'The Float Loading and Transport of Horses' by Glen Denholm

        THE FLOAT LOADING AND TRANSPORT OF HORSES

By Glen Denholm Dip Ag, Richmond TAFE, Equine Studies.

“The challenge of leadership is to get people (or horses) to willingly do that which they would normally do unwillingly.”

People say to me regularly, “My horse is a schizo, every time I put him on the float he throws himself down, scrambles, jumps over the front bar, rears, or is impossible to load, what can I do, we cannot take him anywhere.”

My immediate thoughts are “Why!” 

The horse will not do these things unless there has been something occurring in his life that has caused the problem.  The horse generally will not rear up and intentionally dash his brains out on the roof of the float.  He will not rear up and over the front bar of the float, intentionally risking injury.  You have to go back to the start.  There is no other place to commence the journey.

Have anyone of you taken the time to place yourself in the rear of a horse float while it is being driven along a road.  I will bet none of you have.  I have and it is a terrifying thing.  I was scared, so imagine how the horse felt.

I was asked recently 2010, to load a horse onto a float that was refusing.

When I went to the place, I found a lovely little black gelding that would have done anything for you.  I found a horse float attached to a Nissan Patrol parked on an incline, backed up to a pile of dirt to form a bank behind the float, and the tail gate resting on this bank.

The interior of the float however was on the same incline as the hill, sloping away from the bank. These people had not been able to get the horse on the float at all.  It would pull back and rear and strike.  They would put him away and sit at the stables lamenting there woes.

I moved the float onto level ground.  I put my knotted rope headstall on the horse and gave him a leading lesson.  The horse reared and struck and I immediately reprimanded it for this.  I led the horse to the float and it went straight on.

There was nothing wrong with the horse, it just did not want to slip and fall through the front of the horse float and injure itself.  Not the horses fault and not unreasonable that he was concerned.  To my knowledge the horse has not refused again.

Horses are like humans.  They are nervous, they are scared.  They might be intelligent or they might be slow in learning.  Not all horses and not all humans are made the same.  They should not then be treated the same.  They might require a different tack in teaching the horse some new exercise to make him useful.

Horses are monocular.  They need to see something with both eyes to comprehend it.  This is why we can blindfold one eye of a horse and handle him on the blindfolded side and he will accept this without worrying.  However, take the blindfold off and things in all probability would be different.

Horses cannot dilate the pupils of their eyes.  We as humans can. This allows us to adjust to variant of light and dark.

I saw a young horse being loaded onto a float recently.  The young horse’s head was forced up by the leader pulling on it, in such a way so that it was nearly parallel to its back while a helper hunted it up.

The horse did not have the ability to see where it was going, but was trying to obediently follow the leader into the float.  It was a nice little horse too.

So why not teach it to lead and it would come with you, as a partner, onto the float without any problem.

Do I think this was because it is too simplistic?  I don’t know.  But I don’t seem to have all that much trouble getting horses onto horse floats.  Maybe I am wrong and everyone else is right.  But for what it is worth here are some thoughts on the subject.

Most of our horse floats are made with the roofs too low.  They are made for horses about 15 hands say to about 15.2. hands high.  Some Clydesdales, Shires, Warmbloods, and Thoroughbreds are on some occasions a little taller than this.  Most of the horse floats are not made by horsemen, they are engineered from and engineers design.

I have modified my old TUZA float and increased the interior height to 7 foot 3 inches.  It will take a horse which stands 28 hands at the ears. The optimum height for a float should be 8 foot 2 inches or 2250cm.

My old modified horse float has a square steel centre division which does not extend to the ground.  It just divides one side from the other.  It has two old very rough sections of padded material on the near side and the off side of the interior of the float about level with the rib section of the horse.

So in my old modified float these following things are evident:

·     The roof is high. 7’3” floor to ceiling.

·     The centre division is not to the floor.

·     The float is wide enough for most horses.

·     There is good ventilation.

·     The interior is light and airy.

·     There is plenty of view.

·     The ramp is not steep

When I carry a horse in any float I:

·     Do not drive fast, drive slowly.

·     I do not brake fast, allow 100 meters and brake slowly.

·     I do not turn a corner fast, turn slowly.

·     Use boots or bandages on the legs and tail of the horse.

·     Make sure the float and towing vehicle is registered.

Some things that I do not do when floating a horse:

·     Picking up his feet and placing them on the ramp.

·     Putting a breeching rope on a horse.

·     Allowing people to force him from behind.

Some things that I do when loading a horse.

·     I never take my eyes off him.

·     I do not have any one assisting me.

·     I never have anyone behind the horse.

·     I take time to teach the horse to lead.

·     I do not pull on his head when he is moving forward.

Giving in to the horse and giving up on what you are doing to the horse at that particular time lets the horse win.  He gets reward and relief.  He has learnt a lesson.  Any lesson good or bad is a lesson but, the bad ones are hard to cure if ever. 

If you start a loading lesson, make sure you have the knowledge, ability and grit to continue it to the end.

Read what I have written on loading the refusing horse.

When I travel a horse on his own I travel him on the off side or right hand side of the float.  Why?.  To counteract the camber of the road.

Where you are travelling two horses, travel the heaviest one on the off side.  But if the horse has a difficulty with a particular side of the float and is comfortable on this side and being there will cause him to travel quietly, then travel him on the side he likes.

Young horses will generally travel kindly.  Any problems that a horse has are for the most part taught to him by the people who have control over him.

Where you have a two horse angle load trailer, (and I like them) I travel a single horse so that he is over the axels of the float.  Where you are travelling two horses, I put the heaviest horse over the axels and the lighter one beside.  With a three horse, again, the heaviest horse in the middle and the lighter horses either side.

