush with anything.

Any advice on balancing my own stress with the benefits here would be greatly appreciated.

[mmeqcenter]

I give my mare Ranitidine anytime we haul anywhere. Day before, day of, day after. It helps a lot. I suspect I’ll have to switch to Omeprazole here soon, my Ranitidine supply is dwindling

I am an anxious hauler, but I find that hauling more often helps to decrease my anxiety over it. If I haven’t taken her anywhere in several months, I get more anxious again the next trip.

[FjordBCRF]

@mmeqcenter

I give my mare Ranitidine anytime we haul anywhere. Day before, day of, day after. It helps a lot. I suspect I’ll have to switch to Omeprazole here soon, my Ranitidine supply is dwindling

I am an anxious hauler, but I find that hauling more often helps to decrease my anxiety over it. If I haven’t taken her anywhere in several months, I get more anxious again the next trip.

Thanks for sharing! I did a quick google and just confirming a couple things; the FDA is pulling the Ranitidine? And the Omeprazole is essentially an antacid? Is using the over the counter Omeprazole common practice or is there special horse stuff? When he arrived from his trip from his seller to me, he didn’t seem too bothered thankfully and settled in pretty quietly. I’m hopeful that he doesn’t get as wound up as others I’ve known over the years, but either way, anything I can do to keep him as comfortable/safe as possible Im willing to consider.

[Scribbler]

My horse was always a good hauler but I’ve put the time into making her a very happy hauler. Also the horses I regularly take out for trail rides. It still amazes me they are so good about it. They get on eagerly, eat during longer trips, and get off perky.

I have my own rig and I make a point of being directive to the people I haul. I am always thrilled to be going places, I give myself lots of time and do my prep. I don’t let myself get anxious. Once you get anxious, the horses do too.

It has never occured to me to give anti ulcer drugs for our excursions. I do give my horse the day off on inafter an outing.

It’s worth doing some self examination as to what exactly about trailering makes you nervous, to what extent those are reasonable fears, and to what extent you can prep to avoid those things happening. I’m going to assume that a happy little Fjord will adapt to it all quite well

[OzarksRider]

Ditto what Scribbler says about making the horse a happy hauler. A couple of years ago I hauled my horse to an arena for lessons for several months. He loved the trips. It was an opportunity to ride with new horses and do something different, and he thrived on it. I haven’t hauled my horses anywhere in a while, so a couple of weeks ago I hitched up the trailer and loaded them on and off a few times just for practice. When I finished, I closed the door on the empty trailer and was about to park it and unhitch it when my horse ran back up to the trailer, snorting and begging to be let back on. I opened the door again, and he hopped right on and looked at me as if to say “OK, let’s go somewhere!”

OP, a 20 minute haul is not a big deal if your horse is already reasonably confident. These short trips will be good for both him and you, and you may find that he likes the trips as much as my horse does. I think loading and riding calmly on a trailer is one of the most important skills any horse can have. You never know when you might have to haul in an emergency, so it’s good to be prepared. IMO, the best way to deal with the stress of hauling (for both you and your horse) is to just do it. You’ll both gain a little confidence with every trip.

[FjordBCRF]

This is all exactly what I need to hear, and where the rational side of my brain is so I am glad to have that validation. My anxiety is mostly around getting into an accident, which isn’t warranted by anything and is something I shouldn’t worry about like I do. I worry about that when loved ones travel as well so it’s something I recognize is a bit hard wired and I need to set to the side, sometimes it’s easier than others! That is nice to hear that your horses seem to enjoy adventures

I have a hay net on the way for his ride albeit a short one, and will look more into the anti ulcer medication.

[RedHorses]

If you do trailer a couple of times a month it will become less stressful for you. I bought a truck this spring and was worried/anxious about trailering my horses out. After a couple of abortive attempts to organize a barn trip I just decided I had to start trailering out.

Fortunately one of my horses is capable of going places alone, riding alone, loading with one person, etc. One day I just hooked up the trailer, loaded gear and horse and drove off to some trails 10 minutes away. I have ridden my horse from the trails to the barn and vice versa so there was that little bit of a safety net - if anything goes wrong I can just ride home.

The next trip was a bit further. Then the riding club started having rides again (social distancing in place) and others at my barn were able to go places and a couple of months later I am much more comfortable trailering places. Both horses load much more easily as well, and they evidently enjoy the rides in other places.

Familiarity, in this case, breeds comfort. I was much more anxious when I didn’t trailer very often, and the first one of the year always has a little more worry involved.

