A question for those of you who have had a horse go down in a trailer. Was the divider/partion in the middle all the way to the floor or was it a short/small one???
Re: Leather ‘breaking’ and baling twine safety ties ‘breaking’ and general cheap old snaps ‘breaking’. Errr, they often won’t. I once had a horse tied in a raggedy old cheap leather halter, ancient with old cheap fake brass fittings, to an old leadrope practically in threads, tied to a piece of old twine around a post. The horse pulled back for some reason - nothing broke, except, well, his leg then the post came OUT OF THE GROUND and swung around and whapped his stifle.
Though I concur about the safety of leather, twine, etc., don’t count on any of it breaking. Unless you don’t want it to. Then it’ll break every single time … :>)
HR, what do you find is safest? We have the velcro straps tied to baling twine (not the plastic stuff) in the trailer, or have them loose if it is configured for 2 boxstalls. Haven’t had them test the breaking ease yet, thank heavens!
HR - I had a horse do that too (not in the trailer) I tied him up to give him a bath - he pulled back hard - snapping his head back -and I fully expected the decrepit leather on his breakaway halter to do what it was supposed to do. I was lucky though - after a couple of seconds of straining - he decided to stand there and I was able to safely reach under his chin and unsnap the lead (which had been tied to the post with a quick release knot… but the horse was flailing and I didn’t want to get killed).
I have had better luck with those turtle snaps. I don’t know if people would be interested in those or not - but I do use them when trailering and cross tying. I also use them if I need to tie a horse at a meet. Maybe something to check out?
What is a turtle snap? Is that the one with the sliding buckle you can grab and pull (if you’re brave enough to squeeze by a flailing horse)?
Not sure we’re talking about the same thing but it does have a buckle, and you can pull it to release if you want. That’s how I unclip the horse normally. But if enough backwards pressure is applied - it releases.
Here they are (just googled it and picked a website)
http://mandmtackshop.stores.yahoo.net/datusncrti.html
They have worked for me for trailering and tieing. They may or may not work for everyone. I just like that I don’t have to get anywhere near the horse. Having said that - I have no doubt that they aren’t the perfect solution.
[QUOTE=MapleMeadows;2828628]
About ten years ago I had a horse fall in my two horse trailer & there was a second horse on the passenger side. It was pretty tricky getting them out because the down horse was halfway under the other horse and couldn’t get up until the standing horse was removed. Fortunately she was a very sensible gal and managed to back off without stepping on any piece of her companion. QUOTE]
the exact same thing happened to me 2 years ago. I don’t know how my gelding went down but he ended up with his legs between my mare’s. Everything went well and came out fine. Neither horse had a mark on them! I came out with a torn rotator cuff tho…
[QUOTE=J Swan;2828748]
I’m glad your horse is ok, poor thing.
An off-topic question - how many of y’all have your tack insured? I never worry about my tack being stolen or damaged in an accident - it’s on my farm policy. Not to imply I’m cavalier about my tack - far from it.
Just wondering.[/QUOTE]
My agent say’s mine is covered by my homeowners policy.
To tie or not to tie
Also, to the main topic…I don’t tie my horse in the trailer. She self loads, I put up the butt bar and we are done.
Does anyone else do this? I always figured if I was in a wreck I would not want her tied up (even though she has a breakaway halter).
[QUOTE=goodhors;2831791]
A number of horses don’t like being splashed while peeing, as happens with no bedding on mats. Won’t go in trailer then, if splashing happens a few times in the trailer with no bedding. A sprinkle of sawdust or shavings just is not enough. As I said previously, I want the bedding to be hoof deep, so it is grippy, absorbent, no splashing happens.
.[/QUOTE]
When I trailered my old pony from VA to IA, I had a couple of bales in front of him on the floor of my 2h straight load. He pawed one underneath of himself as a toilet for pee. I mean the complete wrapped bale!
I don’t hunt, (I event and trail ride) but this is an interesting topic. In my BP trailer I used the velcro ties:
http://www.sporthorseproducts.com/tie-safe-trailer-tie.html
I sometimes (but not often) find my horse or his buddy untied. they pick and grab at each other over the hay (these 2 are turned out together and clown around a lot) So since I know that they can brake the ties with a quick pull, I’m pretty certain that they would give way in a bad situation (like a trailer fall). To the OP did you have thses ties? And they didn’t break? I do hope your horse is fine and none the worse from his experience.
FWIW I use a thick bedding of sawdust as my horse (and the buddy) will pee in the trailer, sometimes they pee twice. I use enough bedding so that it soaks up the urine completely and I don’t have to pull matts.
as to to tie or not to tie:
The buddy horse was in a 2h bp once and left to stand untied while his owner went to look at a few horses. The divider was slanted over, so the horse turned around and jumped out of the parked trailer. Got scraped up a bit but was fine. For that reason alone I don’t suspect that she will ever trailer this horse w/o tying him.
