With so many competitions and camps happening, EquiTeam have put together a handy guide with some top tips to make your lives easier, and advice to help your horse stay happy, healthy and stress free on their sleep-overs
Here are our top tips from EquiTeam’s (ex!) professional travelling grooms….
1. On arrival
Have your passport(s) to hand as some stables will ask to see your passport before your horse is allowed to get off the trailer.
Locate the water taps and muck heap and find out where you can hand graze and any times for arena walks/exercising/areas that you can ride in.
Make sure the stable is safe and secure and take extra baler twine for tying up.
2. Getting Settled
If you are stabling on a green field site put your horse in their temporary stable before putting your bed down, to let them eat the grass down first. Guaranteed if you make a beautiful new bed for them they will just dig it up to get at the grass!
3. Useful Kit
If your horse is well behaved and won’t take themselves off exploring, a door chain means they can see out and you don’t have to repeatedly open and shut the door behind you.
Having two smaller water buckets for carrying water is much easier than dragging a big bucket backwards and forwards.
Take fly spray and a fly rug in the summer.
Hooks are super useful to hang over the door or bars to hang headcollars and bridles on.
You can use baler twine either inside or outside your stable to hang your rugs over (there is so much you can do with baler twine!).
4. Be ready for all weathers
Take plenty of different rugs (including waterproofs) with you to give you options. Often temporary stables can get very hot when the sun is up in the middle of day but be quite chilly at night time and they aren’t always water tight!
There is often very little shelter in temporary stables so you can throw a rug over the top rails to provide some shade (or alternatively you can spend money on some posh ready-made stable drapes!).
Horses generally thrive on routine so when we take them out of their normal environment, away from their friends, put them strange stables, change their routine and restrict access to grass it is not really surprising that they can under-perform, get stressed or even start colicing.
So what can we do to minimise risks and keep them settled and healthy?
1. Keep things the same where ever possible
Take your own feed and hay or haylage with you. The bacteria in their guts are very sensitive to changes in feeding and any changes need to be made gradually over two weeks. So don’t go away for a couple of days and put your horse onto haylage if they are used to having hay.
2. Get them out to graze in hand
It lets them stretch their legs and keeps their guts moving. This is especially important if they normally live out. Allowing them to graze will also help to keep their heads down which is great for their respiratory tract, especially after travelling.
3. Keep them hydrated
Make sure they have plenty of fresh, clean water to drink. Don’t forget to check last thing before bed to see if they need a top up and keep an eye on how much they are drinking.
Add extra water to their feeds to keep their guts moving, and/or consider wetting hay.
If they seem reluctant to drink try adding some carrots to a bucket to encourage carrot bobbing, or add a small about of natural apple juice to some water to help.
4. Support their guts
You can add in probiotics to give them a bit of extra support and reduce stress on their digestive system.
5. Trust your gut!
You know your horse so don’t look at what everyone else is doing and feel like you need to so the same. Stick to your own routine.
Going away from home with your horse can feel daunting but it is really good fun! Don’t forget to download and use the packing lists to make sure that you don’t forget anything, and most importantly remember to enjoy it!
Liz, Lou & Liz x
