I have a straight load trailer with a rear ramp and would love to have the panels to prevent horses from coming off the side of the ramp. I’ve exhausted search terms to no avail. What are the panels properly called? I’ve mainly seen wooden ones but where can you buy them or open to DIY ideas?
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Sorry, no idea. Hoping to see if someone has the answer. 
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So far everything I have found calls them stuff like safety loading doors.
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen them for a regular trailer, only for vans with a steeper ramp. I’ve only seen wood-- I would think anything else might be either too heavy, too expensive or too flimsy if a horse slips. Maybe try contacting your manufacturer, but I would guess if there’s not already some kind of hardware to attach them, you will have to do an aftermarket version of both hardware and panels.
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I’ve been thinking about this, too. I actually thought about those expandable shower curtain rods and just sort of balancing them on the latch so a horse would bump it if he went sideways. Of course, it would fall if it was bumped so nothing permanent to get tangled up in, but would that frighten said horse? I haven’t tried it. I’ll be watching and hoping someone has a much better idea. Thanks for asking this question,
They’re called livestock loading gates or livestock trailer gates - search images and suppliers in the uk will come up.
Loading gate search terms are fruitless:). Granted I didn’t go directly to UK sites, but I’d need to purchase in US anyway. I did giggle when I saw a cattle chute for easy loading of cattle. I don’t think my horses would appreciate that! I may repost in racing as that’s mainly where I see them in use.
No personal experience, but your post in the racing forum (which was higher on the “latest posts” list so I saw it first) made me curious so I tried to see what I could find online.
Is that what is being referred to as “curtains” in the pictures halfway down this page?
https://www.turnbowtrailers.com/detail.asp
On my iPad I clicked on the picture and a pop-up caption appeared with the caption “Gas Assisted flip ups &
Side Ramps with Optional Curtains.” I found the site by searching on the term “horse trailer ramp” and going to the images tab, then looking through the images for those with sides to the ramp.
I also saw this, which on zooming in appears to show a DIY version, or maybe this is the usual way they are made: plywood sheets set in U channels on each side of the ramp with a snap from an upper corner to the trailer door edge.
http://www.thematking.com/business_industry/industrial/animalmats/equine/horse_van_ramp_cocoa_mats.htm
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I can see why someone would want them for semi feral cattle, but a horse broke to load doesn’t usually go off the ramp.
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Those are the standard ones I have seen-- I assume they come with the horse vans. They are necessary because the ramps are steeper and narrower than trailer ramps. You can always use something like heavy but forgiving like hay bales to make a chute for training purposes if that is what you need.