I do tie, but I give enough room for them to lower their heads (not to the floor), and reach each other. I can put up a barred head divider if I didn’t want them to pick at each other, or if I hauled horses who were not used to each other. I suppose that I give them enough freedom with the ties tha maybe I shouldn’t tie at all, but I’d like to think that the tie will prevent them from trying to turn around.
Several years ago, My poor old mare fell in the trailer (3 horse slant) on the way to the vet’s office and got well and truly jammed in there. We were going to the vet because she was 3-legged lame and we needed x-rays and emergency treatment, so she had a hard time getting up once she was down.
It was very traumatic for all concerned. I’ll admit I was a complete, useless basket case. It took me a while to feel comfortable trailering after that.
And that’s why I love my current trailer which has a great big window in the front of it so I can see what’s going on back there while I drive along. I’m happy to sacrifice a tack room for that!
And I always use a decent bed of shavings in my trailer. They don’t blow around.
Not to be alarmist, but the reason I would tie a horse’s head is so that he keeps his head in front of him at all times. Vs. having the option to bend/turn his neck and look behind him … and then the driver has to hit the brakes hard, and the horse is thrown fwd while his head is now tucked behind him with the neck jammed in a U.
This summer, I loaded my horse in the trailer first but didn’t tie him up right away. As we were loading up his buddy, he tried to turn around and look at him. When he did, he got his head stuck against the window (he’s a BIG horse), panicked, and almost went down entirely. When he did manage to free himself he ended up slicing himself badly above his eye which required 14 staples.
So now I make sure to tie him immediately. The tie has a safety snap and is attached to bailing twine - not directly to the trailer. It will easily break under enough pressure.
To the OP, I’ve encountered issues with my horse leaning on the butt bar when he’s tired. The padding on the butt bar rotates around the butt bar itself which actually will roll my horse under the butt bar! I figured this out after hearing him scrambling, checking on him and finding scrapes on the top of his rump. I need to figure out a way to rivet down the pad so it doesn’t roll. The butt bar pad in my last trailer didn’t freely roll and I never had a problem. So maybe check your butt bar and see if that could be happening.
i don’t tie but then again
my trailer is one big stall. no divider, no dressing room. window in the front that allows me to see her at all times. when we’re moving she travels at a slant with her head behind the driver and her rump on the passenger side. when we stop she moves around, looks out both sides, rarely turns around unless she sees me out of the truck moving around.
works for us.
i hauled her in friend’s slant load few months ago. she was pretty unhappy about it although she was in the first stall, the one closest to the ramp. i didn’t realize how squished they are in there. and those metal dividers flexing back and forth making that horrid metal sound echoing through the trailer. i didn’t like it and she let me know in no uncertain terms that it wasn’t her favorite either. she did load and got her head clipped and we had to snug the tie up b/c she tried to peek behind the head divider to ‘visit’ the other horse!
Interesting observation. I know my horse does lean on the butt bar and I will check the padding to see if it rolls.
I have been shipping this horse in this trailer for 8 years without any incident, so this came out of left field. I use Velcro cross ties, a leather halter and had shavings. I’m just glad there wasn’t another horse in there; most of the time when I hunt I bring someone with me. That would have been a disaster!
I usually tie for this very reason. I have had one get his head stuck looking backwards- didn’t cause a wreck, but it was the devil to get his head turned back around so we could unload.
My tack is likewise covered by homeowners’ insurance. And the one time a horse went down in a trailer when I was hauling, it was a partition which did not go all the way down- which type I generally prefer in a two horse bp so they have more room to spread.
I would still like to know if anyone has had a horse go down when they have had a full “to the bottom” partition in place and secure. Any answers??? I have a full partition in my Kingston and have looked at new ones that only have a partial partition and that is why I an so interested. We have been lucky for the over 30 years plus never to have an incident but have always tied the horses head and used the full partition. Knock on wood!!
I haven’t - it seems the newer trailers do seem to only have a partial partition. When I bought my GN - the guy said that I could make a full partition if I wanted to - but that the half partition allowed the horse to spread its legs for balance - and it wouldnt’ end up underneath the partition.
I’m like - ok yeah right anything to sell a trailer. So I never checked to see if that was true. I’ve always thought the darn things were deathtraps anyway.
On the other hand, I did know someone who had to put their horse down because the two horses got into a fight after being loaded and one horse kicked the other - under the partition. Broke the other horse’s leg.
Just stories - no conclusions. Sorry.
Just wanted to say that I always tie my horses up with safety ties… one on each side, no matter what! I keep them short enough to keep them from picking on the horse next door and long enough to reach the haynet.
I think it does help with their balance in the trailer also.
