Going down in the float

["Janet Baca" <horsetrl@ctaz.com>]

Wendy, you finally answered my question, I have an older two horse TB size
trailer and my mare hurt her right rear leg, she was loaded on the left
side.  When I took her out, she was bleeding and I'd heard a commotion while
I was pulling her home.  I never could figure out what she did it on since
there is a wood divider with a metal casing about an inch in length to hold
the wood together.  I now have to load her on the right side always and she
scrambles when I do left turns, not right turns.  Two months ago a friend
put her horse in on the left side and she came out with a bloody leg and I
still could not figure out why they are injuring themselves but I thought it
has to do with the metal casing because that's where the blood was on the
trailer.  My next step was to have someone else ride in the back to see what
exactly goes on but since I've been grounded with the "goofball" and his
plastic nose I haven't had the opportunity.  So what do I do when I have to
take two horses god forbid I could even get him in the trailer...That's the
next step.  I am considering a new slant trailer though.  My gelding will
walk right into one of those.  Would solve a lot of problems too.  Thanks
for your help. jb

<Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1998 11:29:53 MDT
From: Wendy Milner <wendy@wendy.cnd.hp.com>
To: ridecamp@endurance.net (ridecamp@endurance.net)
Subject: RE:Going down in the float
Message-Id: <199810131729.LAA23252@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