[PaddockWood]

[QUOTE=OzarksRider;n10739925]Ditto what Scribbler says about making the horse a happy hauler. A couple of years ago I hauled my horse to an arena for lessons for several months. He loved the trips. It was an opportunity to ride with new horses and do something different, and he thrived on it. I haven’t hauled my horses anywhere in a while, so a couple of weeks ago I hitched up the trailer and loaded them on and off a few times just for practice. When I finished, I closed the door on the empty trailer and was about to park it and unhitch it when my horse ran back up to the trailer, snorting and begging to be let back on. I opened the door again, and he hopped right on and looked at me as if to say “OK, let’s go somewhere!”

That’s a really fun story. When I was regularly hauling out to the local parks with riding paths all I had to do was drop the ramp and my gelding would run onto the trailer. I’d say, “Wanna go to the park???” like he was a dog.

[PaddockWood]

To the OP, these short rides will be great to help you develop confidence in hauling. If you are able to meditate or find a way to really relax before hauling it might help you with anxiety. For sure, your horse will feed off your emotions and needs you to be relaxed. Looking forward to an update when you share how much fun you are having with it all.

[Bogey2]

My personal horses have to self load/unload. I work on this from the day I own them! I try to remind my boarders that DAILY handling will help with loading horses. Often a horse that won’t get on for the owner will march right on with me because of my expectations in leading.
As for the actual ride I am on high alert the whole time, people cut me off, merge into me etc. I am at the ready with my horn for those nuts who are slowly drifting into my lane. I find it the most stressful part of horse ownership. I have been trailering for close to 30 years and still hate it. I did get a gooseneck two horse a few years ago because I am more confident on the highway with it.

[FjordBCRF]

Reading all your comments is so helpful, thank you. It’s looking like we will be hauling out for my lesson this Friday and while I do have some nerves, I have a little excitement too to see if it’s something Charlie will also become excited about. My trainers barn is very nice (definitely the nicest I will have ridden out of) as well and I’m definitely looking forward to us being able to ride there.

My 5 year plan is to get a truck/trailer of my own which is unnerving in and of itself as I haven’t driven a rig recently or on any regular basis. This will also be a good learning experience on that end in figuring out what I want to buy someday too.

[Scribbler]

I had probably never even ridden in a full size pick up truck when I bought my rig (my coach has a jeepy thing and superlight trailer, did do a lot of miles as a passenger in that first). And I figured out how to drive that easily enough, with some practice backing up in an empty Walmart parking lot.

As far as anxiety about accidents, and anxiety about relatives in accidents, for me that’s one of those displacement anxieties. I realized way back in my 20s that if I was actually anxious about where I was traveling at some level, I would start worrying about the bus or train or plane crashing, but if I was happy to be on my way I didn’t worry.

As far as accidents, I’ve logged a lot of freeway, city, car, and horse trailer miles as driver. My experience has been that if you are fully present and focused, the risk level drops. If you are anxious, in a rush, distracted, thinking about other things, you can start clocking up near misses.

Years ago I read about how airports handle near misses versus regular folks. This was on the topic of risk management. Airports take any near miss very seriously and go over the whole protocol etc. and look at what happened to both pilots.

Regular drivers tend to take a near miss as being “lucky,” or a testament to their skill, or the fault of the other driver. Whereas a near miss should be a sign that you are doing something wrong, and you need to refocus and dial it back.

If you don’t trust a given driver for good reason, then don’t drive with them. Like if they’ve totaled multiple cars, even if it was never their fault officially.

[Mango20]

I think regular, 20 minute outings would be the ideal way to teach your horse to be a good loader/traveler.

[Alex_and_Bodie_s_Mom]

I hauled by myself for a few years (two horses, warmblood-sized goosneck trailer, 3/4 ton truck, usually only about 35 minutes away to instructor’s house). The anxiety made me much more cautious at first, but honestly, what really helped was that I’d done similar stuff on the farm my entire life. Pulling a fully-loaded flatbed of square haybales across a rutted field and backing into the barn its pretty darn hard compared to the relative ease of a gooseneck trailer and horses that travel well! My first two trailers were also bumper-pulls, so between all of that, the gooseneck was a godsend. So when you do get your own rig, practice and more practice (loaded and unloaded) will reduce some of that anxiety.

