You don't have to tie her, lots of people don't tie their horses while hauling. If it worries you, just leave her untied and save yourself the grey hairs and worry warts. She'll be fine. Years ago, I had a mare that I never tied in a trailer, and we hauled all over the province to shows, she was fine.

 

We don't ever tie our horses when trailering. However, they are also calm, experienced haulers. But in your case, if you know tying is going to cause an issue, how much worse can not tying be? Try it for a short test-ride and see how it goes.

 

We never tie our guys in the trailer. I've heard it's safer that way. Nothing to get tangled in.

 

Wow, thank you guys! Around here, it's really rare to not tie a horse in the trailer..I wonder why that is. When we made the decision to trailer her across town without being tied it was made out to be a huge deal and everybody got me worrying sick the whole trip...
But it makes sense, about them not being able to get tangled up.
That makes me feel a lot better!

 

My question is always 'like where are they supposed to go? its not like I have them in a completely enclosed box that's made to fit them or anything.' Enjoy your new found confidence in 'liberty trailoring' (it sounds much better that way)

 

I guess these days most trailers are fully enclosed. In the late 1980s though, we were trailering a horse to a metropolitan race. She was in a double horse float with a partition down the centre. Back then, most Australian horse floats were open above the tail gate - about 1.3m tall when done up. We actually did have her tied in but her snap came loose (happens sometimes with European-style panic snaps, the horse can rub itself and the snap can come undone).

We were driving this horse along the 4-lane Kwinana Freeway filled with commuter traffic when we heard a minor rumble from the back, nothing spectacular. When we got to Gloucester Park we found that our mare was looking out of the back of the float- the whole head and neck out and surveying the scenery, chest against the tail gate. We got goosebumps at the thought of her having dangled a metre into the freeway traffic all the while - young horses often feel the urge to jump to freedom, and we've seen horses clear chest-high obstacles from a halt even at our place, and climb over even higher stuff...

We have no idea how this 16hh mare turned herself around in the narrow confines of her float bay, and nearly soundlessly, and without getting a scrape. We've never experienced that again either, but then in the 1990s my father bought a new float that was enclosed at the back.

As a contrasting story (but this one also gave me goosebumps!), there was a quite famous metropolitan class horse called Just Silvertime in the late 1980s. Once his owner's car broke down on the Kwinana Freeway when the horse was going to a racing engagement, and he didn't want to miss his race! A mate of the owner came along in an open flat-bed truck, they walked the horse up the tail ramp, and tied him to the centre of the rails behind the cabin, and just drove him to the racetrack like that... just the horse on a platform. The owner said his mate drove very carefully and the horse was a good boy...

 

I had one horse that would untie himself and any other horse , if he could to the lead.
A lot of them prefer not to be tied, and to ride backwards.
I have a stock trailer, and if they want to turn and ride backwards, its fine with me.

 

I do tie my horses in the trailer, but they are first 100% on being tied solid.
That means, even if something scares them, they do not halter pull
Thus, i would never try to tie a horse in a trailer, that halter pulls, no matter how infrequently
teach her to stand tied, suing a body rope
The ties in the trailer,are break away ties, so should something drastic happen, like an accident, the horses are not trapped
I don't have dividers in my trailer, which is a three horse goose neck angle haul
I certainly don't want horses 'tap dancing' back there, when hauling into the mountains, nor do I like it when the horses are waiting to exit, soon as that trailer door is opened, as happens when they are hauled loose
Tie then correctly, and they can't get tangled, ect
Only horses I ever hauled loose, were foals
If a horse is halter broke, he gets tied
I haul cows loose, but expect my horses to tie!

I guess you can haul loose, but that to me is a compromise, for ahorse that does not really tie.
In 30 years of hauling horses, i have never had one get tangled up, being tied, so if that happens, the person does not know how to tie a horse correctly!
Sometimes, I haul a friend's horse, and would not dream of those horses just being allowed to establish herd dynamics , left loose in the trailer
Just my opinion and thoughts on the subject

 

The only caution I have to NOT tying in a trailer is if you have an open bumper pull.

A nurse/rancher that I know has a four horse bumper pull with stock sides that she pulls with a 3/4 ton Ford. She put three in and headed home.

For some reason the three horses crowded to the back and she had little control of her truck at that point. Too much weight behind the double axles, too much lift on the rear of the truck.

