Making an 8 mile haul with no manger and no hay net, with horse tied with a velcro breakaway trailer tie. I felt the trailer shake and could not see a head on the trailer monitoring camera. My 17hh draft had pulled free of the velcro safety release tie and had wedged his head and neck under the chest bar.
If there is a way to get in trouble, a horse will find it, even in an empty trailer.
I rescued a horse that had hopped over the chest bar. once over it passed out since all of its weight was on the chest bar…to this day I have no idea how I was able to drag that beast over the bar and out the escape door… once over he bar it sort of flowed out the escaped door like liquid… once it recovered, it got up and was reloaded as this happened on a busy federal highway
I was following the wife of the trainer I worked for, she had picked up this new horse, I saw the horse jump up overt he bar… this was back in the days before cell phones being common, so getting her attention to stop was not easy either.
All I remeber was I grabbed its halter with both hand and PULLED
(Those pins that hold the bar in place Can Not be pulled with 1200 horse on top of the bar)
I have no problem cleaning it up - I just dont want to waste so much.
I had a yearling make it fully out the window (while at a stop). Luckily I do not have mangers, but that incident all but guaranteed that I will NEVER buy a trailer with mangers. I’ve had them put their feet through canvas feed bags. No issue there; if they don’t turn it to shreds, just cut the remaining bag down. But mangers give me the heebie jeebies. I have thought through what would have happened to the yearling if I had mangers. Neither of the two scenarios I came up with had as good of an outcome as the window incident itself…
This also terrifies me as I transition from a slant load to a straight load. I’m not above cutting things apart with a sawzal. But I do worry if I can’t even access part of the bar to cut…
You all are really making me appreciate my Boeckmann trailer!
Front windows give great light and ventilation, but much too small for a horse head to fit through or think about climbing out.
Chest bars that can be dropped from the outside in case of emergency. Feed the the broom through the loop, twist and they drop.
You are under estimating the average horses desire to cause mayhem.
the manger trailers that most of us are talking about are from a different era and so tiny, which was a large part of the problem. Everything had to be handled from the outside, which really sucks if you’ve been in that situation! Fortunately most of them have probably been repurposed as traveling bars by now.
Many pins can be released even if weight is on the bar assuming the bar doesn’t bend, and that’s not unlikely, but that doesn’t mean moving the unpinned bar (sitting on its pin loops) with a horse’s full weight is on it is easy (btdt). From your description, would it be physically possible to rotate that loop with 1000lbs pressing down? That sounds unlikely, but I’m going on your description alone.
Because of my past experience we do not have a trailer that uses the chest bars so I can not validate my thoughts on how to improve a chest bar. I believe if the round bar had an additional angle welded to it on its bottom edge where the round tube sets into the angle the bar then could support the weight of horse without distorting.
(if the round chest bar has inserted and attached stiffer inside the tube this would also increase its stiffness such as these examples
The problem with the round bar when required to support weight it will (or could) flex/bend/distort thus locking the attachment pins or its normally easily removable attachments which usually are in a very close alignment to keep down or reduce rattling
Yes very tight fits. The horse could be blocking the pin from being removed, or the weight on the bar will bind the pin, or the weight will distort the bar and further bind the pin. I can make pretty quick work with a sawzal, but I would worry that a horse would have all cut-able sections of bar covered up.
I know not on topic but if the bottom pin holder was of a breakaway design when vertical weigh loaded that may help in releasing the chest bar
Have you seen these haybags? I used to have all kinds and now only use this - I think it’s great for controlling mess:
https://www.doversaddlery.com/ds-1200d-hay-bag/p/X1-270204/
Fits 3-4 flakes if they are 2-5lb each. I’ve been using them daily out in a dirt lot for the last 3 years too. They last a long time and I like how there’s fewer opportunities to somehow get a hoof/horn/shoe stuck like in traditional hay bags.
Do you carry a reciprocating saw when you are towing horses?
I know that I am pretty obsessive - impact wrench, bolt cutters, big knife, wire cutters, 2 spare tires, extra set of lug nuts, huge equine first aid bag, extra halters and lead ropes, air compressor, 5 gallon compressed air tank, 5 gallons of water, fire extinguisher, etc, but never considered a sawzall… until now.
I have not in the past, but am going to add sawzall to my rig. I’ve used it in other crises to free horses from their own stupid decisions. Hopefully I’ll never need one in the trailer, but it could come in handy…
I’ve heard of people carrying them after seeing a horse freed from a rear ended and flipped trailer with a sawzall. No way to get the horse out the back so they had to disassemble the front/side of the trailer. I’m adding on to my growing list of things for my trailer (which I’m currently not using).
You have convinced me to store my cordless Dewalt Sawzall in the horse trailer. I also just found that Dewalt makes what they call a “fire and rescue” saw blade, which is designed, as the name implies, to make quick work of both thick wood and metal. It is part number DW4865.
He could pull HUGE mouthfulls out - no mesh/netting over the opening. That’s what Im trying to control. He grabs a mouthful and pulls, and lots more winds up on the trailer floor… even with netting.
My big guy’s approach to hay nets is to head butt and sling them back and forth to get as much hay sticking out of the net as possible so he can grab bigger mouthfuls. The fabric manger does catch and keep about 90 percent of the hay he spills off of the trailer floor. I spent years (decades really) trying different hay net styles, and the manger catch basin is the best solution so far.
It’s a morbid topic, but certainly one to think about. Many at my trainer’s barn ride along on long hauls to shows while wearing anything from sweats to pajama shorts and flip flops. I always get questioned and teased for traveling in jeans and boots. It’s somber, but I explain that I won’t travel in anything that I wouldn’t want to fight a fire or extricate a horse in. Food for thought. A Sawzall or rescue saw of sorts would be a great addition in the event that you need to get in to a wrecked trailer quickly.
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