I’m still bouncing around ideas for what I want in a new trailer and really like the idea of the reverse load option, but would like to avoid paying $30K for a new one. Any reason I couldn’t get a traditional straight load with a side ramp and just load backwards via the side ramp? It would be a BP with a standard size dressing room so not overly long.
Because the horse will not fit unless you have a very short bodied horse.
A straight load has their butt at the butt bar in the back, and that butt bar is right at the back of the trailer. Their chest is at the chest bar in the front, and then their head and neck are in the area in front of the chest bar.
Where will their head and neck go if you put them in their backwards?
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I did not explain well! I would have the hardware (chest bars/ butt bars/ divider) flipped/ moved so it is the same footprint but facing backwards.
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When I bought my Balanced Ride, I also priced the rear-load (but still side ramp) Hawk version of the same body and it was more expensive, not less! They are the same trailer, but Balanced Ride has already flipped the hardware for you.
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I am assuming you’re thinking of buying used and having the hardware moved.
This would be, in MOST cases, either impossible or prohibitively expensive in a regular trailer. The hardware has to sit in reinforced areas (usually framing), which don’t exist in the right places in the front facing models. You cannot simply screw in hardware to the siding (it won’t hold), and then you have to think about the divider which goes into the floor and ceiling. Also, in most side ramp designs, moving the new butt bar back would require moving the escape door on the road side, or putting it under the window (if no escape door), which would by nature make reinforcing the area by ripping it open and adding framing impossible.
Basically, the BR and other rear facing trailers have been built with this design in mind from the very beginning. If your horse is particularly short coupled, you could block off the area under the front chest bars and take the divider out to haul him loose (I’ve looked at it for my own 2H straight). But I do not think you could retrofit a rear facing setup SAFELY without ordering it that way from the manufacturer.
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That’s exactly the info I was looking for! Thank you!
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What if you bought a slant load instead? I can load my horse, turn her around, close the divider and she can comfortably ride facing backwards.
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What are the pros to hauling reverse slant or backwards? Sorry in advance for hijacking.
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we never had a reverse load but did have a six horse side ramp load where the first four were loaded from side ramps, the first two were facing backwards (their butts were toward the front) there was a separation aisle between the first two and the middle two who were forward facing. Rear two were rear ramp loaded directly into their places. (trailer was large, it was a 36 foot gooseneck for six head)
Those two in the front that rode rear facing had an easier time of it since any stopping they just rocked back letting the front of the trail support them rather than having to brace themselves against the front chest bars.
My concern of taking a trailer that was built as a forward facing load to a rearward weather valid or not would be is would the rework upset the trailer’s balance as the load placement it was designed to handle would have been changed.
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I would be very hesitant driving a bumper pull with horse inside facing the rear. You are changing the entire weighting system of the frame. No big weight (rump and barrel) over the axles. Rump and most of horse will be forward of the axles, adding great tongue weight on the tow vehicle and hitch! How many pounds is the ball rated for, as well as the bolts holding hitch onto tow vehicle? No rust on tow vehicle frame to lessen integral strength of steel frame? All that tongue weight could badly affect the tow vehicle steering! You may have very little front wheel contact on the road!
This is a “worst case” viewpoint, but trailer is not specifically designed to haul horses facing the rear. As mentioned, it is not reinforced correctly to deal with those stresses. Hauling backwards in a regular, 2-horse trailer is not something I would do!! I was a commercial truck driver for many years. Lots of experience with weights and loads, HOW loads are put in vehicles to keep things safe. Learned to look at “the big picture” before jumping into truck and driving off, because it is ALWAYS the driver’s fault when things go bad. Some loads I had to refuse until they were reloaded in a better arrangement. Horse weight is high, can be moving, making trailer unstable, maybe top-heavy. You have to be careful pulling such a load.
You might do better to go with a stock trailer model, turn the horse around to unload facing the rear exit. Or haul horse tied to a midway point, let him turn body to face front or rear as he chooses. One of mine ALWAYS chose to face frontwards despite all the room to turn around. We have a large gooseneck with rear facing stalls in the center, loading from side ramps. They ride fine, but tails need cleaning after pooping on them as horse sits on the butt bar! I hate that. Wrapped or not, pulled over the bar or not, tails always get poopy riding backwards. Doesn’t happen in the straight load, forward facing trailer. They still sit on butt bars, but tails stay pretty clean.
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This is what I do. My horses are trained to self-load, then turn around and face rear. I don’t always tie, but if I do, I tie midway so they can ride however they want. I also prefer that they come out of the trailer head first, because I think it’s safer for them if they can see where they’re going. Also, there’s less chance of them banging their head.
Please explain this thought. I am not understanding how standing facing the back = less chance of them banging their head.
Do you mean when unloading?
Yes, I meant they have less chance of banging their heads when unloading because they’re headed downhill. They also know how to back out.
I’m not considering stock trailers at this time as I want the option for a divider the horse can lean on, in case she needs it. I was told by a Hawk dealer that they can convert a regular straight load into a reverse load but am still waiting to hear back on more details about that though.
Have you checked out Balanced Ride? From what I understand they are manufactured by the same people as Hawk. They come standard as reverse load. Their online price list shows a basic two horse BP is around 24k. I’m having them do a custom 2+2 (4 horse head to tail without the center box). I have some broodmares with some challenging physical limitations and I think reverse load will help them when traveling.
So check them out if mid 20s fits your budget.
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It would be simpler to just buy a stock type trailer with a dressing / tack room? They make those for horses. Then you can load the horse up and tie them where you want. They can ride facing the back or at a slant if they choose.
I don’t see how this would be cheaper for you. They would have to move the butt and chest bars and probably take the inside wall off in order to weld to the frame. Hawk has schematics on their website so that you can see where the positioning is. They also sell a rear facing version. I just ordered a reversible 2+1 Balanced Ride. The horse area on the rear facing has enough room to side load and therefore to reverse. A straight load forward facing trailer may not have enough room to do what you want it to do. But you can look at the schematics on Hawk’s site and decide. I agree with others that it is probably safer to buy a stock trailer than try to do an afterbuild modification. One of the things for me in the reverse facing 2 horse that I was concerned with is enough room to safely load. I felt I needed the 2 horse reverse load to safely do that (and from there it was just a slippery slope to get me to buy the 2+1).
I’ve found a few Hawks with a side ramp for much less than new prices ($5-12K less than new). That should give me the space to flip it all around and a large portion of “runway” $ to use to do so before coming close to new. Unfortunately with buying a house and truck this year, I don’t think new is in the cards without some serious compromises and it’s hard to justify the $ when I would still be compromising on what I get.
I agree there wouldn’t be enough room in a traditional straight load (though I did see a traditional straight load that had been made as a BR trailer and the horses backed in which wouldn’t work for my old ladies).