But for a two horse straight load? Or a gooseneck? I've not heard of any problems.

 

wouldn't it work fine for a two horse slant load, too? as long as the divider is substantial enough to discourage a horse from thinking he can go UNDER it.

 

Depends I suppose on the design of your trailer/truck, but I would never leave a horse untied in a float. Done it once & had a beast try to jump out & get stuck - lucky it was a donkey & we weren't moving - between my husband & I we were able to wrestle him back in! I've seen horses travelling backwards with their heads out the back. Also the design of many straightload trailers is they're designed to have more weight forward of the wheels and when the horse is turned around with their head out, the imbalance can lift the coupling off the towball!!

So... I'd gradually work towards teaching her to tie, and use a tie ring or such, to *safely* tie in the trailer.

 

Just want to add, besides quick release safety ties, you can buy a device called an'equi-ping' that snaps apart with much pressure on it. I use both when I haul Sonny. He doesnt pull back, but in case of an accident or if he somehow needed more head and neck room for balance, the equiping would free him. It was less than $15 and gives me loads of peace of mine=priceless.
Or, keep a supply of #150 zip ties and use one with each haul-clip to it and it will break under 150 lb of pressure.
Another option is a blocker tie ring-comes with instructions on how to tie for less to maximum release. You can find them that clip to the existing hardware in additoin to the bolt in place ones. So, very adaptable to a trailer.

Any of the options should 'give' if she were to panic to avoid her causing injury to herself, but tie enough to make her feel tied until/unless she goes into a full panic.

Good luck
Fay

 

So just don't tie her. ;-)

I used to ALWAYS tie in the trailer, but this year I stopped tying Red because he always seemed to have raspy breathing when we arrived at an event. I stopped tying him so he has the freedom to put his head all the way down to clear his airways.

You certainly do not have to tie a horse in the trailer.

It you absolutely must, I'd use a tie blocker ring so it will let slack out if she pulls.

 

Never had breathing problems tying a horse, but then, I don't hang hay nets when traveling
Had a friend that used to always hang a hay net, as a 'pacifier'. When I hauled her horse with mine, she had to wait until we stopped for lunch, to hang that hay net.
Yes, there is no rule that says you 'have ' to tie a horse in a trailer, but that choice should be based on personal preference, not because a horse halter pulls, thus the horse dictating that he can't be tied in that trailer.
Even if you leave her loose, fix that halter pulling, away from the trailer

 

Never had breathing problems tying a horse, but then, I don't hang hay nets when traveling

I don't use hay nets either.

I do haul with shavings because both of my horses will pee in the trailer, and that's not a good thing when I am hauling to a show and need their white socks to be WHITE when I arrive.

But I wet the shavings down before I haul.

Since I started letting him loose in the trailer, he hasn't had raspy breathing since !! **knock on wood** Seems to have done the trick.

 

Yes, those white legs can be a challenge to keep clean!
Smilie has four white stockings, and Charlie is just white -period!
I should use shipping boots, or stable wraps on those4 legs, as many other people that I show with do, But I also just use shavings in my trailer-not just for white feet, but horses will pee in a trailer ,w hen you stop, if it has shavings.
Some horses are just more sensitive to any dust.
My ties are where there are barred windows, which I leave open for fresh air.
Have to do what works for your horse!
Seems you found what works for your horse, Beau.

 

Went with my niece once to pick up a yearling filly. She had a 2 horse straight load and didn't tie the filly. We hear a commotion in back so stop to check and the filly was in the other stall and had skinned herself up pretty bad along with 1 deep cut that had to be stitched. I don't have a problem with not tying in an open stock trailer hauling one horse or have a full height gate that can separate the horses into box-like stalls but if there are dividers, I'm tying.

Even with a horse that doesn't tie well the side wall on a slant load trailer (with divider closed) or the butt bar or door in a straight load should stop them from being able to set back against their lead rope/trailer tie. I never tie them before getting the divider closed on our slant load even though all mine are good with being hard tied.

 

Of course because tying is always the last thing you do before closing the door and the first thing you undo before opennings the butt bar.

If they are going to panic only from being hard tied then don't hard tie and they shouldn't panic so badly that they'll come rushing out when the door is opened

My trainer will often trailer them untied with the long lead line slung over the horses back. Only if line is long enough to not come off and only fir horses in trailer that us not open stock type. Seems odd, but the rope stays put and as they start to back out you just pull it off their back and you have them on lead



Darn ipad typing errors

 

Sue, I'm looking to dig out that pic of the holden ute with dog & horse in the back...