I like the horse facing the near side or left hand side of the float away from anything passing his face that might frighten him, e.g. flapping plastic on a truck.

One of the things as the float driver are responsible for, is the vehicle you are driving and the float you are towing.  You have to be aware of the rules that apply to vehicles towing other vehicles, specifically weight restriction.  You cannot tow a horse float with three Clydesdale Horses on it with a Datsun 180B.

Check your tail lights, reflectors, brake lights, clearance lights and tow hitch connection.

If the “A” frame connecting the float to the vehicle is open, take the precaution to have it filled in with some aluminium or steel plate.  One day when you least expect it, your horse or someone else’s horse will end up with broken or cut and bleeding legs from falling through the “A” frame.

When I have a flat tyre on the float, I do not unload the horses.  I have a heavy piece of treated pine railway sleeper cut about two feet long.  On one end of the timber sleeper I have made a long angled cut.  I run the inflated tyre up onto the timber which when I do this it elevates the deflated tyre without resorting to the use of a tyre jack which, with the movement of the horses may cause the float to fall from it.

If you remove the horses and you tie them to the much utilized baling twine they can get away and then, if they hit a car, not only do you have a flat tyre, but a dead or injured horse or a dead or injured driver and a damaged car.  Leave them in the float.

My mare Trinket will kick another horse standing beside her in a float.  I have broken her into drover’s hobbles and I back hobble her and the problem is solved.

Where I have a horse that rushes off a float, I spend some time in the yard first, teaching the horse to “back steady” and to “come up”.  Get the horse where, he will, when you stand just a little behind his shoulder, you can ask him to move to the front or the rear, just a little bit at the time.  I do not pull on the horses head, but I take the time to teach the horse to lead with the whip.  You might use a long dressage whip or lunging whip with the thong removed.

Where I have a horse that scrambles the walls when travelled in a float ( a scrambler) I remove or tie the divider over and give him plenty of room in the float.  This horse has and has been trying to stay on an even surface having been taught this by a person driving too fast around corners.  Just take him slowly and give him plenty of room.

Where you have a climber, a horse that tries to get his footing by climbing the walls of the float, you could give the horse some room in the float by removing the divider in a double float, travelling him in the centre bay of a three horse angle load.  Put some supports for the horse about shoulder height so he can get some support.  Make sure you put floating boots on the horse and drive the float very slowly.

Where I have a horse that rears in a float, I will run a rope from one side of the float to the other in the diagonal, over the back of the horse, from say his off side front to his near side rear.  I do this so that if he wants to rear, there is a restriction of the rope which will add to deter him.

I have never been one to hobble a horse in front and behind to the floor of the horse float.   Some people do it, but I do not.  I have no problem front or back hobbling them, but not to the floor of the float.

Where you have a horse that will “kick out behind” when you are loading it onto the float,

put a set of float boots on the kicker and stick a set of back hobbles on the horse.  Proceed with the loading as normal.

You will find that if you show a horse that something he is doing will be tolerated, the horse will generally not do it.  If he kicks out behind, he is only being defensive and is stopping an imagined person whacking him on the rump.  If you back hobble him he will not be able to kick out and therefore will give it away

So, all in all, one has to consider why a horse is apprehensive about going on a float, with a driver who has the history of driving without consideration to the horse.  It is not the fault of the horse.

Most importantly, if you borrow a horse float make sure it is registered.  If you tow it with your car, make sure that your car can tow the float and most importantly can stop the float when it is carrying one or two horses.

Make sure you have the “T” piece down onto the tow ball.  If you do not, the first bump you hit will make the float jump off the ball.  Make sure that the tow ball has a good connection with the tow fitting.  Lift it up and down a couple of times to make sure it will not come off.

Where you have a float with two chains on the front of it, I like to take the off side chain to the near side of the tow vehicle and the near side to the off side of the tow vehicle.  I think that if the float was to jump off the ball it could perhaps rest on the crossed chains and not drag on the road.

Where you have electric break away brakes, I have found it good to apply the brakes on the float by digitally working the fitting on the electric brake set up in the tow vehicle.  In this way the float brakes can be applied when going down a steep hill.  If you were to do this, you can have the tow vehicle in a low gear and the float brakes slowing the vehicle rather than you riding the brakes.  It is just something that I do.  You don’t have to.

With breakaway brakes on a float, if you were worried about some person or persons stealing your float when you are away from it, simply remove the steel cable from the fitting on the float and carry it with you in the glove box of the tow vehicle. 

If this cable is out and away from the float, the brakes will be locked on and the float unable to be removed.

If the horse goes down in the float, never get between the horses legs when you are moving around the float. If you have to, throw a horse rug over his eyes to keep him calm. If you do this, never walk in front of his face.  If you do he will either try to get up or start thrashing around again.

If the horse goes down, never let some adviser go home and get his generator and metal cutter to cut the side or front out of the float.  Blindfold or sedate the horse and get a rope and with a figure of eight tie it to the horse’s tail.  Attach this to the front of a four wheel drive vehicle and pull the horse out of the float backwards very slowly.  Have a head collar on the horse and when he is out and gets up; smartly remove the rope from his tail.

If the horse goes down in the float and by some chance of really bad luck sticks his foot out through the side of the float, do the best you can to get him out.  There will be a lot of blood and mess.  Just deal with it and move forward with the job.

Blindfold him, have someone competent holding his head and have it pulled up.  Restrict him the best you can.  If you have tin snips, then cut the metal away from around his leg.  Make the hole bigger.  Move his leg back into the float.  Keep him blindfolded.  Before he gets up fill the hole in with something solid and get him off the float.

Good luck and enjoy your horse.  They are a truly wonderful animal have in your life and know.

Glen  Denholm,

Richmond TAFE,

Equine Studies.

12^th August, 2010.

(02) 45-709050