My friends who have been trailering every kind of livestock for years always tell people to do the walk around check EVERY time you drive away- not just when you hitch up. For example, even if you stay hitched at the venue or state park, check it again before you drive away. Even at the gas station if you leave it unattended for a minute.
When backing along a curve beware of jackknifing. There comes a point where the angle of the truck and trailer is so great that no amount of reversing the wheel will open it back up. Pull forward a bit and straighten out before that happens. Also, when backing on a curve, think more about maintaining the correct angle between truck and trailer to stay on the curve. Input enough steering to set the angle then straighten out the wheel to continue on the arc. If you keep the wheel turned you’ll just keep increasing the angle until you jackknife or have to keep correcting with opposite steering input.
[QUOTE=Stonewall;7868565]
Does anyone have recommendations about stopping to let the horse rest in the trailer on a long trip?[/QUOTE]
Other than 15-30 minute gas, water, and pee stop every 3-4 hours, don’t. And NEVER unload until you reach your destination. Straight interstate miles are much less stressful than curvy back roads. I try not to go more than 600 miles a day which ends up being about 12 hours with gas and lunch breaks… Past that I get too tired.
Well, here are my 3 big tips. I am very new to hitching up a trailer but have been pulling one for awhile. I have a “hubby hitcher” and used him all the time until he had to go out of town a lot’ a short time ago’ and dressage diva daughter and her trusty steed needed to get to their lessons. When I think the ball is under the hitch, I put the emergency brake on and then put the truck in park before I get out to check. This prevents that little 1-2 inch roll of the truck that pulls you right back out from being under the hitch. Just be sure that you take the emergency brake off when you are done.
When backing up the trailer, you need to get the trailer moving in order to make the corrections. The problem the majority of us have is we over correct the trailers path when backing up because we are barely moving the trailer. Get the trailer moving and correct it’s path as you are slowly backing it up. Don’t back, stop, correct and then back again. You will fail. Find a nice, big open area and practice backing your trailer with your foot on the gas, backing the trailer slowly and correcting as you go. You will quickly get the hang of it. My number 3 is, Sway Bars are your friend, use them if your hitch and trailer can accommodate them.
[QUOTE=gypsymare;7869344]
Other than 15-30 minute gas, water, and pee stop every 3-4 hours, don’t. And NEVER unload until you reach your destination. Straight interstate miles are much less stressful than curvy back roads. I try not to go more than 600 miles a day which ends up being about 12 hours with gas and lunch breaks… Past that I get too tired.[/QUOTE]
Agreed. If you’re going to unload, it should be at a predefined rest point at an equestrian facility where you’ve made such arrangements. Anywhere else is asking for big trouble.
David
I find the biggest “learning curves” are related to 1) how quickly I can safely and comfortably stop the trailer on a downhill, as in, I come over a hill and there’s a red light, or I come over the hill on the highway and there’s a traffic jam, and 2) how long it takes to get up to speed when starting up from a red light while going uphill, and getting up to speed when entering the highway.
Stopping while going downhill is the bigger challenge; I have a European trailer that backs itself right off very smoothly, but I still have to be cognizant of how much mass is behind me and give the vehicles time to stop smoothly. I just now am very cautious about coming over hills. 
On the highway, I find that truck drivers especially are super nice about creating a pocket for me to tuck into when getting on the highway. Passenger vehicles can be obnoxious, tailgaiting you on the entrances and exits (in this area, it’s often the cloverleaf kind of exit/entrance, and I go verrry slowly… Too bad.) or, when I’m on the highway and cruising along at 65 in the right lane and a car is coming up the entrance ramp, the car is often determined to cut in front of me even if they’re still going 35.
As others have said, when conditions permit, just leave three times as much room between you and the vehicles around you as you would if you were driving your car, and that space will often give you the buffer zone to be able to drive smoothly.
[QUOTE=jenm;7864377]
Drive as if you have a full glass of water on your dashboard with the goal being not to spill a drop.
![/QUOTE]
just the way we taught our kids to haul… we put a full drink cup in the drink holder and then the object of the drill was not to spill any
As 16 year olds, they could handle a manual transmission and trail without difficulty … much to the amazement of their high school friends who couldn’t drive a manual
[QUOTE=Stonewall;7868565]
Does anyone have recommendations about stopping to let the horse rest in the trailer on a long trip?[/QUOTE]
Quick story: I had the great pleasure to attend one of the early Barbary Castle events in England some years ago and at lunch I fell into conversation with one of the competitor’s father. We traded stories of horse care and competing in our respective countries, and he was simply amazed to learn that we would routinely travel from Michigan to Kentucky to compete at the KHP, a drive of about 5-6 hours if the traffic and weather gods aligned. He asked if we did it in 2 days so the horses could rest and eat and drink. He couldn’t get over the fact that we didn’t unload half way through the trip to rest the horses. His greatest distance in all those years of trailering his daughter to an advanced rider level was 2 hours!
Imagine his surprise when I told him that if we pulled a late afternoon dressage slot the horses would travel AND compete in the same day!
[QUOTE=Foxglove;7866187]
Something I don’t think anyone said or wants to think about, but what I taught my girls when they started pulling the horses with the trailer . . .hit it. Unless it’s a person, be prepared to hit it what ever is in the road, dead on, holding the wheel steady. Those horses behind you didn’t ask to go in the trailer. If you slam on the breaks or swerve sharply to avoid “it” in the road, you’ll take a chance on knocking down the horses and possibly hurting them seriously. Whatever is in the road, isn’t going to hurt the horses as much as you hitting a tree, another car, or jack knifing, or rolling the trailer into a ditch.
So be prepared in your mind to hit the deer, squirrel, chicken, dog or cat. If you can’t, don’t pull the trailer.
Of course if it is a person, you must do everything to avoid hitting a person.[/QUOTE]
THIS!!! I even had a grill guard put on my truck to lessen any damage in the event I had to hit something on my haul across the country.
If you do have to stop quickly for some reason, use the trailer brakes only! Using the truck brakes will cause the trailer to jackknife and possibly roll. Using only the trailer brakes, you should be able to stop quickly and safely.
I actually much prefer hauling on the freeway to in town. The truckers are generally very nice. If you have your turn signal on to change lanes, they will usually flash their headlights when you have cleared them and are safe to begin merging. If they do this, tap your brakes just light enough to make the brake lights come on a couple of times to say thank you once you have completely merged.
You haven’t said if your new trailer will be a GN or BP. If a BP, all I have to say about backing up is good luck. I am NOT good with BPs. If it’s a GN, it will be a lot easier.
Not related to hauling but make sure you have an emergency kit in your trailer and USRider!
You’ve gotten some really good advice so far but nothing will build confidence more than just driving it. Practice! Practice! Practice! And when your ready to haul loaded just make sure you aren’t in a hurry. Haul as if you have all the time in the world and the other drivers around you can just deal.
