Everything is starting to happen now and exciting times are ahead!
I am currently preparing my two young horses for the Tasmanian Pony Club Horse Trials, which is over the March long weekend. Berragoon Sizzle has established himself quite well at pre novice (Gr 1) level now and has got around some very tough and technical courses with some placing’s, clever little Sizzle! The big Bus aka Bussie (who is for sale!) managed to pull off an awesome three qualifiers from three events to qualify for Trials in the introductory (Gr 3)! Not bad since she only started jumping in late December! Will has also come back firing after his big unplanned break to easily canter around the 1* at the H&D ODE held a fortnight ago. Thanks must go to the amazing people who put in the effort to build the 1* and 2** tracks down here. It is a big ask to build a whole track for one or two people at every event … Thank you.
Sizzle at H&D one day event in the Pony Club grade 1
Photo Amy Griffiths
Our next event after the Tasmanian Pony Club Horse Trials will be Wandin, where I will be taking Will and Sizzle over to do the 2** and the pre novice. But there is a slight problem with the travel to get to events like this for Tasmanian riders, that little (not so little) problem is called Bass Straight. Every time we travel over the Straight it costs us up to and over $2000 dollars for a four horse truck. And you thought fuel was expensive! It’s not only the cost that is hard to deal with but the fact that you are leaving galloping fit and highly fed eventers in the horse truck for 12 hours without being able to see or touch them, or even enter the deck that they are located on to check on them. Needless to say many sleepless nights are spent on that boat for us Tassie horse riders. So to prepare our horses for an ordeal such as this, a very strict process is followed to ensure that they arrive on the other side fit and healthy.
Just like us, horses can get sea sick and it can be extremely dangerous and life threatening for them. To keep their stomachs happy, I give them a small feed quite early in the morning before we leave, then perhaps 3 to 4 hours before departure they get a good helping of Lucerne hay. Just before we load them onto the truck they get six ml of OMOGARD to reduce the acid in their stomachs. We monitor the amount of water they drink throughout the day just as precaution (If they aren’t drinking, they shouldn’t travel – it’s as simple as that).
Then once we are loaded on the boat I jump up into the truck with a bucket of water and offer them one last drink before we are locked out of the deck that the truck is on until 6.30 the next morning. As soon as we are allowed down to them the next morning, I immediately offer them a drink of water and then we drive to a nearby property (we often stay at Lara, just out of Geelong) and get them out to stretch their legs and offer them some fresh green grass and they are offered more water. It is important to let them get their heads down after a boat trip because on our truck they have no way of getting their heads down to drain their airways and this could cause major problems if not monitored (just don’t get to close when they are snorting everything out… it is quite disgusting!). The same process is followed when traveling back to Tasmania.
The boys after their last boat trip back from Avenal HT, eating some fresh green grass
and allowing their airways to drain
With sea sickness in horses, early detection is the key. So if I am travelling a horse for the first time I normally take their temperature every day to get a gauge on what their temperature normally sits at for a few weeks. Then when we arrive, I will take their temperature straight after they get off the truck (it’s normally a little higher at that point due to travelling in the truck), and then every two to three hours for the rest of the day and then if all is fine I might only check them twice the next day and after that you should be ok. If their temperature spikes, even by a little bit, I am straight on the phone to the a vet immediately and they can tell you where to go from there.
As for working them, I give them a light work the morning of the trip and then either a light trot out the morning after or a day off if they are in a large paddock with room to gallop about (my horses seem to have no trouble with this!). It is also advised not to put float boots or rugs on your horses whilst on the boat as they can get quite hot and the sweat running down the float boots can get very irritating for them.
So that’s the process that I go through when travelling my horses on the Spirit of Tasmania! I might be a little excessive in my precautions and many horses travel over without any trouble even when they are just pulled from the paddock and chucked on the float. But I always think that you are better to be safe than sorry!
Next stop, Wandin!
Alice
