Travelling Safe the Blue Chip way! 10 Top Tips for Stress Free Floating. Travelling can become part of a competition horse’s weekly routine during the season, and whether you travel your horse regularly or occasionally there are a few points to consider concerning their digestive health. Travelling can be very stressful for many horses and ponies and they can lose up to 0.5% of their bodyweight on cool days, (this can equate to 2.5kg lost from a 500kg horse). Sweating can increase this weight loss and this combined with decreased water intake can lead to dehydration. So with this in mind, here are our top ten tips. 1 – Most importantly make sure that the vehicle you will be travelling your horse or pony in is in good mechanical order and all parts have been checked especially the ramp, flooring and hinges. 2 – Allow plenty of time for loading and unloading, especially if you have nervous or young horses. Being able to take your time and keep your cool without the pressure of clock watching will go a long way to keeping your horse and yourself stress free for happy travelling. 3 – Make sure that your horse is wearing the appropriate travelling gear which may include travelling boots or bandages, a leather head collar (preferably with a poll guard) which will break in an emergency and a tail bandage and/or tail guard. 4 – Many horses can become hot when travelling especially if you are travelling more than one horse so rug accordingly and check your float’s ventilation to ensure they neither get too hot or too cold. 5 – Always tie horses up whilst travelling to something that will break in an emergency. There are several safety products available on the market for this purpose. Also keep a spare knife or other cutting tool handy for emergency use. 6 – Offer food and water every 2 -4 hours and water every 2 hours on hot days. If your horse is reluctant to drink whilst on long trips, offering soaked hay and ‘slushy feeds’ such as beet pulp alongside your Blue Chip balancer will not only help to keep your horse hydrated and avoid a range of problems such as colic, but it will also mean that you are topping up valuable nutrients to help prevent loss of condition. Not all horses will drink water containing electrolytes so weak molasses water is an option too as is bringing water from home in containers – some horses can be incredibly fussy when it comes to water and the most important thing is that they stay hydrated. 7 – Make sure that the vehicle you are travelling in has adequate breakdown cover to ensure you and your horse get home safely in the event of a breakdown 8 – Don’t leave anything loose in the float where it can get caught up in your horse’s legs and tie any haynets or haybags up high. Work on the premise that horses are an accident waiting to happen so don’t leave anything hanging down within their strike range, particularly if your horse has a tendency to paw. 9 – Don’t forget your horse’s passport especially when travelling interstate. 10 - If your horse becomes stressed or anxious when travelling use a natural calmer such as Blue Chip Liquid Karma, AppleCalm or CarrotCalm to help them cope with the situation.
Posted on: Sun, 30 Nov 2014 09:01:19 +0000