Trailering Yearlings

[Callaway]

My two yearling fillies haven’t been on a trailer since being with their dams and travelling to their inspection and Devon last fall. I have a few shows planned for them this year, and I was thinking about how I was going to trailer them. I have a warmblood-sized Brenderup–should I remove the divider and let them be loose together (they are best friends and pasture mates), or would it be safer to keep them separated by the divider (they do not know how to tie)?

How do you trailer your yearlings?

[retrofit]

I recently asked the same question. Here is the thread - no clear concensus:
http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/showthread.php?t=262850&highlight=trailering

I will be interested to see the responses you get as well. I haven’t actually moved yet so I can’t share my experience.

[Auventera_Two]

First question, why don’t your yearlings know how to tie? That should have been done by now, in my opinion. You don’t want to to wait until you have a 900 pound 2 year old full of attitude to start tie training! Given that they can’t tie, you really wont have a choice but to turn them loose.

Our yearlings always trailered tied and stalled just like a big horse. We do short, frequent trips to get them well trained.

[Pennywell_Bay]

In my opinion, you will have more trouble having them loose. That seems very dangerous. It would be difficult to get them out, get them in, what if one fell, they may chew on braids etc. I trailer all my young horses with the divider in, tied, hay. Practice practice practice. And make sure they will stand alone on the trailer. You may want to consider separating them because the may have a meltdown when taken away if they are always living together. Just some things to think about.

[Summerwood]

I have ponies so there is no way to comfortably tie a yearling in my trailer anyways. It is a stock trailer, and the slats are very high. I leave them loose and let them travel together for comfort in a box stall. I have hauled yearlings 1300 miles this way with no ill effects. If you hauled them with a professional (which I have also done), they would also leave them untied. I believe it is the safest way to haul a young horse or pony. JMO
Good luck at the show!

[SmartAlex]

We recently trailered a yearling. He ties very very well, but we left him loose because the chest bar was still in place, and when we tied him he looked stressed enough that he was planning to drape himself over the chest bar. If that had been out, we could have tied him no problem. He was fine loose, but I think two yearlings might get the trailer rockin’ and rollin’.

[Callaway]

[QUOTE=Auventera Two;5001106]
First question, why don’t your yearlings know how to tie? That should have been done by now, in my opinion. You don’t want to to wait until you have a 900 pound 2 year old full of attitude to start tie training! Given that they can’t tie, you really wont have a choice but to turn them loose.

Our yearlings always trailered tied and stalled just like a big horse. We do short, frequent trips to get them well trained.[/QUOTE]

Because I haven’t taught them yet, my decision. They are not full of attitude - they have good temperaments and are handled at least twice daily, they just don’t tie. Everyone has their own way of doing things.

[Callaway]

[QUOTE=retrofit;5001104]
I recently asked the same question. Here is the thread - no clear concensus:
http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/showthread.php?t=262850&highlight=trailering

I will be interested to see the responses you get as well. I haven’t actually moved yet so I can’t share my experience.[/QUOTE]

Thanks. If I were trailering one yearling, it would be a no brainer–let he/she loose, take the divider out as though it were a box stall. Two yearlings in a two horse trailer is more complicated!

[siegi_b]

Callaway - are you sure you can take the middle divider out of your Brenderup? It seems to me that was a major issue when I had one…

[Callaway]

[QUOTE=siegi b.;5001217]
Callaway - are you sure you can take the middle divider out of your Brenderup? It seems to me that was a major issue when I had one…[/QUOTE]

Yes, Siegi. That is how I trailer mares and foals. I leave the chest bar in, and just put straw or hay bales behind it so the foal can’t get underneath of it. The actual divider and butt bars can easily be removed. Mine is a 2003 Baron TC–maybe they have improved their design?

