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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 564
 
Location: South Dakota | What do you do to fix a horse that will stand all day at home tied to the trailer, but the minute you tie her away from home she is a pill?! She just started this, but she also just started hauling alone. I am treating her for ulcers just in case. Everything else is sound. She still performs, but I get exhausted watching her and since it just started I want to get it stopped NOW if possible. Any ideas would be great
Edited by keller235 2015-09-16 4:01 PM
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 My Heart Be Happy
Posts: 9159
  
Location: Arkansas | Bump |
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 Expert
Posts: 1526
Location: Texas | Hobble her you will be amazed how it will calm her mind. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 889
| Hobbles or PHT poll pack or BOTH. |
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 Texas Tenderheart
Posts: 6715
Location: Red Raiderland | mollibtexan - 2015-09-16 11:52 PM Hobble her you will be amazed how it will calm her mind.
I agree with the hobbles, too, but make sure she is hobble trained before leaving home. Gotta be safe!  |
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 Professional Amateur
Posts: 6750
Location: Oklahoma | I can have this issue with young and older horses. I have found giving some Animal Element In The Zone or 1/2 a calming cookie (depending on the trip - I may give it at home before we hit the road). Takes the edge off and they figure out they can relax. Especially when it sounds like it's a case of nerves being hauled alone. Sometimes it only takes 1 time of doing this and they're fine or it can take a few trips, but it works. I have had a few that I have even had to do this trick at the house when they were standing for hours tied to the trailer alone.
Some people like to put a hay bag in front of them to keep the horses busy. I don't do that. They need to learn the trailer is rest. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 629
| Some people like to put a hay bag in front of them to keep the horses busy. I don't do that. They need to learn the trailer is rest.
So, this may get off topic, but does that mean that you don't provide hay bags, period, at the trailer? Or you won't just give one to a horse for the sole purpose of keeping it distracted?
All, I have to say, is I feel your pain. When one of my mares was a baby, she was GREAT! She hauled great, by herself, together, whatever. However, since I moved from boarding, to my own place, I think my horses have gotten very attached to each other and now one of them will dance and scream and holler all day long at a show. She's about drove me to drink a few times. I haven't found anything that works yet.
Edited by OutlawsLastDance 2015-09-17 11:29 AM
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Professional Amateur
Posts: 6750
Location: Oklahoma | OutlawsLastDance - 2015-09-17 11:29 AM Some people like to put a hay bag in front of them to keep the horses busy. I don't do that. They need to learn the trailer is rest. So, this may get off topic, but does that mean that you don't provide hay bags, period, at the trailer? Or you won't just give one to a horse for the sole purpose of keeping it distracted? All, I have to say, is I feel your pain. When one of my mares was a baby, she was GREAT! She hauled great, by herself, together, whatever. However, since I moved from boarding, to my own place, I think my horses have gotten very attached to each other and now one of them will dance and scream and holler all day long at a show. She's about drove me to drink a few times. I haven't found anything that works yet.
No, I don't bother with hay bags while my horse stands at the trailer. When we haul to a local show, we are not gone long enough for me to bother with putting a hay bag in front of them. If we are out of town for the weekend - they get their hay while they are in their stall. |
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 Miss Laundry Misshap
Posts: 5271
| OutlawsLastDance - 2015-09-17 11:29 AM Some people like to put a hay bag in front of them to keep the horses busy. I don't do that. They need to learn the trailer is rest. So, this may get off topic, but does that mean that you don't provide hay bags, period, at the trailer? Or you won't just give one to a horse for the sole purpose of keeping it distracted? All, I have to say, is I feel your pain. When one of my mares was a baby, she was GREAT! She hauled great, by herself, together, whatever. However, since I moved from boarding, to my own place, I think my horses have gotten very attached to each other and now one of them will dance and scream and holler all day long at a show. She's about drove me to drink a few times. I haven't found anything that works yet.
I keep hay in front of my horses on the trailer to prevent them getting ulcers. They are grazers. Do they eat it all...not usually. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 629
| I do as well. I was told that because horses are designed to graze almost constantly, if they stand at a trailer for hours and don't have hay, they could develop ulcers from the stomach acid not having anything to digest. I always keep hay in front of my horses. Lately I've been taking just 1 horse, and I fill 2 hay bags and both the mangers in the trailer to make sure I have plenty. We usually end up being away from home for 10+ hours at a time on show days. |
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 Owner of a ratting catting machine
Posts: 2258
| Mine have hay in the trailer, out of the trailer, in the stall. Plenty of drinks too. I spend too much time and money to have ones health go to pieces over a simple thing like hay.
Hobbles are fantastic, make sure you know how to put them on and spend some time for hobble training to avoid injury. Teaching patience should be a number one priority for starting young horses, and it often gets ignored.
Some can actually get worse over time just due to an anxious brain. They shouldn't be tormented, these horses are difficult at home though too (in my experience). They're the ones that no amount of hazing or time on night watch can really change them. Chlorpromazine can really help them at the trailer to stay calm and not wash out before you run them. I don't keep those ones around usually. I let them find a new enabler. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 564
Location: South Dakota | Thank you all for the advice, it really gives me hope that since it just started, I can get it stopped. Yeah, the weird thing is that she stands QUIET at home. Yesterday, I had the day off so I thought I will just haul her to town and we'll work on some patience training. So I tied her to the trailer at the barn first, she stood for an hour and didn't move a muscle, literally. Maybe fighting a few flies. Took her to town and she was instantly not listening to me and anxious at the trailer. I was calm, I did everything the same as at home. Once she settled a LITTLE I worked her in the arena, she spotted a horse across the way and it was game over for about 2 minutes. I worked her hard and she came back to me. We put a good workout in and then I tied her back to the trailer in town and she was REALLY mad at this point because she couldn't see those horses anymore.
My lordy, I've never seen something like it before |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 564
Location: South Dakota | So if I use the aid of a calming agent, am I forever going to have to use it? Or will she eventually get used to being chill at the trailer alone? Her previous owner said she was fine alone at the trailer. When I got her she was too for the first maybe 3 trips. I didn't change anything but she just started acting up. I'll keep trying |
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Professional Amateur
Posts: 6750
Location: Oklahoma | keller235 - 2015-09-17 4:04 PM
So if I use the aid of a calming agent, am I forever going to have to use it? Or will she eventually get used to being chill at the trailer alone? Her previous owner said she was fine alone at the trailer. When I got her she was too for the first maybe 3 trips. I didn't change anything but she just started acting up. I'll keep trying
Probably not. I had one horse I only had to give the calming cookie to once and didn't have to do it again and that was at the house. Some horses it takes a few times and you may get to stop using it. The hay bag might be something for you to try also. I don't because they all get tacked up when I ride and they wait their turn (I am working 7 or more horses) and when I hit a local show, they think it's a typical day. Good luck. I am sure your horse will come around. |
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