How to Calm a Restless Horse Before Transportation
Are you facing challenges with a fidgety horse during transportation?
Ensuring a horse is calm during transit is crucial for a smooth journey, especially when booking transportation. Read on for proven strategies to ensure a serene transport experience for your equine companion.
1. Recognize the Source of Anxiety: Horses are instinctively flight animals. When confined during transportation, their stress levels can rise. It's not just about booking the right transport, but also ensuring they feel secure throughout the journey.
2. Invest Time in Preparation: Before transportation, it's essential to prepare your horse. Allocate specific periods leading up to the journey to acquaint your horse with the transport environment.
3. Adopt a Relaxed Posture: Horses who act restless while tethered frequently have unbalanced bodily postures, including curved backs, elevated heads, and crossed legs. This posture leads to a continuous adrenaline release, heightening stress and the urge to move. Help your horse to stand straight and steady.
4. Pay attention to the feet: Crossed feet instinctively signal a horse's readiness to flee, on the other hand, when his feet are square, it's like he's standing in a stable, showing poise and balance. Being square means that the front and back feet are in line with one another. Apply pressure to the front of the shoulder on the leg you want to move in order to start moving backward. For forward steps, gently tap his flank.
Before your horse adopts a square posture, this method might need to be repeated multiple times.
5. Maintain a Neck level: Keep your horse calm by maintaining a neck level, aligning the poll with the withers. Use gentle lateral pressure, known as "flexing," rather than force, to encourage this. Place your hands on the halter in front of the horse or cradle the bridge of its nose from the side. If the horse resists, block its movement with your hand.
Remember, it's about encouraging, not forcing, the posture for your horse to find comfort gradually.
6. Check Tether Length: Whether tethered inside a trailer or a transport vehicle, the tether's length should allow the horse to comfortably adjust its head. Book transportation options that prioritize animal comfort.
Booking the right horse transportation is just the first step. Ensuring your horse remains calm during the journey is crucial for a hassle-free experience. By following the above strategies, both you and your horse can have a safe and pleasant transit.