Just found out that I have a friend that’s relocating (about 60 miles via rt 95). Her horse hasn’t been on a trailer in six years and still panics when you put shipping boots on. Her vet gave her a syringe of Dormosedan injectable. I don’t have any experience with this tranq’ but am leery of putting a sedated horse on a trailer. She only told me today so there’s almost no time for trailer training (they leave in 10 days). I remember once reading about a tube paste combination of herbal calming and immune-stimulant, administered for five-days before shipping. That would be preferable to drugging. Looking for any input for getting an older horse from point “A” to point “B” with the least stress.
Thanks!
Egh we had an FEI horse who had to be sedated basically the entirety of the drive from Holland to Portugal…of course we decided to leave her there after that mess. It’s not so very unusual, and 60 miles in the right traffic is nothing. Dormo’s a good choice.
of course trailer training is preferable and I know a guy in Virginia at least who does it well in one session, but if you don’t have access to that I would sedate.
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I (unfortunately) owned a horse that was a terrible loader. He was anxious but okay-ish in the trailer but the loading portion was always a nightmare. Training helped improve the situation a ton but he was never completely reliable. We never had any issues trailering him under sedation.
I will say that I gave consideration to things to accommodate it (depending on the shipping boots, standing wraps might be better, or even just boot up with bell boots/brushing boots to try to keep legs as uncluttered/least restricted as possible) but really, it was a complete non-issue to have him sedated at the point it was necessary and I probably overthought it way more than I needed to.
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If it panics with shipping boots on - don’t boot it. If you are set on booting I will often just put exercise boots and bell boots on the fronts for trailer trips, or else wraps if it is happy in them.
I wouldn’t be concerned about the sedation when sedated - they often travel better when sedated. I’ve had to sedate my weanling to go on the float (out of necessity - needed vet care ASAP) and again did as a 1.5yr old to make shifting her less stressful and safe for everyone! I have asked my vet about travelling them sedated before as I was concerned the first time I had to do it and she said not to stress, they often balance themselves better. Just make sure they don’t have any food and they tend to get quite hot sedated too.
Dependig on your trailer set up, if you can give him extra room it often helps - eg take the centre divider out or push it over to provide a 3/4 space if possible.
Best of luck!
ETA - Make sure you sedate before attempting to load / do it in a quiet place. I believe it isn’t very effective when used when they’re in a stressed situation
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I would strongly recommend leaving the boots off and having your friend borrow a stock trailer, the kind that make two box stalls and are open on the sides. All my bad loaders have done exponentially better in a stock trailer. I had a horse that was a HORRIBLE loader in a horse trailer but he would walk right on my dad’s cattle trailer. I think he was claustrophobic, along with his other mental issues. I usually tie them in the front left corner but they can be free if that helps.
i would also plan the drive so you are sitting In the least traffic possible. Have everything ready to go so you can jump in the truck and go once he loads. They get more anxious waiting around I think. Once moving they have balancing to think about.
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PLENTY of time for trailer training. What has she been doing for the past six years, hoping it will go away???
People need to stop making excuses for these horses and train them. The trailer is not going to attack them.
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Is she asking you to haul the horse? I wouldn’t haul a bad shipper-- a bad loader, maybe, because I think that’s a largely human issue-- but if he’s likely to be panicky IN the trailer I would run the other way. That’s a good way for someone to get badly hurt and your trailer to get destroyed. The rest of it I agree with fordtraktor on, and I also agree that sedation is generally not an issue.
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Oh my. So a tube of something herbal that has not had umpteen clinical trials and as far as we all know may do absolutely nothing is preferable to a well known, well tested drug that people have been using on horses for years? Please give your head a shake .
Don’t boot the horse. Give the Dorm to the horse before it even sees the trailer. Let the horse have a pleasant trailering experience. You may even find horse is better next time after being sedated once.
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10 days is plenty of time to get a horse reliably loading.
Whether or not you or your friend are knowledgeable enough to teach said horse - or know someone who can - is another story.
That said, sedated while being trailered is not the worst choice.
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Echoing- 10 days is plenty of time for training, no shipping boots, use a stock type trailer preferably with a step up. I don’t love dorm for trailering UNLESS you know how that specific horse reacts to dorm. If you know what a light dosage would be for him- than it’s all good. But some horses are total lightweights with dorm and I wouldn’t want to trailer a horse heavily sedated.
“Does not trailer well” can mean many things. Apart from panicking at the application of shipping boots, what specific problems does he have? Loading problems? Behavioral problems once inside the trailer? Both?
Who is going to be trailering the horse? Your friend? You? Another friend? A pro company?
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Texarkana asks the important questions.
Personally, I would prefer to use acepromazine as a shipping tranquilizer, not dorm. It is a lighter tranquilizer, and doesn’t make them as unsteady on their feet. Reduces stress chemically, and very commonly used for shipping for many young or green shippers.
Leave the shipping boots off. No big deal. Especially if the horse is barefoot, less chance for injury without them. The most common shipping injury is a treading injury, stepping on an opposite foot’s coronary band. Bell boots help to protect from this possibility. But if no shoes are on, it would be very rare for this, should it happen, to result in an injury. Horses who are not happy wearing shipping boots are more likely to injure themselves fighting to get them off, kicking and stamping etc.
