Trailering question

This week I trailered my horses to the farrier. When they got out of the trailer, Rowdy had a gash above his hoof and on the inside of the other front leg. The farrier looked in the trailer and thought he might have caught it on the bottom edge of the center gate. Or Dapper Dan could have stepped on him?? He stepped on himself??

I have a bumper pull stock trailer. I put the horses in the front section, untied. My cart goes in the back section. I have used this type of trailer for 15 years and never had a horse hurt. The only time I ever tie is if I am trailering a strange horse with one of mine.

The farrier had a wry comment: tied or untied--whichever you do is wrong.

I'm wondering if I should take the time to vet wrap or put the fly boots on. Or, if this is just a fluke and not worry about it.

To wrap or not for trailering is like what your farrier said about tying, "whichever you do is wrong" lol. I had a bad experience with a big horse being wrapped once so I don't wrap. The horse was delivered to me and the person trailering it wrapped the horse who got the wraps down and half off while pawing in the trailer and then freaked out. So after that I was always leary of wrapping. I used shipping boots for awhile but found that they slide down too much and that made me nervous so I just bed the trailer deep and trailer them tied loose and with no wraps. I have a two horse straight load modified for the pony and minis, they have there own side so the can't mess with each other. My three are not the best of buddies sometimes.

Do Rowdy and Dapper Dan get along well? Maybe there was a territorial spat in the trailer if they are in together?

I hope that Rowdy is healing up ok.

Sounds like he was stepped on.

My first mare had her back hoof split In half before we purchased her because she was stepped on in a slant load trailer. If the force was so hard to break her hoof, wraps wouldn't have helped too much. The dividers didn't go all the way to the floor. Luckily,she's now 25 and hasn't had an issue with it ever.

If they are In a straight or slant load with dividers, I use polos or sport boots with bell boots until they are used to it.

In a stock type trailer I just turn them loose and don't wrap unless quarters are tight.

For minis, and only minis, not ponies, if they are loose on a stock trailer I would not bother. They aren't heavy enough to cause real damage. They aren't shod either.

I always tie in straight or slant loads. Stops them from turning around and getting stuck. In a stock trailer I just turn them loose. Easier to balance.

My filly was in a very very bad trailer accident. She got her front feet over the chest bar, I was in the process of freeing her when my mother jumped up into the escape door and screamed whoa in her face (yes, I still want to kill her for it, she's had horses a long time). He back feet slipped and she got her breakaway halter caught on a ring used to hang the hay bag from. She was choking herself. I had to cut her halter off. She then flopped onto her back cast against the ramp of the trailer.

We had no extra halter. I Climbed in with her, put a dog leash on her face, then held her down as the door opened.

She stayed down until we had dividers moved. Then she hopped up and I turned her around and got her back on the trailer. She hasn't been a stupid head in the trailer since.

She wasn't wrapped and she was in a breakaway. The breakaway didn't break. It was ancient and crappy too, the pressure just wasn't In the right spot. She has a small scratch on her hind pastern which she thought was life threatening and super painful, but it was gone in 2 days (as was her three legged limping) and there is no scar. No doctoring either!

The breakaway didn't save her, me being good with horses and having a knife saved her. If I hadnt of had my knife my filly would have died in front of me. We now mount one with a cow magnet in the trailer. If I hadn't had a bond where she trusted me to lay on a ramp with traffic flying past her while injured, she, I and likely an idiot motorist would have been hurt or worse.

In my opinion, The best thing you can do to protect the safety of your horses while trailering is to be competent and use common sense. Keep your trailer maintained. Have your horse trained. And if you're hauling a wild one, be good enough to handle it and be able to think through potential situations.

Tend to agree with the vet....If there is something that a horse can injure itself on, it will.........They are like 2 yr. old humans.

Other than bubble wrap them, all one can do is look for things that are sharp/cause possible injury.....Try to look at their surroundings from a horse's perspective.

To tie or not to tie in a trailer is another issue people go around and around with. So much depends on the horse(s), the layout of the trailer, ie. dividers or open or built in "stalls"? Boots or wrapping also depends on the horse -- whether it is used to it? Or will it stress them out?

Owchie! I'm sorry, hope he's doing well now.

I tend to agree with everyone else, and your vet. "darned if you do, darned if you don't" (if I may say that). I would guess it was maybe a fluke thing.

I'm not extremely experienced with trailer accidents or injuries, never came across any really, but I know anything and everything could happen. I grew up tying horses up in the trailer, and tight. My slack has gotten longer over the years though. There is no way, unless in a trailer with no partitions, I wouldn't tie my QH. He has put his head underneath the partitions, and then freaked out because he couldn't seem to figure out how he got there... so he gets tied. He also wears a "helmet" because he is so TALL and bangs his head either on the way in or out... He's super bright I should just get a draft sized trailer for him My mini though easily rides tied or loose, but I do tend to tie her when I can. No one wears protective boots though, never had an issue. But I wonder if maybe bell boots might be something that could help if he's being stepped on???

I remember a story my Grandpa used to tell though (he's the one that insisted horses always be tied in a trailer) about a rodeo family he knew who had someone cut them off and they jackknifed their trailer, which ended up hanging off a fairly steep drop off. None of the horses were tied, and they decided to open the door and free them so they didn't mush each other. The horses all tumbled out down the edge to the bottom and walked off with just a few bumps and scratches. So it saved their lives in that case... But how do you ever know???

Marsha if it's a possibility that it was the bottom edge of the center gate is there something you could cover that with? It may be something you could put padding on.. like split a pool noodle (or use pre-split pipe insulation) and zip tie it and/or duct tape it on there. I hope it's not a problem and heals up quickly for you. You are probably right just a fluke.