Rear facing trailers & horses who don't like travelling

helenc

helenc

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Nov 27, 2003
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I used to have an Ifor 505 trailer but sylvester really didn't like travelling in it - would scramble around & almost fall over around every corner no matter how slow I went round it. He used to really stressing himself out & just generally not have a nice time travelling.

It ended up getting so bad that I decided to sell my 4x4 & trailer and buy a lorry which we never had any probs with & he travelled fantastically in herringbone slightly facing backwards. Unfortunately now I have had to scrap the lorry due to it not getting through MOTs etc.

I can't afford to run a lorry & a car so unfortunately if I want transport (which I do!) then it's gonna have to be 4x4 & trailer again.

Has anybody successfully travelled a horse that doesn't like trailers in a rear facing trailer - does it really solve balance issues or would I be wasting my money buying something like an equi-trek or other rear facing trailer?
 
I haven't used a backwards facing trailer but have travelled Saff both forwards facing and backwards facing in a lorry.

She loaded much better into the backwards facing but then it didn't have the ramp equivalent of scaling Mount Everest which the forwards facing lorry did!

She travelled further, and better, in the backwards facing than she did in the forwards facing. She was less stressed, moved around less and came off a bit sweaty but not ringing wet like she did when she travelled forward facing ... and she hadn't poohed her pants like she did in the forward facing! Different drivers though so I don't know if that made a difference. Both seemed to be good drivers to me so I wouldn't have thought that that was a major factor.
 
my friend travels her horse facing backwards in a normal ifor williams trailer.when she travels him forwards he falls over before they have left the yard,but facing backwards hes fine.
 
I did loads of research on this years ago at college. There are quite a few scientific papers which show that horses undergo reduced heart rates and less stress in rear facing transporters. This was in both lorries and trailers. If horses are left loose they (generally) choose to travel at an angle facing the rear.
 
My friend has an equitrec and she says most definatly all the horses she travells regularly travel better backwards and she has moved a few for friends, some who are notorious bad travellers and said they were all good as gold in her rear facer.

My mare was struggling in a Ifor 505, she is just 15.1 but very stocky and sadly the above friend is too far away to borrow her trailer but I took Jess out in a big Pegasus trailer (suitable for 17.2 horses) and she had much more room and travelled far far better than she ever did in my 505, no sweating or stress, so maybe a bigger trailer might help if your pone like mine fills the space the 505 offers.

Good luck
 
Hi,

I too have travelled my boy in both an Equitrec and Ifor 505 and 510. Can't be of much help as I am lucky, he is a good traveller and was relaxed in all three. I did like the Equitrec ad it is side loading and rear facing, much like most lorries.

Best of luck.
 
helen, have you an equitrek stockist anywhere near you? if you do then you should be able to try one :) when we were at livery, our local stockist brought an equitrek to the yard for a couple of the liveries to try their horses in as one was a bad forward facing traveller.
 
helenc said:
I'll keep my eye out thanks :D
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Be careful ! Fautras obliques are wide and heavy (documentation states at 1130kg empty, equipped with standard accessories :eek: )
I have a friend who bought one as her mare traveled badly - she travels well in the oblique but friend says her landcruiser wouldn't need any extra weight to tow ...
 
helenc said:
he's a skinny mini so I don't reckon that would have been an issue for him

I wonder if there's anywhere I can hire an equitrek from to try him...
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Could you take the partition out of yours and travel him loose (slowly and locally) and see if he turns himself around(showing he preferrs backwards?

I moved my friends mare at the weekend, with her 2 month old foal and then her last foal who is 22 months. We took the partition out and the little foal turned backwards to travel, then I took the 22 motnh old (left the partition out and left her loose) and she did the same, they do seem to prefer it.
 
We saw an equi trek and Ifor williams at a show recently, got to go inside them etc. and I have to say I know which I'd prefer so we are now on the look out for a 2nd hand one if poss!
 
Jessey said:
Could you take the partition out of yours and travel him loose (slowly and locally) and see if he turns himself around(showing he preferrs backwards?
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I don't have it any more jessey so not really possible, that's why I'm looking to see I can borrow a rear facing one to try him in
 
Is a rear facing trailer set out differently?
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The horses just face backwards! The difference is the axle placing on the rear facing trailer. The weight of the horse is in a different place than in a forward facing which is why it is dangerous to just load horses facing backwards in a normal forward facing trailer!
 
wonkeywoody said:
The horses just face backwards! The difference is the axle placing on the rear facing trailer. The weight of the horse is in a different place than in a forward facing which is why it is dangerous to just load horses facing backwards in a normal forward facing trailer!
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There's also the breast & breaching bar positions - in a rear facing trailer the breast bar is set back in the trailer giving the horse room to move his head around properly

pics here http://www.about-trailers.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=THRICHEXCEL&tabid=1
 
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