WHETHER it’s lorries, trailers, flights or ferries, travelling can take it out of our horses as they travel to competition. The statistics can be staggering in terms of the mileage our best horses have to cover.

It is our showjumpers that are clocking up the most miles with some travelling over 80,000km in a year in order to compete globally. Most of those miles are on board a flight and in general horses travel well in the air, but it’s the lorries which appear to provoke a few more challenges when it comes to getting from A to B and home again.

Louisa Carberry

Trainer Louisa Carberry’s superstar Docteur De Ballon has certainly made his mark in French racing recently, winning both the Grande Steeple Chase de Paris and Le Prix La Haye Jousselin. Travelling him there wasn’t always straightforward however, and Louisa admits to taking some special precautions in the lorry, as he travelled through the French landscape to make history:

“Having spent 25 years putting four travel boots on, plus tail bandages, tail guards and a rug, nowadays, unless it’s really hot, I just go for two small front boots plus overreach boots. The horses travel well and in seven years of training I’ve not had a rubbed tail yet.

“Docteur De Ballon gets four bandages with a large fibregee underneath, placed from above the knee down to the fetlock and on his hind legs, high above the hock and down. He’s a very bad kicker in the lorry – the fitter he is the more violently he kicks!

“Boots just annoy him even more and tend to move too. If he travels with no protection above the hock, he cuts his hocks or ‘caps them’ so we go to a lot of trouble to avoid that.”

Thoroughbreds in particular are prone to heat sensitivity and Louisa keeps a close eye on the horses’ core temperature and their hydration when they are transported, as she explains: “With the racehorses I find they quickly get hot, so unless it’s below about five degrees they travel stripped. Under five degrees they have a thin cooler rug. If there are two in the box, I’ll maybe even travel them stripped, as the combined heat makes them sweat.

“The last thing we want is a dehydrated horse on arrival. Docteur is a particularly ‘hot’ horse, so we are careful to avoid him sweating, and he always knows he’s going racing, the adrenaline of that also promotes sweating.”

Food can be a positive or a negative while travelling so plans and precautions have to be carefully considered:

“All mine travel with a hay net going racing, some eat, some don’t, but it helps keep ulcers away. I only allow hay nets a couple of hours after a race on the way home. We have had a horse with choke who was fed too soon which can be frightening and leave its mark on the horse.

“If it’s a really long trip, I’ll try and give them plenty of carrots or apples to keep them hydrated, they often won’t drink travelling but this helps. A sports water bottle is good to squeeze directly into their mouth too. All mine are allowed to drink on arrival and pee straight away before anything else is done.

“If they are travelling for an extended period, and it’s possible to find a safe enclosed place to do it, a quick leg-stretch and get their head down to eat, helps drain mucus and encourage them to urinate, which might prevent problems further down the line. I think less can be more when travelling. Don’t over-rug, keep windows of the lorry open to allow fresh air to circulate.”

Judy Reynolds

Olympian Judy Reynolds has her hands full when it comes to travelling the mighty dressage star Vancouver K, or JP as he’s known. Judy admits that JP is quirky when it comes to travelling and it doesn’t come down to fear or anxiety – its more lack of patience.

“He thinks standing still is the most boring thing ever! He won’t travel alone, if he sees there is no other horse on the truck, he won’t even look at it!

“Conversely, if there’s another horse on board he canters up the ramp! We used to persevere with the dramatics of loading him on the box on his own, but in the end it just wasn’t worth it, so we always travel him with a companion now.”

It’s not just loading that JP isn’t keen on, just like Docteur de Ballon, JP also kicks the daylights out of things once he’s on the road, as Judy reveals:

“It’s more worrying if the truck stops and there is no sound! Then you know there’s something wrong! Usually, if the truck is stopped he is kicking, there are marks on the front wall my height from him kicking! We have to completely wrap the partitions with styrofoam and towels! I think he likes the sound of the kicking!

“That and the fact he is a diva! If the truck is stopped and you go in and have a chat with him, he’ll stop kicking, but as soon as you leave, he starts up again. He trains people that way!”

As well as wrapping up the lorry partitions, JP gets his own specific leg wraps and travel snack bonuses. “We keep his legs in one piece by wrapping them with stable-boot type wraps and then boots over the top of that. He also gets over-reach boots to travel. If you put regular travel boots on him, he just takes those off! He’s a good eater while he travels, so he always has a hay net.

“To help him with hydration, anything over four hours travel, he’ll get electrolytes and he’s brilliant at dunking for carrots and apple pieces in water buckets!”

It’s not on all forms of travel that JP acts up however, Judy admits he is much quieter when in the air. “He flies much better than he drives. There’s more interaction on board a flight, the attendants check him and people are in the hold with the horses.”

Jessica Harrington

For recently retired Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Sizing John, Jessica Harrington had only one choice when travelling to races: keep his head right beforehand and travel him alone.

“The horses get turned out every day, as much as I possibly can – everything that runs one day is out in the field the day after. When Sizing John travelled anywhere, he had to go in the small lorry on his own, he just would not travel safely with other horses.

“The only time we ever had trouble with him at Cheltenham was when Supasundae went off to race and Sizing John couldn’t deal with it and had to be walked for an hour and a half! When he was at his former yard, he used to have his own special goat as a companion, but it didn’t come with him, so he was very happily stabled with Supasundae next to him instead.

“When he was being bold after travelling to a race and had found himself without his friend, his handler Ashley just used to sit in the corner of his stable and that was enough to keep him happy.”

Christian Williams

You could be forgiven for thinking that there is a correlation between demanding travellers and winning performances, but not all champion horses are as troublesome on the lorry. When it comes to travelling Randox Grand National hopeful Potter’s Corner, Christian Williams keeps it simple for him and that’s just how he likes it.

“When Potters Corner won the Welsh National, he was out in the field all night, had his breakfast there, was haltered, popped on the box straight from the field, brought to the Welsh National, ran, won and was back in his field by 8pm!”