I know of someone who’s horse started kicking in the trailer, seemingly at random. Apparently the axle had bent, causing a vibration in the trailer. Only one horse reacted in this manner. Check the tires and axles if the horse previously had hauled fine
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ETA:
Post d before seeing your reply stating your horse won’t be trailered with another horse.
Good on you for making that choice.
“He has not kicked the other horse yet”
YET being the operative term here, why would you wait until someone else’s horse gets injured?
“if I can’t ride with her or other boarders, it will mean that we don’t get to go anywhere.”
So your horse’s behavior in someone else’s trailer isn’t enough to:
A) consider getting your own trailer
B) forgo traveling with your horse until you fix the behavior.
Both of your choices scream SELFISH & INCONSIDERATE
I’m Out before this train gets any further off the track 
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You need to train trailering like any other skill. Sounds like you have the loading bit figured out. Now he needs to learn how to travel. Some side by side pumper pulls can give horses a really crappy ride and are not the best training experience. Start with a stock trailer, with all the room he wants to balance, spread out, lean, and figure out how to get comfortable, with no hay - this is training not bribery. Trailer on slow back roads, if he starts kicking/pawing etc., tap the breaks (the equivalent of popping the lead rope.) You don’t want to knock him over, but he needs to perceive cause and affect. Do not hobble in the trailer, a confined space, that you cannot enter if your horse freaks out.
Once training and trailer riding quietly is established then try other varieties of trailer - a wide slant, with maybe an extra divider removed. Repeat training.
However, the correct answer, is buying your own rig for your horse to learn in and damage vs. your friends.
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Insert biggest eye roll possible here
A) Hay in the trailer isn’t bribery
B ) Food reward aka positive reinforcement IS training
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Just want to provide a mechanical reminder. Bending metal back and forth comes with a cost. It is now weaker than it was to start, and more likely to rebend.
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Back when dinosaurs ruled the earth, Dandy Products made a smallish kickpad that could be fastened behind the horse & tail bar once the ramp was up. We used it for an older gentleman that was never going to change his evil ways.
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I’m glad you posted this reminder. I have not so pleasant visions of what might happen if that tail gate latch lets go.
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I wonder if hanging a piece of something like stall mat (heavy enough to protect things but not so heavy it would not be usable) from the butt bar would help here?
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A friend loaned me some kicking rings (like heavy horseshoes) to tie around my horse’s hind pasterns. I got him used to them in the stall first and then today we loaded him alone in the trailer and I rode in the trailer with him. He did kick the closed ramp twice (with time in between kicks) and and I had his lead shank in my hand and said, “No,” and tugged on it (just the lead shank on the halter, no chain). He did not kick after those two times. He didn’t kick hard enough to bend anything this time, but the kicks were more than taps.
The main thing I noticed is that the metal sheet that divides the horses’ head space so that they can’t interact rattles REALLY loudly. I am going to try putting earplugs in his ears the next time we work on this. I couldn’t really tell if the kicking rings made any difference so I will probably leave them off next time.
And I would love to have my own truck and trailer, but I can’t afford it.
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Those kicking rings most certainly do make a difference, and are what my Old Man wears. I would not haul this horse without doing EVERY.SINGLE.THING you can possibly do, safely, to prevent damage to other people’s equipment.
He would be wearing them every second he was in my friend’s trailer, if he were mine.
It sounds like you learned something (quiet down that partition with bushings/duct tape), and that he learned something. Good job!
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Thank you for getting in the trailer so you could see exactly what he was experiencing! I’d say far more than half of trouble loaders I’ve worked with (not saying your guy is a problem loader) - the problem stemmed from something being wrong with the trailer or how the driver drove
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This. I had a horse that suddenly started scrambling on turns he never used to scramble on. Bent axle.
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To more directly answer OPs question a trainer friend of mine had a client whose horse would kick the ramp on a 2 horse. They tried the thin mattress thing behind her but that did not work. So they went with kicking chains. They worked. However, my recommendation is to braid the tail and put in a tail bag. We went to unload the mare and the chain was wrapped really badly in her tail. Thankfully I had a good pair of scissors in the dressing room of my trailer next to theirs. The mare was starting to get upset but we were able to cut the chain free. I had a spare tail bag we put on her for the trip home. So I think kicking chains could be a solution if the right precautions are taken.
FYI- I have brake checked horses that are rockin’ my trailer- okay more like a tap of the brakes to make them think about their balance and not being impatient. Most of the time they rock the trailer when at a stop light so it is roll a few feet, tap brakes. I would do the same with a kicker.
You can never have enough spares of odd things in the trailer. Halters, leads, bridles, martingales, stirrup leathers, saddle pads, half chaps, gloves, crops, double ended snaps, vet wrap, baling twine, duct tape, scissors/knife/both, fire extinguisher (yes, I handed mine to another trailer that was smoking).
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Is this a slant load trailer or a straight load trailer? I would start loading the horse facing backwards if the door is something he can’t jump out of. That way he kicks front of the trailer and does not bend the latch.
The bent latch has already been weakened. I would be reluctant to let him keep kicking the door.
If it’s a slant load, he would be turned around backwards in the first slant stall. That way he can only kick the wall and not the other horse.
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The first time I ever rode in a trailer when I was younger I was amazed horses got in them at all. Everything is so LOUD.
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I am in the trailer with my horse now (just him) and it feels like we’re on a roller coaster.
It’s a 2 horse, straight load tagalong. Won’t he kick through the sheet metal if I load him backwards? The ramp is very thick and strong.
Oh yuck, that does not sound pleasant.
I agree with you, there really is not good way to load a horse backwards in most 2 horse straight load trailers.
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Are they using a weight distribution hitch or just the ball? The WD hitch will have a couple of bars below the hitch from the head (part on the truck with the ball) to the frame of the hitch on the trailer. They can really smooth out the ride.
Picture - the lower bars are the weight distribution system.
ETA - I just picked a picture off the internet. There are several types, but the lower bars are the important part.
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