Horse Transport Problem Advice Needed

[sumi]

Hi all you horse owners. I promised my boss I'll ask you for advice. Here's the situation: She moved to our town 3 months ago and she decided to stay long term. Her horse (and pony) is currently boarding at a place 300 miles from here and she'd like to move them here as soon as she's got their accommodation sorted.
Now here's the problem: The horse hates being transported. He's an ex racehorse and she bought him after he retired from racing. She doesn't know much about his past, except that he must've travelled in horse boxes a few times, but he freaks out when they try to transport him. He's absolutely petrified. And she would very much like to get him here. Any ideas?

 

[FlaRocky]

She needs to get her old vet and new vet involved in the transport and care. Ask advice from old vet, go a head and have copy of both medical records to new vet, so that have history if she has a problem. IMO, I would use a well known transport company (expensive but worth it) one that has large enough boxes for the size of a TB.

Hope this helps,

Maye

 

[Rusty Hills Farm]

I'd recommend talking to the folks at Equine Express out of Tyler Texas. They have huge commercial vans with moveable partitions. They were able to give my Appy mare a big box stall because she was still recovering from surgery. They are extremely knowledgeable horse people and do what they say they will and do it when they say they will.

Rusty

 

[Peaches Lee]

Agree with Rusty, contact Equine Express. They are great to deal with and have nice big box stalls, professional, experienced staff.

 

[duckluck]

I recommend either Aprile Horse Transportation out of Peotone, IL or Nationwide Horse Transportation out of Colorado. Have used them both with good results. Cornerstone Equine Transportation out of Rhinelander, WI was superb when they were run by Patti Graper and she is no longer in business I am told, so I can't recommend that one.

 

[EweSheep]

Ive used Equine Express.....for my Paso Finos and miniatures! GREAT people!

 

[Endur50]

As a military family, and an endurance rider, all of my horses have to be great travelers. I think it is always bad to wait to teach a horse to transport until the moment when he needs to go. Your patience is always much thinner then you have somewhere you need to be. With my new horse I did low pressure positive re-enforcement sessions every other day for a week and now he self loads when he sees the trailer door open. (it took me 4 hours to load him on the day I bought him)

I would hook the trailer up right before his evening meal. On the first day, i just asked him to put his head in, let him have a bite, and then ask him to step back, and let him have a bite. The backing up is just as important as the going forward, because they need to understand how to get out safely as much as they need to know how to get in. The next day I'd ask for one leg up and then back down etc etc until his last lesson when he was self loading. To this day I still feed him breakfast on the trailer on mornings whenwe go places (usually twice a week), which is partly so I can get up 10 minutes later, and partly so give him a good reward for traveling. He loves his trailer. We also used this method for my friend's off the track TB thathad major trailering issues. She was worried about him when they moved cross country last year sowe worked with him before they left and she said he did all his rest stop loading and unloading like a champ.

If she doesn't have someone there that can work with him, she could try to contact a local natural horsemanship type trainer to come out and work with him before hand. A friend of mine did this a few months ago when she had a rescue shipped from Arizona to NC.

Is she going her self with her trailer to pick them up or Is she having them shipped?

 

[duckluck]

As a military family, and an endurance rider, all of my horses have to be great travelers. I think it is always bad to wait to teach a horse to transport until the moment when he needs to go. Your patience is always much thinner then you have somewhere you need to be. With my new horse I did low pressure positive re-enforcement sessions every other day for a week and now he self loads when he sees the trailer door open. (it took me 4 hours to load him on the day I bought him)
I would hook the trailer up right before his evening meal. On the first day, i just asked him to put his head in, let him have a bite, and then ask him to step back, and let him have a bite. The backing up is just as important as the going forward, because they need to understand how to get out safely as much as they need to know how to get in. The next day I'd ask for one leg up and then back down etc etc until his last lesson when he was self loading. To this day I still feed him breakfast on the trailer on mornings whenwe go places (usually twice a week), which is partly so I can get up 10 minutes later, and partly so give him a good reward for traveling. He loves his trailer. We also used this method for my friend's off the track TB thathad major trailering issues. She was worried about him when they moved cross country last year sowe worked with him before they left and she said he did all his rest stop loading and unloading like a champ.
If she doesn't have someone there that can work with him, she could try to contact a local natural horsemanship type trainer to come out and work with him before hand. A friend of mine did this a few months ago when she had a rescue shipped from Arizona to NC.
Is she going her self with her trailer to pick them up or Is she having them shipped?

Absolutely the natural horsemanship self-loading should be taught to any horse who has to travel, and it sure does come in handy when emergencies arise. Nothing like being able to load a horse that is otherwise in a very bad way with a colic...this can get very dangerous if they are not properly taught BEFORE the need arises. While I can't condone the cult-like culture that has grown out of the natural horsemanship methods and the "gurus" who pump the masses with them, the original principles are sound and helpful and I have used them to great effect with several horses. I have a new arrival here who is going to be learning them soon, although he already has a good basis for good ground manners, thank heaven.