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Re: [RC] [Guest] Trailer ramps - Jim HollandHey, Bonnie, lighten up! First thing you gotta have if you play on Ridecamp is a flame suit! <grin> Don't let it get to you. (I have several used ones I will loan you) :) Remember, that sometimes when you say things in "text" people who read it don't always get the same "feeling" about it as if it were spoken. I tried ramps...didn't like 'em...looked like a good idea, but turned out to be a pain. I teach my horses to get on anything. Think Sunny would load and ride in the back of a pickup truck. My horse that leaped over the ramp only did it a couple of times. At first, I couldn't figure out what his problem was. Once I did, I removed the ramp, then taught him to walk back and forth across it on the ground, then added a log under the front. After that, it was a ho-hum. He was not the "sharpest knife in the drawer" anyway...guess he thought it was an "obstacle". Many years back, one of my "western game" buddies had his horse's back feet go under a step up. Fortunately, we had done a lot of "fooling around" with our horses, laying them down, playing with them down, etc. We got him to lie still while we drove the truck forward....only had a couple of mild scrapes. Fluke accident...leafy nice spot to take off...he slipped on a piece of tin under the leaves. Stuff happens, no matter what you do. If ramps work for you, and you feel safer with them, then use 'em! And you should here the "wise cracks" I get about my Arabians around here. They think I'm crazy to ride Arabs....nothing but Walkers and Quarters here. Jim, Sun of Dimanche, and Mahada Magic Bonnie Davis wrote: OK, you guys win.....for those that mailed me privately, I'll go public! (I hate e-mails that don't have people's names on them!) I will go up to barn tomorrow and put a 'For Sale' on my ramp trailer. And as for the 'wise crack' about the horses I've owed. I will shoot them and buy nothing but ARABS!! But I'm also from the 'old school' and I firmly believe that if one can't say something nice about someone else -- or their horses -- don't say anything at all...... Bonnie Davis ----- Original Message ----- From: "Heidi Smith" <heidi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: "Bonnie Davis" <horsecamping@xxxxxxxxx>; "Jim Holland" <lanconn@xxxxxxx>; "Ridecamp" <ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Thursday, January 09, 2003 10:52 PM Subject: Re: [RC] [Guest] Trailer rampsBut I've never seen a horse slip and go under the end of a ramp and break a let. I've seen two of those with step-up trailers -- onewhenunloading on blacktop at a horse show and the horse spooked and slipped,oneleg under the step up which the horse broke. The other on dirt when the horse 'fell' out, sat down and went over backwards with both legs going under step-up. One leg broke, the other skinned to bone.I've euthanized one horse that broke a leg on a ramp (slipped off the side of it and the leg went underneath it) and know of at least one other that was euthanized at an endurance ride by someone else, and have likewiseseendegloving injuries on ramps. They are no assurance that such an injurywillnot happen. In fact, given the narrower space underneath a ramp, if ahorseDOES slip off of one and get a leg underneath, an injury of that sort is more apt to happen than under the wider space of the step-up, although I know such injuries have occurred with step-ups as well. I didn't read Jim's response, but have been following this thread somewhat--and you can add me to the list of folks who have had both andwhowill never again own a ramp. Although we had no trouble training any ofourhorses to load with the ramp, we had far more slippage and problem withtheramp that I had EVER had with a step-up trailer (and yes, I've had the old straight-load two-horse variety where they had to back out, as well as having the open format where they could turn around if they choose). The one trailer I had with a ramp I finally took to a shop and had the dang thing removed, as it was fortunately one that had full doors. Heidi =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= -- Richard T. "Jim" Holland Three Creeks Farm 175 Hells Hollow Drive Blue Ridge, GA 30513 (706) 258-2830 FAX (706) 632-1271 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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