That said, I’d only let your horse go on a trailer with someone experienced and GOOD behind the wheel. I’ve been in situations where people don’t know how to pull a trailer, or don’t care, and take corners too fast, accelerate or slow down too fast, and leave the horses scrambling. I don’t want to hear my horses even move; I want them asleep when we get there. So maybe I drive too cautiously, but I’d rather do that than give them a bad ride. Getting to a location by a certain time should never take precedence over the comfort of the horses in the trailer.

As long as he goes in the trailer, he comes out happy, and he gets positive experience, I think he’ll be just fine.

[PaddockWood]

@Fjordboycharlie Another thought I’m having is when you arrive, if your boy is “up” to just relax and go find a spot to graze and hang out. I especially like to arrive somewhere and then hang out and graze. Sends a positive message — “This travel thing is really good - we eat grass when we arrive!”

Make sure he’s under threshold and happy about the trip. No need to do anything other than walk around in a halter if that’s what it takes to have a relaxing outing. If he’s a chilled
cucumber then tack up and ride.

[outerbanks77]

I haul out about 20 minutes to ride at a different arena fairly regularly (in fact, I’m taking my 4 year old over there tonight for the first time). My thought is that, if the trailer ride itself is commonplace enough to be no big deal, it will reduce the stress of a bigger event like a show, because at least the horse will arrive feeling calm.

Granted my previous mare was a zen master, but I hauled her multiple times a week at some points so we could do conditioning work on trails, or go use an indoor arena in the winter. It didn’t seem to stress her out at all as a 4-5 year old.

[FjordBCRF]

@PaddockWood

@Fjordboycharlie Another thought I’m having is when you arrive, if your boy is “up” to just relax and go find a spot to graze and hang out. I especially like to arrive somewhere and then hang out and graze. Sends a positive message — “This travel thing is really good - we eat grass when we arrive!”

Make sure he’s under threshold and happy about the trip. No need to do anything other than walk around in a halter if that’s what it takes to have a relaxing outing. If he’s a chilled
cucumber then tack up and ride.

I was planning on this! The barn-mate we are hauling with and I will both be having individual lessons and I believe she will be riding first so I will have some time for us to get settled in. I’ll have him all groomed and ready before we load so that will give us extra time too.

Ive not driven with the barn-mate hauling and will just follow her in my car due to covid. She hauls her boy regularly; sometimes a couple times a week out for lessons and shows, and has helped others out, so, touch wood, think we should be good on that end.

[FjordBCRF]

First haul out was a success today! Charlie loaded and unloaded like a pro. This was his first time in an indoor arena as well and he had a bit of sensory overload when we walked in. After hand walking around, letting him smell a few things he settled in like normal within about 20 mins. Not bad for a 3.5 year old and an worrier for a mom!

20 mins is a nice drive to get used to him being hauled more, and I do feel a bit better now that we have the first time checked and it went as well as it did. He even made himself at home and took a nap after some grass and cooling down while our barn mates had their lesson.

[eightpondfarm]

I trailer-in to my weekly dressage lesson. It’s an hour-and-a-half drive each way. On country highways, thankfully! And THIS just happened: On the way home from my dressage lesson on Wednesday i stopped and fueled up …was just about 200 feet from leaving the filling station and my truck stalled out! On HWY 100 just west of Washington. Called AAA they came, i negotiated with tow guy, Ron, to tow my truck WITH trailer behind and Robin in it!! all the way back to our repair shop in Hermann. Then Dave, at Scheideggers Service Center in Hermann-the repair shop- hitched my trailer to his truck and towed Robin back home. Wouldn’t take a tip even! Said it was all part of the service.
AAA tow cost me 165 (plus tip). Robin was quiet as a mouse the entire time. Even sitting there while trucks and cars passed by us on the highway…even sitting at the repair shop in the middle of town. Went out later to the horse pasture to thank him…took him a carrot and fed it to him, and only him, in front of all the other horses (Brenna said: “What am I, chopped liver?” so i gave her the only thing i had on me, a dog biscuit. She ate it.
I thought it was a ‘bad day’
When i couldn’t catch Robin in the pasture in the morning
When the gate fell off the hinge
When i choked on a peanut driving my trailer to the lesson(actually had a total airway obstruction! Was thinking i might have time to make it to the John Deere dealership -before i passed out from lack of O2-when i coughed it out)
i thought: ‘ok that’s three, i’m good for the day.’ LOL
***Good thing it didn’t happen on the day before when i was driving 4 totally wild horses (mustangs) through Saint Louis on that terrifying Eads Bridge!