Ship in a box stall with a full door, often found in a stock type trailer. Do not tie. Choose a front stall, so that you can open the back of the trailer for unloading to make ready to unload, then open the partition door inside the trailer to allow the horse to come out. Don’t have a nervous shipper right next to the ramp or step down exit, it may charge out over the top of handlers before you are ready to safely unload.
A professional shipper who has a suitable trailer and lots of experience will be helpful in this plan.
I think I’d pick Ace or Xylazine or something of that nature vs Dorm. Be sure to give it adequate time to take effect before taking the horse to the trailer. A low to the ground extra wide slant load or stock trailer (with ramp or step up—I think this part tends to vary with the horse’s preference) is a good type to train them on getting in and out. Protect his legs with something else. Let him rest inside and eat. Drive around the parking lot.
If even being near the trailer is bad, then I like using one with a ramp. Preferably low ramp (which is the only thing I don’t like about my trailer, since it’s set a bit higher off the ground). The first step is making sure you can get even a single foot on the ramp without panic. Then more feet. Then on the ramp and off. Then a foot in the trailer. Etc. You can lightly longe the horse next to the trailer so they walk across the ramp to start (why low helps) versus in the direction of going into the trailer.
Because of the nature of this trip (ie: horse is known to be bad and must go that day), I would schedule to have the vet there to sedate and help with loading. Yes, it will cause her a farm call, but that’s what you get when the horse won’t load.
I’ve done exactly that before when a boarder was moving. Vet + owner + me + professional hauler all scheduled a time to meet and get it done. It went really well and the horse made the trip safe and sound. It’s not uncommon for horses to travel sedated, but I would want an expert (vet) making the call.
I would not mess around with herbs or lesser options to “see if it works.” Because once the horse realizes you want it on the trailer and panics, you’re going to have to way overdose the horse to bring it back down and make it happen. That scenario is much more dangerous for everyone involved. (And just another reason to have the vet present.)
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We had a mare that would load, but as soon as the trailer started moving, she’d start leaning into the center divider and scrambling with all 4 feet so bad that she’d end up going down.
We used a small amount of Ace and hauled her in a COMPLETELY open stock trailer, loose, so she could travel however she felt most comfortable (also, with the open trailer, she was less likely to get injured or hung up on something if she did panic and/or go down in transit).
She loaded up, we closed the door, she turned around and faced completely backwards for the entire trip (I was following in a vehicle so could see her just in case I had to notify the driver of the truck to stop in an emergency), and she didn’t panic or scramble the entire ride. Stood perfectly still, backwards, for the hour-long haul.
So, my advice is - use a stock type trailer if you have one available.
I agree on wanting to know more about what you mean when you say “does not trailer well”.
Does she refuse to go on?
Does she pull back when tied?
Does she panic when on the trailer?
Etc etc
I would make the best of the 10 days you have and start training. Depending on the horse and the problem, you might not have it resolved in 10 days, but you should at least be able to make improvements. I agree that an open stock trailer tends to be less intimidating than a slant or straight load.
I prefer to keep the trailer loading session short but productive; under 15 minutes. You could easily do 2 or 3 short sessions a day, to “make more progress” in the 10 days that you have. In my mind, that’s more effective than working an hour on it and frying the horse’s brain.
I would contact a vet now to see if they are going to be available on the day the horse needs to ship out. If you haven’t made enough progress in 10 days to be comfortable the horse is okay, then I would use a vet to sedate the horse. Horses travel sedated all the time - I would not worry about it. (Personally, I just feel more comfortable having a vet administer sedatives.)
If the horse panics with shipping boots – either train her to accept them in 10 days, or don’t use them at all.
But again, there is time to at least make progress with the horse on trailer loading.
I would also advise your friend to permanently take care of the trailer loading problem when they are at their new destination. You never know when an emergency will arise where you need to trailer your horse NOW (wildfires come to mind…). I think it’s a critical fundamental to have a horse load well.
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I completely agree with this.
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I wouldnt guarantee that a sedative will get it on either.
My horse was a great self loader, loads of trips, cue medical issues and months of trailering to vets for surgery.
Started being difficult (I used an oral sedative to get him to the vets for the last time) and then time to take him home from the vets and he WOULD NOT LOAD.
Sedated, double sedated (vet injected).
Second day with a professional transporter (and a big truck) WOULD NOT LOAD, tried sedating again. No easier. In fact under sedation they dont move their legs much so was harder to get any movement at all.
That said on a few other occasions I travelled him while still sedated from various procedures and he was always reluctant to load under sedation but travelled fine.
As a number of other folks have mentioned - “bad shipper” needs more explanation. My old guy was terrible to load and ship alone - but put another horse on the rig with him and he was just fine, so when he came to live at my place, my saint of a barn owner brought one of her minis along for the ride to keep him happy.
Otherwise, what pretty much everybody else has said - no boots, nice open stock trailer if possible, tranq early (I used ace) and get somebody else (who can be totally non-emotional about it) to load the horse.
Some horses just can’t balance well in a stall type of trailering situation.
Can you get a stock trailer? That way you can just put her in the front section, close the center divider and she can stand in the way she finds most comfortable.
