Page 107 - September2021

VENTILATION
Thus, it is important to make sure the trailer has good ventilation and doesn’t get too hot inside. Good air flow can help, so all the windows should be open, with a lot of cross breeze. “One thing we have to deal with here on the East Coast is that even though you may be on a highway and don’t plan to stop, traffic can be congested. If you are traveling during hours of high traffic, there is potential for traf- fic jams, and you may end up being stopped or traveling slowly. There won’t be much ventila- tion in a trailer in these situations. It’s a good idea to have some fans installed inside the trailer, so that if you get held up in traffic you can turn the fans on and still have ventilation and some air flow,” says Williams.
Even if you wouldn’t intentionally leave your horse in a hot trailer while you stop somewhere, there may be some unplanned stops that you can’t do anything about. “There are some fairly inexpensive trailer fans available, and they can be very helpful. They are small and can fit in small spaces, and yet produce good air flow,” she says.
You might want to put a thermometer in your trailer so you have a better idea how hot it actually gets in there. “This can be eye- opening to realize what your horse actually has to deal with for several hundred miles,” says Foss. One reason it gets hotter is because of the heat radiating up off the asphalt.
“Some of the fancier trailers have air conditioning,” he says. If you don’t have that luxury, you might use wet wood shav- ings on the floor of the trailer and pull into a gas station periodically and use a garden hose with a spray/mister on the end of it to dampen the bedding and the horses with water. This will help keep them cool and give their sweating mechanism a break so they’ll dehydrate less. Anything that will evaporate will help.
If weather is hot and dry, the air inside the trailer can be dusty, depending on how clean the trailer is, what kind of bedding is used, etc. This can add to respiratory issues and overall stress when a horse is hauled. Wetting the bedding may serve a double purpose in keeping the trailer environment less dusty as well as cooler.
It’s a good idea to have some fans installed inside
the trailer, so you can turn the fans on and still have ventilation and some air flow if you get held up in traffic.
“For technology buffs, a person could figure out a way to hook up a system in the trailer that would spray a mist of water every 5 to 10 minutes. This would certainly drop the temperature in the trailer and help the horses stay cooler, especially in our dry climates in the West. In a humid environment it might not help as much. You’d almost need an air condi- tioning unit, or travel at night,” he says.
In humid weather you’ll notice horses sweating in the trailer because the sweat won’t evaporate. They keep producing more sweat in an attempt to cool off and become dehydrated. “In a dry environment you may not see the sweat because it evaporates about as quickly as it forms, but you can see salt residue on the hair coat. The horses are
still losing fluid but you won’t see it as readily,” says Foss.
EQUINE HEALTH
STOPPING ALONG THE WAY VERSUS HAULING STRAIGHT THROUGH
Some people like to stop and give the horses a break from travel while others prefer to keep going and not unload the horses until they reach their destination. “It depends on your goal. In the endurance world we studied this, comparing horses that were rested along the way—with regular breaks—with horses that traveled straight through,” says Foss.
“My personal experience with this was traveling with a team of people heading for a championship event. We had our kids with us so we could only go as far as the kids could go before it was time to stop
and change diapers and eat. Everyone got a break, and we only traveled about 400 miles a day. We’d only go about four hours before we stopped and took a break. The endur- ance riders got out and unloaded the horses and exercised them in the evenings because we had plenty of time. That particular group of horses won the championship, won the team championship, won the best condition awards, etc. They arrived in great shape, as opposed to the other horses in our group that hauled straight through. Those horses did not compete as well,” he says.
Stopping along the way can break
the stress cycle. “If a person is taking
the horse to do something less strenu- ous, you may not notice the difference in performance. But if you are competing in a sport where your horse needs to be at peak ability, this might be an important thing to consider,” says Foss.
The horse’s muscles won’t get as stiff if he has a break and a chance to get out and move around. “He also has a chance to get his head down if he’s been in a trailer with a manger or where he is tied by the head,” says Foss.
“If his head has been up for the whole trip, like it is in most trailers, he doesn’t have a way to get his head down for normal clearing of the lungs and airways. With his head up, he can’t get rid of all
the dust and mucus buildup and makes him more likely to develop respiratory problems. If a horse can get out and get his head down to cough or eat off the ground while he’s taking a break from the trailer, this will greatly help his overall health.” This will also help him relax and lower his overall stress leve
When horses are being hauled, their muscles are working all the time. They are constantly moving, shifting weight, and keeping their balance in a moving trailer.
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