PSA for those with trailers

[endlessclimb]

Adding to the many trailer topics… This is a PSA.

Get in your trailer. Grab and shake the divider. Fling the ties around. Take a full haybag and bang it around. Go in the dressing room and see if your bridles and stuff bang on the wall. See how loud it is?

Now, take some time and a small amount of money and quiet that crap down.

Get a cheapo run of carpet. Cut a square with a slit and slip it over the tie loops so the clip of the tie doesn’t bang on the wall and hits the carpet instead. Get a 2’x4’ chunk of cheap plywood and staple the carpet to it - screw this in the wall behind your bridle hooks so they can’t make that godawful metal on metal sound. Take a close look at your divider - how can you remove some play or muffle the metal-to-metal rattling going on? I use electrical tape on the pins, or plastidip. I also use sheets of 1/16" rubber cut into strips to line the pin holes if there’s room.

If your horse “doesn’t like the trailer” please do him/her a favor and try and figure out why, and fix it. It shouldn’t be deafening in there when they’re going down the road. Don’t leave unused ties not clipped up to swing and bang around.

For a paltry ~$80 and about 3 hours of work, you can make your trailer way more enjoyable for your horse to ride in. Bet they won’t hate it so bad if you make it marginally more pleasant for them to be in there going down the road.

[LCDR]

Excellent suggestions. With my new trailers I take a ride inside while someone else drives me around. Sometimes there are noises coming from things I’d have never have found just by shaking things while parked.

And the road noise by itself is considerable, as is the bouncing compared to what you feel in the tow vehicle. Taking a ride in your trailer just might make you change how you drive when you are pulling it.

[Hinderella]

My go-to for minimizing noise & jiggle in the trailer (and anywhere else) are yoga mats. They’re inexpensive, available everywhere and easy to trim to whatever size or shape you need. They’re also waterproof and easy to clean.

[FatCatFarm]

That’s a really good suggestion actually. I paid good money for the Quiet Ride connections in my 4Star 2+1 trailer since it has interior gates, which on a steel trailer, would make a god awful deafening noise. I also added a full wall of carpeting behind my bridle hooks, making the trailer travel with only minor noise. The shake rattle and roll is a big reason I detest steel trailers, besides their heaviness. But yes, well-placed bits of carpet can certainly mitigate some of that.

[2DogsFarm]

I use a section of pool noodle to cushion the space between my center gate & the wall it gets pinned to in my stock trailer.
I slip it in place as I pin the gate shut.
Nevermind my horses, the banging was audible in my tow vehicle & made me think the gate had come loose!

[babyeventer]

Tell ya what I hate, and I don’t know how to fix it. When I have to go over the semi brake warnings (the row of little speed bumps), and the planks in my floor rattle from them. Doesn’t matter how slow you go. I cringe. You can’t hear them when the windows are up. I ride with the windows cracked when I trailer so I can always hear something that may be missed, in the closed cab.

[endlessclimb]

Can you tighten them down, or put something like a chunk of rubber where they have room to rattle to snug them up?

Rumble strips are annoying, my dog hates them too.

[endlessclimb]

This is a great idea. I bet even better would be a yoga mat behind the carpet, especially for the tack hook wall!

[NaturallyHappy]

What kind of plastidip did you use? I wanted to try it some time ago, but was afraid I’d create a mess. Thanks!

[islgrl]

I bought my trailer used, the person who owned it before me put in all these very expensive organizing racks. They are SO loud. I have been messing around trying to muffle the noise. The carpet or yoga mats are good ideas to help even further…

[endlessclimb]

just the regular in-the-can type you get at your local hardware store. The instructions have a time to insert/remove, but adjust that depending on how thick of a coating the pin can handle before it won’t fit in the hole anymore.

[NaturallyHappy]

Thank you!

[DMK]

If you have retractable pins holding a head divider you may be able to find a rubber gasket that fits inside the “holder” at hodepot/Lowe’s/ace. I did that years ago and it cut out the noise considerably.

Also my last two trailers had the tack wall lined. Current trailer is a rubber/rumbar-like lining, last one was carpet. The current lining is far preferable.

[OTTBs]

Oh man. Is this what is going to happen when I hang my metal baskets in my tack room (thanks to my thread?) Maybe should get plastic instead, or coat with Plastidip stuff, or put carpet behind them…

[endlessclimb]

Just eliminate any play and it will be quiet.

[Tarlo_Farm]

Regarding those rumble strips - they are tough on your vehicle as well. If you have room, drive around them, not over them. The Amish in at least one community got them removed from area roads because they were so hazardous.

[Ceffyl_Dwr]

I trailer my horse with POMMS earplugs to help muffle the noise.