Here's a selection of photos on incidents and accidents involving horses in horse transport in the last month. In each of the cases, the damage inside the horsebox and the final position in which the horse ends up, is as a result of the horse's behaviour. That does not mean that it is the horse's fault. The fact that it happens in all kinds of horse vehicles, herringbone, rear facing, front facing, doesn't mean that the only common factor is a 'naughty' horse. The common factor is that they are being transported in vehicles (of which there are so many) that do not, as yet, fulfil the need to keep them safe, never mind keep them happy. A horse will only do what it feels it needs to do in order to survive.
Despite the outcry every time there is another incident, converters of lorries are still not listening, and churning out vehicles that are quickly overweight with one never mind two horses on board, and have basic design flaws that mean that a horse can soon get into trouble. Breast bars and partitions in all kinds of vehicles allow a horse to go over them really easily.
and if they do, there is no way of getting them out safely or, the horse can burst it's own way out too easily.
Valuable horse space is taken up with 'living' space and tack lockers.
We're told that vehicles have safety features such as collapsible bars but most of those require a handler to go into a horse that is going ballistic in order to try to release it. In most cases the Fire and Rescue Service have to be called into order to release the horse safely.
Even where bars are collapsible from the outside, older models of this type of trailer have special keys to release them and the fixings have seized over time.
