Miniature Horses Stuck On The Trailer...

I have taken a few months off of horses. I boarded out one of my geldings, and one of my mini mares is at a friend's house. I sold my hunt seat mare, and I have my 24-year-old retiree here at home, along with her 4-year-old granddaughter. I just needed a break. I was on the road constantly showing the miniature horses for months at a time, and I just needed some time to breathe.

I began gathering my critters back up a few days ago. It looks like the frigid temps here are lifting a bit, and I actually saw a flower the other day, so I decided it was time for me to retreat from my winter-long hiatus and get my act together.

I have been showing miniature horses on a Local, Regional and World level since 2005. After 6 reconstructive surgeries to the tendons, ligaments and nerves to my right ankle and knee (plus I broke in there somewhere, too), I switched from the big horses to miniatures, so I could continue with my passion, but give my ankle a much-needed break from riding. That has resulted in me getting 'hooked' on miniature horses, and completely intrigued about training them. It's interesting for me after so many years in the 'big horses' to train the same brains in smaller packages. The view is also a little different between the saddle and the seat of a show cart, and I was ready for a change after 20 years of showing the full-size horses.

In 2007 I completed the amount of points and championships I needed to get AMHR stallion 'Lauralees Royal Jammin Man' his induction in the American Miniature Horse Registry Hall of Fame in Country Pleasure Driving. We retired Jammer from competition at the AMHA World Championships in October 2007, and I was suddenly looking for a new project. A friend of mine had a 3-yr-old black and white colt for sale, and I decided that he would be my new project. His name is 'Stryker'.

My friend kept him at her barn all winter, while I was on my hiatus from horses. Two days ago, I decided it was time for me to pick him up. I also accidentally picked up a yearling colt as well. If you're a horse person, you know how that is - how you easily rationalize in your horse-addicted head, going to pick up one horse and coming home with two instead. But that's a whole other story.

I still have not ventured into the world of buying a miniature-size scale horse trailer, so my minis travel in my 2-horse, Thoroughbred-height stock trailer (which is kind of funny to see, actually). I tied the 3-year-old in the center stall behind the tack area (I don't have solid partitions to the ground - there's open space underneath the divider, but low enough so that minis can stand in that center partition and still be separated from whatever else is in the trailer). I tied the yearling in the back of the second stall. They're both stallions, so I didn't want any fights if I could help it.

When I got home, I opened the back of the trailer to find the yearling in the center partition with the 3-year-old. He had somehow managed to get under the partition (his lead rope was still attached both to his head, and to the side ring of the trailer back there), and was now squashed against the 3-year-old. I didn't think anything of it at first, until I realized what he had done to get there. My center partition is removeable, and he had somehow managed to knock the partition off its hinges, and it was dangling precariously from the pin that is used to allow it to swing open. Nice. Not only that, but that divider is heavy enough that it takes two people to remove it. And at that time, there was just one of me, and it was dangling by the pin that is already hard to remove....

If you've hauled horses before, you know that strange things can happen back there when you're cruising down the road. And that when something does go wrong, it's usually not a very good thing. These two little mini colts were standing there, completely unhurt, blinking at me as if to say "Did we do this? Oops-sorry!". I suddenly realized that those two were now stuck behind a divider I could not move on my own, I was home alone (of course), and I had no idea how I was going to get them out. The partition only swings one way, and despite the things I have been able to train minis to do, I have never been able to teach one to crawl on command.

I struggled with that partition for a while, trying to prop one end up while I juggled the stuck pin on the other. Every time I tried to do anything, both of the colts freaked out and tried to scramble over one another, which wasn't helping. After struggling for quite a while (did I mention it was 35 degrees and raining outside, and that I have been battling bronchitis for over a week?), I decided to convince them to squeeze through a small opening I was able to make by swinging the divider in the wrong direction. While I was able to maneuver the older colt with some convincing, the yearling was a little less trusting of me (kind of like trusting someone to lead you blindfolded through a dark room). He finally agreed that it was better to follow me than be left alone on the trailer, so he catapulted himself out through the tiny opening with some flourish. Neither was worse for the wear at all, but I was now wet, cold, and coughing even more. Nice.

I've been trailering horses around the country for a long time now, and I must say this was the first time I had ever had two stuck in a trailer with no way out (unhurt, to boot). It's days like this that I often question why I'm not more into turtle farming than horses....