My last foal loaded much better on a trailer with a ramp. That said, I prefer step-up trailers in general (just have seen horses go off the side and get hurt).
What would you buy and why?
Ramp always. So much easier to load babies, yearlings, and medical emergencies.
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Team ramp here! I have a 2+1 that has a rear and side ramp that have come in handy so so much!
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I have always found it easier to load foals with a step-up
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I prefer a ramp for young horses. Not just loading but safer when unloading foals and weanlings.
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No problems with my step-up. Turn the babies around so they can see where to jump out. I have a nice green landing spot. Foals are very springy and a nice calm Mom helps.
I prefer a ramp, especially with mares and foals. BUT, when I attended the PMU sales, I watched with fascination all the weanlings canter down the barn aisles, and jump into the step up trailers without hesitation without any handling or training. The rancher’s comment was, “Well, you are lookin’ for jumpers, aren’t cha? If they can’t jump into the horse trailer by the time they are four months old, maybe you should leave them here.” Point taken.
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My issue with step-ups has actually always been getting the horses out. Going in, they’re going on to a rubber mat and maybe with shavings, but going out you don’t have a lot of control of the surface and in particular I don’t like getting horses off a tall step-up onto wet concrete or asphalt. Backing up is much worse than going forward. YMMV!
The other nice thing about the ramp is all the times I used it to haul appliances. :lol:
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I don’t like ramps- even with springs, you still have to lean over and lift. If you trailer a lot, that is more work.
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I could not get my long yearling out of a step up about a month ago that belongs to a barn owner. We turned her around to face going out, and she planted her feet at the edge and would not budge. Backed the trailer up to a slope so there was no step down, and she still would not come out. Finally we turned her around and backed her out, and that finally worked. I’ll stick with my ramp trailer from now on.
Friend of mine lost her front teeth bending down to lift a ramp and her horse kicked out…unless you have a side mounted wind up set up.
Horses vary - some will find the step-up/down awkward.
Team ramp! I don’t mind using a step up as long as the horses can turn around in the trailer and walk down face first. I’ve seen two horses whack/skin the front of a hind cannon when stepping out backwards with a small, tentative step. Neither was a horrible injury, but one horse became a problem loader as a result.
Definitely ramp. But, it needs to be short and low. I have full doors on the back and a low ramp. Check out Equispirit for the way ramps should be.
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Team Step Up—I have been showing and breeding for over 40 years. I have had many tall (17 hand an over) hit their head going up the ramp, In a step up they put their head down. I have also seen too many babies and difficult loaders go off the side of the ramp and scrape their legs. I have an unusually steep driveway so I had to have my last step up trailer raised 4 inches because of taking out the tailgate of my truck when we leveled out at the top of the driveway. Everyone says “you will not get babies or horses to step up that high”–well I have had babies as young as 3 hrs old that had to go in the trailer and they will follow their mother. I have never had a problem. I always teach the adult horses to back out of slant loads, never had a problem. They don’t fly out because they have to figure out where their feet go by feel, no jumping out forward on top of you.
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Until you have had to load a horse that is physically compromised, you will not understand why a ramp is a far better option.
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Hauling a foundered horse in casts home from the clinic, I was very glad the trailer had a ramp. Also glad for ramp when taking a neurologic weanling to the hospital, had never loaded before and it took a long time, with drugs and strong men, but no way could we have pushed her up a step safely (she ended up having a skull fracture and was euthanized at hospital).
That experience made me very proactive in teaching weanlings/yearlings to load. Worked great in ramp trailers, until we sold a yearling gelding to a lady who picked him up with a step up. Took 2hrs and heavy sedation, and his hind legs fell under the step twice. Very scary. When he finally did get in, it was on his knees, laying down. Very stressful for the poor yearling, and it was not due to improper handling or impatience.
My own upper level mare was a dream loader…you could throw the rope over her neck 20ft from an open trailer and she would trot on in by herself. She backed out carefully, always aimed for the center of the ramp, just easy to haul. I shipped her in a friend’s step up twice, and while she loaded perfectly fine, backing off the step was very scary to her, stepping off into nothing. It took weeks of patient re-schooling off my ramp for her to trust backing off again, she’d get near the edge, stop and tuck her butt, trembling, anticipating an unseen drop.
I’ve had very few horses step sideways off the ramp, coming out of my 2h slant. The ramp can be steep and slick on wet days, and I have had a horse slip to his knees-- laying down an old bath towel will prevent those slips. And ramping in and out of my 4h head-to-head is a piece of cake, with wooden traction slats on the ramps, covered with a cocomat, never a safety issue.
@EventerAJ I think Kimstar is agreeing with you (it’s just awkwardly phrased)
To the poster who talked about some sort of wind up feature on a ramp, that is just an accident waiting to happen in my opinoin. But if you haven’t used an EZ lift ramp, you don’t know what you are missing. Sure, I have to bend over (like I do for a thousand other tasks associated with horses), but I can a) lift it with one hand and b) stand off to the side so no horse on the planet could possibly make contact with my face or other body part, unless he had something seriously wrong with his joint range of motion!
So step up or ramp personal preferences aside, those are off the table as reasons to avoid ramps in my book!
Thanks @DMK, for some reason my eyes blurred the two posts above mine into one. Apologies to @Kimstar for the confusion!
I have a trailer with a ramp and one that’s as step-up and all of my horses much prefer the step-up. I’ve only ever hauled babies and mares in a step-up. Including my mare who was in foal/delivering with what resulted in a fetotomy.
I asked my veterinarian (at a large clinic near Weatherford, Texas) before I bought my step-up if he had a medical reason to prefer one over the other and he said hands-down step-ups are safer.
I only have a ramp bc it was for sale from a friend and I wanted a smaller second trailer for local hauling. If I could remove the ramp, I would.
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