[shawnee_Acres]

I do not think a brenderup would be a trailer I would choose to have horses loose in, they dont seem mearly as stable with a horse shifting around as a heavier steel trailer would be. Also not sure how you are going to load one, then load the second if the first one does not know how to tie. I think I would haul them each in their own side, they don’t have to be tied to be in a separate stall in a trailer, however, for your own good I would teach them this asap. better to teach a horse to tie before they are so big that they basically can break nearly anything they are tied with and then learn a terrible habit.

[retrofit]

[QUOTE=Callaway;5001136]
Because I haven’t taught them yet, my decision. They are not full of attitude - they have good temperaments and are handled at least twice daily, they just don’t tie. Everyone has their own way of doing things.[/QUOTE]

Callaway - I haven’t taught my yearling to tie yet either. I personally think he is too young. Like yours, he is handled twice/day, gets led in & out of the field, fly mask on & off, rain sheet on & off, etc. … and is generally quiet and smart with a good temperament. However he is still a baby and I think more harm than good can come of tying him right now. There’s plenty of time for that later. I tend to groom in the stalls anyway, so as long as he behaves & doesn’t walk all over me, I’m satisfied. After all, basic manners & focus on his handler are paramount (to me).

Carry on …

[Home_Again_Farm]

The type of trailer complicates things a bit. However, when we have taken a bunch of yearlings to breed shows lately, they travelled beautifully in box stalls in pairs in our head to head. However, with a Brenderup, I am not sure of how safe that would be.

[Highflyer]

I wouldn’t want them trying to turn around in the trailer and getting stuck or falling, or rocking the trailer. A boxstall in a van or trailer designed for this is different than a regular 2 horse. If they’ve been handled as much as you say they have, teaching them the basics of tying won’t take long–it’s not like they’re being tied to the side of the trailer and left at a show. In the trailer with the ramp up and doors closed there’s a limited amount they can do, especially as there will be two of them.

[YankeeLawyer]

I would be very concerned about having both loose in one box stall (or equivalent). If one were to fall, she could easily be trampled by the other accidentally. Horses actually die in accidents just like that. Personally I would haul them side by side (two stalls) untied. I do not tie my youngsters in the trailer and have no problem with it.

[Cloverbarley]

Travelling horses loose in a stock trailer (designed to haul animals loose) is not the same as travelling them in a 2 horse trailer. Conventional horse trailers are not designed to have horses loose in them. The reinforced areas are at the back (the doors or ramp) so that if a horse starts kicking they will do less damage. The walls of a conventional 2-horse trailer are not reinforced in such a way as they are not for horses to be let loose in.

You should load them in your horse trailer with the partition and breast bar in place. Really the only reason partitions can safely be taken out is if you are trailering one horse on cross-ties so that it is still facing forward but gives it a little more room if it is a big horse.

[YankeeLawyer]

Cloverbarley, just to clarify, when I said I would put both of them untied in the trailer, I meant with the partition and breast bar in place. I do haul my youngsters untied, but would not put two yearlings in a single box stall (i.e.of a two-horse trailer with the divider removed).

[Cloverbarley]

[QUOTE=YankeeLawyer;5007668]
Cloverbarley, just to clarify, when I said I would put both of them untied in the trailer, I meant with the partition and breast bar in place. I do haul my youngsters untied, but would not put two yearlings in a single box stall (i.e.of a two-horse trailer with the divider removed).[/QUOTE]
No I know you didn’t mean that you travelled yours without the partition and breast bar - I was just making comment to the OP that she should keep the breast bar and partition in and not travel her guys loose

[Callaway]

So I decided to leave the divider in, and I’m just going to leave them untied. They won’t be able to go anywhere, as there is a butt bar and chest bar. We leave for the show tomorrow morning, and it is just a 5 minute trailer ride. It will be a nice way to “break them in” because heading to Fair Hill, Stone Tavern, and Devon later!

Thank you for all of your suggestions! Hopefully it will be a good experience for my fillies.

[tucktaway]

Be safe, and Good Luck at the show!!!