I don't know about most floats being fully enclosed these days. Mine & most I've seen are open at the back.... and there's still the risk, if the horse is panicking, of them taking the window, or the emergency door when you open it to enter. Seen SES pics of a horse having to be cut out of the emergency door, and have a client with a very damaged horse(recent, may have to be put down) after she tried to jump out the front window & somehow managed to get her head, neck & front legs through - a lot of her damage was sustained cutting her out of it! And then there's the 'normal' damages, such as them injuring neck or back getting under the chest bar etc.

 

My trailer I use has 3 cut gates in it, so when I haul just one or two I put them in a section and close it off, I don't tie. If I decide to haul them in the same cut, I do tie so they don't aggravate the living crap out of each other.
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Here ya go.... Know you're in 'Straya when...

Well... it woulda been a long ride out to where the sheeps are!

 

look, even that horse is 'tied' .. think that method allows for any slack if the horse pulls back (or falls out)?! :rofl:

 

Man, Loosie, I hope they reinforced the tray on that ute... it's bad enough when horses' legs go through rotten trailer floorboards that people haven't checked and get grated off on the road...

The newer double floats in WA tend all to be closed in the back, but plenty of old open ones still about.

And yeah, you do have to be careful... my father had a promising young mare called Sunset Coast whose racing days were ended when he was trailering her on the Forrest Freeway to Bunbury and a huge semi-trailer compression-braked in the lane next to her. She leapt clean over the breast bar (and yes, she was tied in and you'd think it would have discouraged her, but at least it stopped her coming through the front window...) and got stuck with her head and neck jack-knifed into the front compartment, and hanging over the bar at the far end of the abdomen, near the thighs - totally trapped in that position.

My father was on his own and had to try to free the horse, pulled up on the roadverge. He says he's so glad there are quick-release pins on the Olympic Float breast-bars and that they swing on a hinge. Somehow he managed to remove the breast bar and thereby get her off this fulcrum on which she was see-sawing, and not get hurt by 500kg of struggling horse in a confined space. The mare though had torn a huge chunk of inside thigh muscle clean off and was bleeding heavily. Luckily he managed to pressure bandage her and the bleeding slowed. They couldn't stitch the 20cm crater of a wound, it had to granulate over the course of four months, with twice daily attention and a few courses of antibiotics.

These days she's paddock sound, and only a small bare patch and dent remain, but it's not advisable to race a horse that has lost part of its leg stabiliser muscles...so she's retired. It always seems to happen to the best ones! :-(

 

I have driven with donkeys loose for 1,600 miles. They traveled very well loose. Every so often you could feel them shift postions.

 

You people that leave horses loose, I gather you don't do it with floats with tailgate doors either, or you have to get in there & catch them & hold them before someone else opens the main door? Wouldn't want to be lowering a tailgate when a horse tries to run over it. And if there is more than one horse loose in there, even with the side hinged doors I've seen many American floats have, how do you go if more than one comes out at once, or catching them on their way out? I know the aim is to have a horse calm enough in the trailer that they won't try to rush out, but in the real world...

 

I have several friends who do not tie. But when they load, and when they open the gate, not a horse moves until its' lead gets picked up by someone.

 

Loosie my trailer has double doors on the back. I open one and untie and back the horse out then I untie from the other side and back out. I always put my old gelding by the door because I I know he is sane. When I get to the second cut I open the gate and turn the first horse around and lead them out then proceed to the second. When I only haul one I put them in the second cut so I have room to grab before they try to escape.


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I'm not sure about what trailer my horse will be travelling in, whether it will be one of my friends' trailers or one we get.

One of my friends has a 3 (I think) horse slant load Featherlite. The back doors close completely.
The other has a 2 horse straight load older style trailer that has butt bars and the doors are open a couple of feet at the top. It sounds like this one may not be safe to trailer her loose in?

If we get a trailer I'd like to get a 2-3 horse slant with a fully enclosed back gate.

 

Weird thought, but has anyone tried tying in a trailer with a rope like they use in standing stalls? where there is a weight on the other end that takes up all the slack?

I was just thinking of a straight load with the weights hanging in like a small tack room.