From: hannah@pomponio.ai.sri.com (Marsha Jo Hannah)
Newsgroups: rec.equestrian
Subject: Re: Wanted: Calm Trailering Tips
Date: 13 Oct 92 22:20:42 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: SRI International, Menlo Park, CA
In-reply-to: rewald@stsci.edu's message of 10 Oct 92 22:08:08 GMT

In article <1992Oct10.170808.1@stsci.edu> rewald@stsci.edu writes:

     I was wondering what kind of advice you all might have for me and Shogun.
   ... we've been doing more travelling than usual,
   going to the trail-rides.  (Otherwise, we hardly ever trailer ....)
   ... its around a 4 hour trip to get to the competition.  His trailer-
   mate is an old hand at trailering ....
   Shogun, on the other hand, seems really nervous.  He doesn't scramble, jump
   around, kick or do anything we can feel from the truck, but when we stop
   to check on them, he is trembling, a little white of the eye is showing.
      We've experimented with having windows open and shut, and the back upper
   doors open or shut.  The "best" we've done so far is to close up the whole
   trailer (back doors and windows) except for the window on his side.
   ... and we had inadvertantly left on the light in the compartment.
   I should mention that we're usually travelling after dark, and on good 
   interstate highways.
      We also are wondering if he travels trembling, or if that comes on when
   we start slowing down to stop....
      Any ideas?

      Thanks for any suggestions -      Rosalie & Shogun

Shogun sounds like a good candidate for rear-face trailering.  A
recent study at UC-Davis showed that, while some horses don't care
which way they travel, others have a marked preference for facing away
from the direction of travel (i.e. rear-face).  And, all of the horses
they studied had lower heart rates while travelling rear-face than
when front-face, indicating that their general level of tension was
less when rear-face.

From what I've read, the sweating and trembling are due to muscular
effort, as he attempts to brace himself against the motions of the
trailer.  Back when she was riding endurance, Linda Tellington-Jones
found that her horses arrived much more rested and ready to compete
when hauled rear-face than front-face.  The relaxed stance adopted by
a rear-face horse is entirely different than that forced upon one
being hauled front-face, which causes a chain reaction of physical
bracings and mental stress.  We certainly saw a marked improvement in
the trailering behavior of my husband's "problem hauler" when we
traded in our old standard front-face 2-horse trailer for a slant-load
trailer that we use slant-rear!

However, from your posting, I assume that, for now at least, you're
stuck with whatever trailer you have (or can borrow).  You can do
minor things to mitigate the problems caused by front-face.  Yes, when
travelling after dark, it's best to leave the inside light on---the
theory is that this lessens the effects of the random "blasts" of
light that the horses get from oncoming (or following) headlights
shining thru the trailer windows.  Closing up the trailer (as long as
decent ventilation is maintained) seems to help, probably because it
cuts down on the noise of air flow around openings, noise from passing
trucks, etc, as well as random drafts.  Do whatever you can to give
him extra room---freedom to raise and lower his head (the horse's main
way of balancing) is the most important, but is often precluded by the
manger in a front-face trailer.  If the other horse will co-operate,
try moving the divider over an inch or so, to give Shogun a little
more room (especially if it's a solid divider).

You might experiment with a tranq, but do it carefully.  Some horses
get even more upset by the fact that they are "feeling wierd", on top
of all of the trailering stresses!

Note, however, that these are "bandaids" on the much bigger problem---
he just doesn't like not being able to balance properly in there.  The
long term solution is to save up for a stock trailer, or at least a
slant-load trailer.

Marsha Jo Hannah		Murphy must have been a horseman--
La Honda, CA			anything that can go wrong, will!