Discussion on Loose or cross tied
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| Author |
Message |
    
Kristie Beaulieu
Member
Username: Brnrat
Post Number: 6
Registered: 6-2003
| | Posted on Monday, Sep 13, 2004 - 11:35 am: |   |
Hello,
What is the best way to ship your horse cross country? Loose in a box stall or cross tied? I have seen various recommendations for and against both methods. Having the horse loose allows him to clear his airways and avoids injury to his neck from being cross tied. Are there any drawbacks to this method (other than the added expense)? Thanks. |
Holly Zukowski
Member
Username: Cowgrl
Post Number: 351
Registered: 6-2004
| | Posted on Monday, Sep 13, 2004 - 12:02 pm: | |
I've shipped horses both ways but with a single horse for a long ride, I've left him loose. Generally there are no drawbacks if there is nothing for him to get hurt on if he moves around. I trailered my mare from western Washington to central Idaho to be bred and left her in the back and she generally stood in the center of the trailer at an angle and seemed pretty comfortable. I also brought a horse up from Oregon and also left him loose. He spent the trip looking out the back watching where he'd been. No adverse effects at all from this. |
Jerre R
Member
Username: Jerre
Post Number: 155
Registered: 11-2002
| | Posted on Monday, Sep 13, 2004 - 2:11 pm: | |
I recently shipped my mare 200 miles (5 hours -- bad freeway traffic!) to Canada in a large commercial trailer. We started with a large loose box, but it made my mare anxious and she crashed around in there a bit, so before we hit the road, we switched to a divider that made a generous slant stall.
However, in Canada I was hauling her back and forth each day in a regular 2-horse slant (just her, no divider) and let her be loose. She chose to ride backwards on the diagonal, with her butt by the driver and her head facing the back right corner. She didn't shift much at all in that position. I think the total area in the smaller trailer was smaller than the loose box arrangement in the commercial rig.
She'd never been hauled loose before, so she might find the bigger rig acceptable now. |
