Beating Travelling Anxiety: Seeing double

By Imogen Johnson

How to...

06 November 2009 16:06

It only takes one bad journey to make future trips in the lorry or trailer frightening for many horses, so how can you ease a horse’s travel anxiety?

In 2006, Nottingham Trent University student Rachel Kay won the Royal Agricultural Society of England’s ‘Eqvalan Duo Equine Thesis of the Year Award’ for her work on transporting horses. Her winning study proved transporting horses with a mirror could reduce stress during transportation, especially where a companion wasn’t available.

It showed behaviours such as head tossing and neighing were greatly reduced when the horse was travelled with a mirror. Nick Bell, of Amigo Stable Mirrors, agrees that positioning a mirror in your trailer or lorry can help nervous travellers, providing companionship and enabling the horse to relax by opening up the confined space.

He says: “We offer a bespoke service on size for travel mirrors as there are so many different styles of lorries and trailers on the market. We can also help with different fixing methods. Travelling mirrors are a great idea and, at the moment, we’re selling more of these than ever.”

For more information visit www.amigostablemirrors.co.uk