subject: Tips To Travel Your Horse In A Horsebox [print this page] Transporting your horse from one place to another can be a very troublesome affair. As like human beings even horses suffer from stress after travelling for long distances in a horsebox transport. Alteration in their preferred state of living outdoors and eating copious amounts of grass can cause stress for your horse. They also suffer stress whilst travelling due to improper handling and poor driving techniques.
The effect of stress varies from horse to horse but certain common occurrence among horses who are made to travel regularly. Stressful journeys effects their capacity to grow, perform and maintain health which can also effect breathing in the long run. Here are a few things that you should keep in mind while transporting your horse to reduce the stress on it:
Be patient with the horse while loading it on and off the horsebox transport. It may be reluctant getting inside such a small confined area. The same might happen while offloading the horse from the vehicle.
Acclimatise the horse for a few days before making a long journey. Make sure that it does a lot of physical work. This should be done as sudden sweating can lead to horses getting cold quickly.
Transportation makes most animals nervous as they are not used to such things. You must ensure that you drive slowly. You need to practice changing gear, accelerating and decelerating smoothly so that the horse in the rear part of the vehicle feels comfortable.
You need to regularly check on the temperature and the humidity. The humidity and temperature soar up when the vehicle for horsebox transport is closed and stationary. Whenever possible open all windows and when stationary open the back ramp as this will reduce the temperature in the carriage.
You need to make regular stopovers when on a long journey. It is ideal to stop in an isolated place with lots of fresh air after every 4-5 hours of travel. This will help in bringing down the stress factor of the horse.
If the heat and the humidity is too high it is advisable to transport the animal at night as it is comfortable for it and reduces the travel related stress.
Disinfect the horsebox after each use. Infections and viruses spread quickly among horses and thus it is better to prevent such occurrence than curing a sick horse.
There should be adequate lighting in the horsebox to enable the driver and groom should be able to keep an watch on the animal from time to time. If you sense that the horse is feeling uncomfortable at any time of the journey you should stop for a while to de-stress the horse.
Falls are quite a common occurrence especially when the roads aren't good. You should always carry a first aid kit to immediately treat the horse in case of a fall.
If possible do not transport a horse alone but in group as an isolated horse is more likely to feel the stress than ones in groups.
These tips will ensure that your horse will have a very comfortable ride when being transported from one point to another.
by: Lee Williams
welcome to Insurances.net (https://www.insurances.net)
