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 Veteran
Posts: 214
| This is our first venture into the foaling side of things... Please forgive the newbie question!
We are waiting for our mare to foal (around June 8th-ish) late breeding last year so we are going to be a bit rushed to get her rebred this year. Shooting to rebreed on her foal heat and will need to haul her about 30 mins away. We have a 4 horse slant with dividers we can pin back. To say hauling a new foal makes me nervous is an understatement.... Do we haul the mare loose? close her in one divider? keep the divider open but tie her??? Thank you for any and all advice/suggestions/reassurance :) |
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I just read the headlines
Posts: 4483
 
| My sister tied all the dividers back and tied the mare in the trailer.
The few times I did this, I hauled in a stock trailer and tied the mare. |
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Veteran
Posts: 111
| Same as above. We lock the dividers back so the trailer is open and tie the mare in the front stall. |
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 Bulls Eye
Posts: 6443
 
Location: Oklahoma | either tie all dividers open, remove them or haul them in a stock trailer. I do not tie the mare. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 489
| Can the dividers be taken out? I personally prefer everything to be open, then tie the mare if she is a quiet hauler. If I have one that doesn't stand quiet in the "Open", then I'll turn them loose if your trailer is wide enough to be safe for that. If you can't remove the dividers, then for sure tie them back like you were mentioning. Do you have a stock trailer you could borrow? It's my preferred method with mares and babies, but I've hauled many with the dividers taken out or tied back and never had a problem. I do recommend having someone holding the colt and helping it in the trailer - sometimes those little boogers will travel all over the place and momma throws a fit in the trailer because baby isn't in there quickly. I never tie the mare until the colt is loaded and someone has the door shut. Don't tie the mare low where the baby could get tangled up in the lead rope. Basically common sense things - you will be fine, because you are already thinking ahead. |
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 Expert
Posts: 4625
Location: Desert Land | TwistedK - 2017-05-16 11:48 AM either tie all dividers open, remove them or haul them in a stock trailer. I do not tie the mare.
This is what I do. I had my trailer built so the dividers can easily be clipped to the wall or removed to use as a stock trailer. |
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 A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | I would rather haul a mare and baby in a stock trailer.. |
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Veteran
Posts: 214
| Thank you all!! Unfortunately the dividers in this trailer do not come out but do have built in clips so they can be pinned back, securely to the wall to keep it all open. We do not have a stock trailer and not sure I can get my hands on one but could ask around. This mare has hauled fairly quiet in the past but I have not seen how she acts with a baby around. This will be her 5th or 6th foal, so I'm hoping she's going to take it easy on me.
Sorry another question came to mind.... what kind of bedding and how deep should we put in the trailer.. straw, shavings?? |
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A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | kj11 - 2017-05-16 2:29 PM Thank you all!! Unfortunately the dividers in this trailer do not come out but do have built in clips so they can be pinned back, securely to the wall to keep it all open. We do not have a stock trailer and not sure I can get my hands on one but could ask around. This mare has hauled fairly quiet in the past but I have not seen how she acts with a baby around. This will be her 5th or 6th foal, so I'm hoping she's going to take it easy on me. Sorry another question came to mind.... what kind of bedding and how deep should we put in the trailer.. straw, shavings??
How long of a trip will this be? If a short distance I would not worry about bedding. |
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Veteran
Posts: 214
| Southtxponygirl - 2017-05-16 12:31 PM
kj11 - 2017-05-16 2:29 PM Thank you all!! Unfortunately the dividers in this trailer do not come out but do have built in clips so they can be pinned back, securely to the wall to keep it all open. We do not have a stock trailer and not sure I can get my hands on one but could ask around. This mare has hauled fairly quiet in the past but I have not seen how she acts with a baby around. This will be her 5th or 6th foal, so I'm hoping she's going to take it easy on me. Sorry another question came to mind.... what kind of bedding and how deep should we put in the trailer.. straw, shavings??
How long of a trip will this be? If a short distance I would not worry about bedding.
About 30 minutes |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 964
Location: Alberta, Canada | Stock trailer.
Two years ago one of our mares retained and had to be hauled in to the vet when baby was less than 12 hours old. I did not tie the mare and baby literally laid down and slept the whole ride (was about 30 minutes as well). |
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A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | kj11 - 2017-05-16 2:34 PM Southtxponygirl - 2017-05-16 12:31 PM kj11 - 2017-05-16 2:29 PM Thank you all!! Unfortunately the dividers in this trailer do not come out but do have built in clips so they can be pinned back, securely to the wall to keep it all open. We do not have a stock trailer and not sure I can get my hands on one but could ask around. This mare has hauled fairly quiet in the past but I have not seen how she acts with a baby around. This will be her 5th or 6th foal, so I'm hoping she's going to take it easy on me. Sorry another question came to mind.... what kind of bedding and how deep should we put in the trailer.. straw, shavings?? How long of a trip will this be? If a short distance I would not worry about bedding. About 30 minutes
I would not worry about bedding then , but thats just me.  |
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  The Color Specialist
Posts: 7530
Location: Washington. (The DRY side.) | Remove dividers (or lock them open) mare LOOSE. I have hauled this way a lot and never had any issues. (foals as young as 2 days old.) I would worry more if the mare was tied about her stepping on the foal as it would be harder for to see it if she isn't able to move her head all directions. |
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The Color Specialist
Posts: 7530
Location: Washington. (The DRY side.) | I wouldn't mess with bedding.
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Tried and True
Posts: 21185
Location: Where I am happiest | If the dividers can come out remove them completely and haul both loose. We NEVER tie the mare because it's a rope for the foal to get hung on. |
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 Last Comedian Standing 
Posts: 10919
Location: South Texas | We haul mares and foals on trip over7 hours one way. Dividers locked back and mare tied in front slot with colt loose behind her. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 489
| Personally, I bed the trailer with some shavings. I don't go super deep, but I like some at least at the door going out. Mats can get slick if a mare pees and colts are pretty awkward getting out of a trailer. Mine usually halfway fall out or make a big leap. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 941
Location: Kansas | We pin the slants back and tie the mare. We teach the babies to load and back out before we haul them. We have a place to back trailer to that is raised so the only have to step up a few inches. We load the mare and tie her wth a hay bag available. Usually the baby will jump in. We then practice loading and backing out three or four times. We say there when their next step is down. It is amazing how quickly they get comfortable. Oh yea, we teach them to lead first. We have done this for many years and they never forget. Once they learn to back out a bigger step doesn't scare them. |
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 Champ
Posts: 19623
Location: Peg-Leg Julia Grimm | I like to haul pairs like that with some bedding for the baby to lie down. But that's a pretty short trip. Just remember the baby will be unsteady anyway, so drive really carefully i.e. don't stop or start quickly and really easy around corners.
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Veteran
Posts: 214
| You all are the best! Thank you very much for the suggestions and advice! Since the foal will only be a few days old it just makes me pretty nervous after waiting so long for it to get here... I really want to just wrap it up in bubble wrap and strap it in the pickup with a seatbelt with me LOL
My poor mare is already getting tired of me checking her out everyday and we still have a ways to go.... not so patiently waiting for my Slick baby to get here.. I put in an order for a black filly but I'm not sure if my mare was actually listening when I put in my request! |
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