Fw: Re: slant loads

["Howard Bramhall" <hwb67@msn.com>]

---- Original Message -----

 

 From: Kris Givens

Sent: Friday, October 12, 2001 12:54 PM

To: Ride Camp

Subject: RC: Re: slant loads

 

None of the slant-loads I see seem to allow a horse to drop his head.(Is that correct?

I have a 3 horse Sundowner and they have ample room to drop their heads.  Also, I never tie unless I am hauling two horses who have just 'met' and I think there will be some biting. Then I tie them in with trailer ties snapped to the cheek piece of the halter and attached to the tie that is directly under the window to the side.  I do not tie them up high.  This gives them room to drop their heads yet doesn't allow them to bite each other.

Kris and Nyke and Kolter


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I think it's a mistake to not tie up your horse while trailering, especially when you use those dividers in slant load trailers like the one I have. There's an 18 inch gap or more between the lower part of the divider and the trailer floor.  My new Arab, War Cry, who is kind of small, under 15 hands, actually tried to put his head and lower his legs so he could get under the divider; he was that interested in what my mare was doing.

Now I don't know what War Cry's trailering experiences have been, since he came from New Mexico and all, but I had never seen a horse try and do this before.  Some sort of horse "limbo" thing, and he was fully willing to go as low as he had to go to get underneath the divider and be with the mare on the other side.

So, my advice is to tie your horse, loosely, so they can lower their head, when trailering, but tie them, especially if there's any kind of gap between your divider and the floor.  Horses have a strong desire to see what their neighbor is doing and to be with them doing it together if at all possible.  I don't think War Cry is the only horse on the planet who would attempt such a thing.

 

cya,

Howard