Travelling with WP Clifford and Hazel Shannon

This article is from the January 2020 Horse Deals magazine.

The achievements of Hazel Shannon and Willinga Park Clifford have been well documented. The combination had a history-making run to win the Australian International Three Day Event for the third time last November. It was history-making indeed, as no other horse-rider combination has won the Adelaide Five Star three times. In fact, there are only a small handful of horse and rider combinations internationally that have completed such a feat at Five Star level.

Horse Deals were onto Clifford early and produced an Off The Track story about him when about four or five years ago he and Hazel took fifth place in the prestigious Adelaide event. Fifth we thought was a great result for the ex-racehorse.

Earlier this year Hazel and Clifford made the trip to the USA to compete in the Land Rover Five Star Kentucky Three Day Event, one of the six (including Adelaide) Five Star events in the world. He arrived in Adelaide in November looking a picture of health. At the end of a big year, how did they manage that? Given that experience and Hazel’s experience travelling the country with mentor and coach, Heath Ryan, we thought Hazel a good choice to give us some advice on the do’s and don’ts about travelling horses around the country and around the world.

Three tips from Hazel regarding travelling horses: “plan ahead, plan ahead and plan ahead. It is important to plan the trip and be prepared to change the plans if necessary. Know what the weather will be like, know where to stop and that it has all you need. Monitor the horse’s health and that it is eating and drinking. As you progress in your experience and knowledge, you become more aware of the little details.

“I think over time the horses get better at travelling and become more relaxed about it. Clifford has done quite a bit of travelling now and that helped with the big trip overseas. We do quite big days when we travel around Australia and in between those big days, I give him electrolytes to make sure he is well hydrated and give him plenty of rest. We avoid travelling in the heat and we would rather drive through the night if it is going to be hot. That is one of the biggest factors in keeping them healthy. If it is getting hot, we stop and wait until it gets cooler later in the day. Another thing I don’t do is travel Clifford with rugs on. It is better to keep them a little on the cool side than have them too hot. He travelled all the way to Chicago without rugs or boots or bandages. I put float boots on him for the truck ride from Chicago to Kentucky.

“It is also important during the trip that the horses have the opportunity to get their heads down for a good few hours. When I stop at night I will never tie their feed bins up or give them hay in a hay bag. I put it on the ground to encourage them to get their heads down. Also, we don’t travel with hay bags because of the dust they can inhale.

“I always have a thermometer on me so I can check their temperatures. You can’t check them too often, as you can then notice a slight increase in temperature and you can stop and do something about it before they get an elevated temperature and become really sick. The trip from Ryans near Newcastle to Adelaide takes two or three days. I will check Clifford’s temperature when we stop at night, or if we are stopped during the day and then again half an hour after we have stopped when the horse is at rest.

On the trip to Kentucky, I checked Clifford’s temperature every night and every morning between Newcastle and Kentucky.

“On our way to Kentucky we drove via Tarcutta to Melbourne and he had a day off to rest before getting on the plane. The process of getting on the plane is a bit rough as they load the crates on the plane and Clifford was a little nervous with the new experience, but they allowed me to travel in the crate with him when loading. He has such a steady and good temperament and travels well, but it would be a bit stressful if you had a highly strung horse. Once they are up in the air, it is really smooth. They have hay in front of them on the floor the whole trip and they take out the chest bar so they can reach down and eat. They are always encouraged to put their heads down and eat. The IRT people are really professional and have everything down to a fine art, even knowing the length of the lead, so that they remain tied up, but can also eat. I checked his temperature as often as I could on the flight. Also, I would give Clifford water when the grooms watered the other horses, but the grooms are not so keen for owners/riders visiting the horses too often, as they feel it disturbs them if you are always going to check them. They think it is better to leave them alone, all being well and let them relax. I did not take any medication with me on the flight other than electrolytes, as I am not a vet. There was not a vet on board, so if they get sick, you just have to do what you can and wait until you stop to get a vet. But Clifford travelled really well, he is a tough horse, I am really lucky with that.

“Clifford had a slightly bigger bay than normal, as he was going on such a long trip and he did not get off once until we flew into Chicago. We went via Alaska and stopped there and somewhere else to change cargo.

“He was on the plane for about three days and was good throughout the whole flight. We virtually went via the North Pole. When he arrived in Chicago, he went into quarantine for two days. I wasn’t allowed in all the time, but they took the temperatures of all the horses at regular intervals with a chart marked with the temperature outside all the stables, as they are monitoring the horses for any signs of travel sickness. They had my number and would ring and let me know Clifford’s temperature. I could not really enjoy my two days in Chicago, as I was on edge, as I had heard so many horror stories about what has happened to horses when they are flying. He went from quarantine to Kentucky, about a five or six-hour trip via truck.

“Before we left home, we had Clifford fit enough for a Five Star Three Day Event, as you don’t want to get there and try to make up that extra fitness. I had a light ride on him when we got to Melbourne. He was then on the plane for three days and the two days in quarantine gave him time to recover from the flight. When I got to Kentucky I started to ride him straight away; not big days, just light work keeping him ticking over. All the time I was monitoring him; how he felt, was he eating and drinking, and I was careful not to work him too hard too soon. Clifford is a Thoroughbred and he is a really fit horse naturally and I have never stressed about having him fit enough for an event and he ran around Kentucky easily.

“Clifford had to stay in quarantine for a month before he could come home to Australia, and from the time he left home, it was three months before he arrived back home. That was the quickest time frame we could do it in. For the homeward trip, I left a groom with all the information and knowledge I had gained on the trip over and she looked after him really well and he was fine.

“Having Clifford is like winning the lottery. How many horses keep going like Clifford? Winning Adelaide once is wonderful, twice is fantastic, but three times is absolutely amazing. For him to stay fit, sound and willing to do it again and again and again is unbelievable. And he is still improving and getting better and better and has more to give. He is on a break at the moment and we are not yet sure of our plan for next year, but we have our eyes on the Tokyo Olympics and I think we have an outside chance of selection.

“We will just keep training and doing our best and keeping him happy and healthy. I don’t take Clifford for granted, I love him and enjoy our time together.”

The importance of a lowered head during travelling

Horses are a grazing animal and naturally have their heads down for a large part of the day.

If your trip is longer than six hours, get them off and let them stretch down and eat. This action allows mucosal discharge to drain out the nose. You may have noticed that horses when grazing often blow out their noses. They are snorting frequently when grazing and when travelling with their heads up, the discharge tends to drain backwards into their lungs. This discharge, plus the stress of travelling, can cause a reduction in the immune response, risking travel sickness and respiratory infection. The consequences of this can be fatal. Dusty hay, vehicle exhaust fumes and stress can have the same effect. If you must travel with a hay net/hay bag it can help if you soak the hay. Also, increase the roughage and decrease the concentrated food.

Administering antibiotics before travel as a precaution is not advised as they kill the good bugs as well as the bad and can lead to colic and/or colitis.

Article by Anna Sharply

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