Ok cool. Thanks!
Honestly ā¦ does anyone else think a person who has hauled twice would be adept on a highway ? Trailering is a skill. It takes reps. At easier conditions. With perfect equipment. Live animals are far different than hauling anything else
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The rental place had a duty to set her up for success. Pulling a little BP isnāt a huge deal.
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Her webpage said she just purchased the ball. I wonder if it was the right size. No way knowing and Iām not going to ask as they are in shock and that would be awful to find out that the got a ball that was too small. She did say it was a 2 5/16 coupler.
There is also someone who make interesting points:
Sadly, sounds like a complete mess and who knows what the actual cause was. I think having the trailer explode like that saved the horseās lives though.
Edit to add: I blew up a picture of the ball and itās the correct size but there seems to be rub marks on it. So who knows. It might be the trailer manufactureās fault like the above says.
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Disagree but thank you for your reply
Whoa. That is scary.
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On my first GN, the way the chains were attached it made sense to me to cross them. On my current one, they attach from the same point so crossing isnāt physically possible. But thinking about it now, I think that having the chains not crossed would be more stable.
She does have a multi ball hitch on. Hitch is straight, not a drop, that does put some extra stress on the trailer axle.
Depends entirely on the truck though. My '11 Sierra requires a rise hitch. Definitely more common to need a drop hitch but not necessarily always the case.
Just another piece of the puzzle to consider.
This appears to be a two horse straight load, and it had 2 horses in it. Based on the photos of the wreck, it appears to be this model (but a 2017):
You canāt get the axles much more back than that.
The wreck is in a construction zone. Maybe thereās something to that, but likely not. Think of how many other nearly identical trailers went through this area without issue.
Trailer driver said the truck is a 2019 Chevy 1500. Almost guaranteed that should have been on some sort of drop hitch. Everything after about 2008 started with the bigger and bigger, higher and higher truck trend you see today.
2019 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 Price, Value, Depreciation & Reviews | Kelley Blue Book
Iām going to guess based on the nicks you can see on the ball and the nicks you can see on the coupler, that this trailer was riding VERY nose high, and that contributed substantially to it disconnecting. Not enough tongue weight, and way-off angle of ball and coupler.
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I just think of the person I used to see towing into where I trail ride with a stock trailer tilted back at almost a 10-degree angle from their truckā¦ poor horses had to ride with all their weight on their back legs, plus the fact it could come off an anytime. Ugh. Havenāt seen them in a few years, maybe they stopped riding.
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Itās one of the reasons I sold the little featherlite I had. I have an 8" drop and it was STILL nose high. I wonāt drop lower than that without adding stabilizing struts to the hitch, and I didnāt want to do that - so the trailer went bye-bye.
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I have a '80ās two horse Bison with dressing room. Nice and heavy. Axels back right under the horses. With a drop hitch. I donāt tow too far so I donāt care about the gas mileage. I didnāt want a newer aluminum trailer - I wanted to know I had something solid.
Plus, my husband welds, so the frame has already been reinforced 
much to his complaining about wanting to work on his cars LOL! Heās been towing race cars for over 50 years.
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Last thing - truck driver says the truck had the tow package. The tow package for this truck does not appear to include a brake controller, from the specs I could look up.
If they did not have one installed aftermarket (they did not haul regularly, and thatās a pretty substantial expenseā¦), this trailer did not have brakes.
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Man I would really hope that the rental company would require brakes. Is it even legal to haul without?
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They do make controllers that are in-line with the plug, that you connect to your phone with an app. Maybe they do that.
Itās not entirely clear to me if this was a ārentalā or if they ārented itā from a friend or barn-mate.
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Excellent point. I read ārentalā and never considered anything but it coming from an actual company that rents a horse trailer. (And would presumably have some sort of requirements regarding haul vehicle!)
Borrowing from a friend is definitely a whole nother ball of wax 
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Does California not require a yearly safety inspection?
Lack of manual might simply be because everyone likes to have things digital and online now. Google your trailer and look for a manual.
