RE:Going down in the float

[Wendy Milner <wendy@wendy.cnd.hp.com>]

Mick & Katie" <caughey@merredin.agn.net.au>
>A friend of mine has
>recently started having problems with her horse scrambling in the float.
>He used to float fairly well, and suddenly last weekend he scrambled and
>went down in the float.  She was lucky enough to be able to remove the
>centre divider and he stood up and she walked him home.  A few days later
>she tried putting him in with his paddock buddy and he scrambled really
>badly and cut his leg etc.  This was only rolling along, in first gear.
>The float is a 2 horse bumper pull.  There is no head divider and the
>centre divider is only half filled in, does not reach the floor.

Once a horse starts to scramble, there is no easy fix.
You can prevent scrambling by changing the trailer configuration.
But if you go back to the way you have been trailering this
horse, it will go back to scrambling.

Have your friend get into the trailer (non-horse side), and
watch as the horse loads.  Watch what the horse does to prepare
for the trailer moving.  What you will probably see: the horse
will lean on the center divider and brace his legs on the outside
wall. Then as the trailer moves, the horse will brace harder.
The feet will slip off the wall, and the horse will scramble to
get back up.

If you remove the center divider, the horse will get into the trailer,
position himself diagonally, and spread his legs to balance.
If you put in a bar divider, the horse will lean on the bar, slip,
and fall under the bar.

This is actually a very common problem with how we try to squeeze
our horses into tight boxes and expect them to ride along quietly.

--
Wendy

                    \|/
          /\        -O-         
         /**\       /|\         
        /****\   /\            
       /      \ /**\   Here there be dragons
      /  /\    /    \        /\    /\  /\      /\            /\/\/\  /\
     /  /  \  /      \      /  \/\/  \/  \  /\/  \/\  /\  /\/ / /  \/  \
    /  /    \/ /\     \    /    \ \  /    \/ /   /  \/  \/  \  /    \   \
   /  /      \/  \/\   \  /      \    /   /    \
__/__/_______/___/__\___\__________________________________________________

 Wendy Milner                     HPDesk:   wendy_milner@hp4000
 Hewlett-Packard Company          e-mail:   wendy@fc.hp.com
 Mail Stop A2-5UB3                Telnet:   898-2182 
 3404 E. Harmony Rd.              AT&T:     (970) 898-2182
 Fort Collins, CO, 80528-9599     FAX:      (970) 898-2038