OK, so alot of you have small ponies and especially shetlands.
How exactly do you travel them ?
I mean unless you have a small pony trailer (in the case of trailers), do you still try to travel them within partitions, tied up and stuff (like you would with a "big horse") or just loose like a foal ?
Can you imagine how ridiculous a mini-Shetland looks, on a 10 horse lorry...stood alone in a partition!?
When I travel Rio in the Ifor trailer, he goes right in the front - I mean, in front of where the 2 horses stand. It's the only place I can 'secure' him if another 1 (or 2!) horses are in the trailer. Not really meant to put ponies there....but he fits with lots of room to spare! he has his own little haynet and is tied either side, so he can't turn around and wander around. Any horses travelling with him just find him amusing, just under their big haynets.
If I travel him alone, he gets put one side of the partition, with straw bales or whatever I can find, in front of him blocking his escape route under the breastbar! Otherwise, he tends to just walk under it at its lowest setting.
Ifor Williams Hunter trailers are really not equipped for 30" ponies!
our little lead rein pony is out on long term loan and the people that have him have had an extra low thingy put in their ifor williams so the bars are at the right height for him
we used to lash a hay bale in the ifor as we were going to have it adjusted and then she took a 12'2 on loan who fits in the box so we didn't need to spend the money
before we had a specific pony box that we were able to move a shetland in as the bars were low and suited to a pony
my friend moves her mini shetlands in a livestock sheep transporter
Can you imagine how ridiculous a mini-Shetland looks, on a 10 horse lorry...stood alone in a partition!?
I can imagine! Fod arrived with me in one of Eric Gillie's lovely 10 or 12 horse boxes and I'm sure everyone who was passing at the time expected something rather larger than a shetland to emerge
I travel my ponies either in the box in a partition as normal (though I rarely tie any of them to travel anyway) or I travel them loose without the partition. My box has a full, solid partition though, so it does work, plus it has solid walls back and front, so no bars for them to go underneath and they can't end up in the wrong area.
I've had problems in the past travelling them in 7.5 tonne boxes with herringbone partitions with a big gap at the front. I think last time I did it, Yog travelled normally and Benj came out of his partition, stood down the gap at the front and travelled backwards with his bum against the door to the living. Which was fine, but the catch on the door to the living was a bit dodgy, so I had to spend the whole time pushing the door shut
I don't think I've ever seen a trailer that I've thought would be safe for little ones without some kind of modifications - I don't see how a breast bar can possibly do what it's designed for if it's suspended somewhere above their heads!
I have travelled my shetties in a lorry with herringbone partitions, luckily the partitions went all the across, loose in a small cattle trailer, and loose in a horse trailer with everything removed. If travelling loose in a horse trailer I would only use one that had storm doors fitted.
the breastbar in our pegasus trailer was modified to be a bit lower as our donkeys ain't that big either, and you can put a bale at the front so they can't come under it.
the main problem is it isn't a solid partition so if they got loose they could probably limbo under it.
if i was doing shetlands i would be inclined to take the partition out completely, leave them loose and put bales in front of the jockey door and tie it shut from the outside in case they decide to pop out the front!
We have a 7.5 tonner with herring bone partition. We have extended the partition to the floor, but the gap at the "head" end was still a problem. There's normally a carriage on board as well, on the other side of the partition, so leaving the ponies loose would not be a good idea. We tried tying Grace to one of the nearside rings, but she wasn't happy. In particular, she was frightened by trees brushing at the windows above her. She did manage to force the door to the living open.
We finally solved the problem by adding a ring to the offside wall, and tie her up that way. There's enough room for Eggwub too. Both are a lot happier this way.
Ideally I would like a partition to go the whole way across the box, so I could leave the ponies loose, but apart from the carriage. But then, I'd have to reinforce the living door, as now they know that they can force the bolt by leaning on the door.......
But then, I'd have to reinforce the living door, as now they know that they can force the bolt by leaning on the door.......
Surely you can't accuse small saint-like, butter-wouldn't-melt ponies of possibly discovering something like that. It was obviously broken and pinged open all by itself before they accidentally leaned on it and they'd never do anything like that on purpose
We have a cheval trailer and had the breach bar holders lowered to accomodate, he travels with or without partition, as long as he has haynet hes not too bothered.... we used to travel him in the lorry before that with no problems, we had solid partitions so there was so problems with him going under or getting legs stuck.
We have a Cattle trailer, we have a partition across the middle, and travel them 2-3 in each space. They are perfectly happy and chilled, they can stand facing how they want. In the big lorry, on long haul they have the entire space in the back to do what they need. All in together and very happy thank you.
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