Sitting on butt bar of trailer...pops back doors open!

[S4zeus]

My husband and I just bought a trailer. It’s a lovely used Keiffer Built 2 horse straight load. It has a ramp and 2 doors above the ramp. Those doors only have a latch at the very top. My husbands horse has a habit of sitting all the way back on the butt bar and being 17.1 Percheron cross, when he does this his giant badonkadonk butt pops the top doors open. When we loaded him this last time we sat for a few minutes and when he sat all the way back gave him a quick pop on the butt and he took a step forward, rewarded him with a “good-boy” and secured the doors (we have rigged something to keep them from flying all the way open as we drive down the road), and got on our way. For most of the ride to our destination he hauls wonderfully, doesn’t paw or seem to scramble. He certainly has plenty of room it’s extra tall and wide. He has a good 18" or more to step forward or back. I haven’t been able to correlate him popping back onto the butt bar and subsequently popping the doors open with anything myself or my husband is doing while we are driving. It doesn’t happen as we are accelerating or braking, just as we are quietly going down the road we feel his weight shift as he leans back and then we can see daylight in the trailer as the doors pop open.

Has anyone experienced this? He doesn’t seem interested in the hay net or maybe he’d be more likely to stay forward. I haven’t hauled Zeus in it yet to see if it’s just a Merlin problem or if any big horse is likely to cause this. I am open to suggestions, will be calling trailer places for quotes on redoing the ramp, it’s solid but will likely need replaced eventually. I was wondering if you could weld/bolt a U bracket above the butt bar and slide in a 2"x4" to prevent him from hitting the doors as he comes back.

One last observation. It doesn’t seem to stem from being anxious about the trailer as when we arrive and go to unload he certainly isn’t in any hurry to get off. He is a patient guy and steps back down the ramp slowly and politely. This makes me think it’s somehow a learned habit.

Help?!?

edited to say: they aren’t truly doors, more the top windows. Horse is still very securely in the trailer with the ramp up. I am opposed to hauling with those back windows open as I have heard horror stories of horses rear, flipping over and coming out of the trailer.

[JB]

Is he tied up front? The ideal is to tie them long enough so they hit the butt bar before they get (too much) tension on their head, so they don’t panic with that pressure (which is a training issue, but still). However, in this case, can he be tied a wee bit shorter so he doesn’t have room to sit back quite so far? It would be something you’d have to play with where you can quickly release him, not just tie shorter and head on down the road.

Does he have PSSM? Is he using the butt bar to help stabilize himself?

[KDuheme]

I have a particularly large WB, and he actually managed to get himself over the front chest bar in my two horse straight haul (everything ended ok, he wasn’t hurt and the trailer came out un damaged). But since I didn’t want this to happen again, I got the chest bar moved up a couple inches so it wasn’t even possible for him to do again.

I wonder if you can get the butt bar moved up a bit for the big boy? I am not sure of your set up, so not even sure if it is possible? But to get mine done, was about $150? and they did both sides of the trailer. This would prevent him from “sitting” on the butt bar as it would be in the right location for him to lean on. :lol:

[mroades]

I want to say I remember that was an issue with Kiefer trailers. Maybe do a search on here and on Google.

[candyappy]

What is the butt bar made of? I remember my 2 horse straight load had solid steel butt bars that were far enough away from the doors so they couldn’t push against it?

It is not uncommon for a horse to use it for balance and I also remember my one horse would need to be moved forward so I could un-do the butt bar once we got where we were going.

Sounds like your trailer needs some modifications to be safe.

[JB]

Good point about possibly getting the bar moved up. My trailer has a higher position for normal horses, and a lower position for ponies/smaller horses. Hopefully this trailer is configure such that there’s a suitable higher position.

[S4zeus]

Thanks for all the thoughts!

I dont think PSSM is a concern. He certainly doesn’t display any characteristics.

I do think it has to do with the butt bars being too close to the doors in general. He is tied at the front but it’s quite loose. We could make that adjustment first. He’s not the type to pull back and panic. He really is a sensible creature.

The way the center divider is built there is unfortunately no way to move the butt bars higher. I will try to get a picture. The only way to potentially do that would be to move the whole center divider up but even that is limited as to how much higher we can make it.

I know now plenty of people that haul with the back doors of their trailer open (I would certainly prefer to leave them closed), so I would hardly call the trailer unsafe. But yes, modifications do need to be made.

[soloudinhere]

The stall needs to be made shorter either by him being tied such that he can’t back up that far or by moving the bars so if he sits on it his butt can’t contact the doors.

[Foxglove6]

I don’t know the answer for your question but a lot of horses rest on the butt bar. My guy does it. I always haul with a tail wrap on him lest he rub his dock raw again. He also polishes the inside of the door with his badonkadonk. Luckily he’s fleabitten so it just makes his butt a bit darker.