First question: is the trailer big enough at all?
A Clydesdale stands around seventeen hands and can weigh as much as a small car, which puts it beyond the honest capacity of many standard two-horse trailers. Before any training session, check the vehicle's payload plate, the internal height and width, and the stall length: a draft horse needs a genuinely wide bay, room to lower its head, and a herringbone or extra-large straight-load layout in a proper horsebox is often the realistic answer. Check the floor with your full weight on a heel — on a vehicle carrying this much horse, a floor that is merely 'probably fine' is not fine.
Ramps, footing and the slow load
Draft horses place their feet deliberately, and a Clydesdale that feels a ramp flex or a surface slip will plant itself and refuse — reasonably enough. Practise on the actual vehicle: park it on level ground, lower the ramp fully, and let the horse walk up and stand, feeding on board, across several short sessions. Keep the ramp surface clean and grippy, avoid loading on wet grass where big feet skate, and never rush the backing off — a horse this size coming down backwards needs time to find each step with its hind feet.
Feather, legs and protection
Those famous feathered fetlocks are a travelling nuisance: they soak up mud and bedding, hide small knocks, and make ordinary boots sit badly. Wash and dry the feather before travel so you can see the skin, fit wraps or boots shaped for draft legs, and check them at every stop — slipped protection under a heavy horse does more harm than none. A tail bandage keeps the long tail out of the way of the ramp and bars, and hooves this size deserve a final check for a loose shoe before loading day.
On the road with a heavyweight
Everything about driving changes with the weight: braking distances stretch, corners must be taken wide and slow, and steep climbs deserve planning rather than discovery. Keep the horse's side of the vehicle balanced, travel with a haynet to keep it occupied, and stop every few hours to offer water and check legs and wraps. At the destination, unload onto firm, level ground — never down a ramp onto slick mud — and walk the horse out properly; big horses stiffen on journeys more than they show.
Shoes the size of dinner plates
A Clydesdale's feet are enormous and its shoes are correspondingly heavy, and a sprung or loose shoe discovered on loading morning cancels trips. Check all four feet a few days before travel, not on the day, so the farrier has time to visit. Tell the farrier the horse travels — clip and road-stud choices differ for a horse standing on ramps and mats for hours. On board, make sure mats are thick and secure; a horse of this weight standing on a thin, sliding mat is working far harder than it should.
Split the work between your helpers
A Clydesdale trip is a team exercise: one person leads, one watches the ramp, one handles partitions and bars, someone else drives. KinsLe's Care Teams let you assign those care duties for each trip between your helpers, with completed tasks marked off, so the floor check, the wrap check and the water stop never all rest on one person's memory.