# Horse falling over in trailer?



## rotters13 (14 April 2009)

Just thought to pick your brains on this as I am quite confused!

My 14.2hh cob keeps slipping over in the trailer to the point where he can't stand up and keeps thrashing around. We originally thought it was the travelling boots so bandaged instead and that worked until Sunday night! We were returning from a sponsered ride and we heard weird sounds from the trailer so we pulled in and ended up having to unload the poor guy who couldn't physically stand up. He unloaded beautifully and then was calm as anything, loaded him back up again and he was perfectly calm again. However, he was dripping in sweat so we removed his bandages and ended up putting hay down onto the floor and this seemed to work really well. 

So, we think he slips/falls when it is wet on the ground, he had just come back from a hack and it had been raining, meaning that possibly the rain had come through the back of the trailer leaving the floor wet. We do have rubber matting in the trailer so not 100% certain. Any ideas?


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## sea_view (14 April 2009)

HAve u got shaving s on the floor and is there a partition in?


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## katie_and_toto (14 April 2009)

Do you put any bedding down on the floor?


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## sueandtoto (14 April 2009)

We always put a thickish layer of bedding down , Toto once slipped over on his poo and the straw stops it now , just make sure you lift it when the trailer is not in use to let the floor dry


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## devilinajar (14 April 2009)

Try putting a spinkle of shavings down next time you travel him.  This should stop the floor from getting wet and slippy!!!!


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## fell (14 April 2009)

I have a Ifor Williams 505 and my friends mare kept losing balance especially round corners and roundabouts it was horrible, so she tried a 510 and she now travels with no problem at all now, it would seem she just needed more bum room to spread her legs our more for balance..you could try removing the partition to give him more room it might work..good luck


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## sally87 (14 April 2009)

my friend used to have this problem with her pony. they solved it by fixing down the rubber matting (as it was an oldish ifor williams where the rubber matting wasnt attached to the floor) &amp; also not using the back bar as the pony was sitting on it &amp; then losing its balance.


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## chestnut cob (14 April 2009)

I think the point about the back bar is a good one.  My big lad travels without the partitions, with full length bars.  He definitely travels better without the back bar (and no one jump on me for it being dangerous, don't need a lecture!  
	
	
		
		
	


	




) than with it.  With the back bar, he just sits on it, wedges himself in and then can't balance properly around the corners.  If I don't use it, he travels almost diagonally and balances perfectly.

Also agree about putting bedding down, though I use lots of straw rather than shavings.


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## Angelbones (14 April 2009)

Our 13.2 kept doing this, sitting down backward and leaning to the left. He was better if travelled with another pony, but he had to he on the left hand side. Then he decided he wouldn't stand up when another pony was with him either so now I've removed the partition. He has a full width breast bar, but nothing behind him and he is travelling beautifully. He chooses to stand in the dead centre of the trailer and if he moves to brace himself then he leans to the left. Don't know what I'm going to do when we have to travel him with another pony but for now he's happy. My suggestion then is to remove the partition and see how he gets on. Good luck, it can be really frightening when this happens. x


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## Dizzykizzy (14 April 2009)

I have had this problem with 2 different horses. The first was fine after we took the partition out, put himself diagonally and travelled perfectly. The second could only travel in the RHS, she would fall over as soon as the trailer moved if you put her in the left side. I think she leaned on the moving partition and panicked whereas on the right side it was the solid wall.


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