Well, the Eqispirit and the Brenderups do have an outside means of dismantling the chest bar. Would never buy a trailer that didn't. I am not sure why anyone would continue to load a horse with its head under a chest bar? If the horse walked into the trailer with its head down, just back it out and either sweep the hay off the floor, or hold a carrot up above thr chest bar from outside the front door. I don't see why there would be any "worry" about horse putting head under chest bar. Just don't latch the butt bar unless horse is standing correctly. If the horse's head is tied while traveking, they cannot even get their head under chest bar.
Also, I totally agree there is no need to go inside trailer with horse. Horse should be "sent" in. Loading and unloading should be exactly as Kat described. This is how the Brenderup works. The other type of Walk-through straight-load trailers with chest bars give the option for the horse to "walk through", but I don't see why they would need to, nor do I see why the human would need to.
Give me a quiet trailer that allows horse to lower its head and clear its nasal passages and move its front feet for balance, that also has long, gradual ramp with non-slip surface and no wing-out upper doors, in which I canl haul any size horse, and I won't need two own two seperate trailers. And I have that.
Terry "May the Horse be with You"
> Date: Mon, 20 Apr 2009 12:44:38 -0700 > From: katswig@xxxxxxx > Subject: [RC] not just mangers... > To: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx > > > Terry said: > > > The lady didn't know her trailer. The chest bars are bolted > > from the outside. Just loosen the ring/bolt with a tire iron, > > and they drop down/off. > > As near as I can tell from the photos, neither the Sundowner nor the Exiss "walk through" straight load trailers (the ones with chest bars instead of hay mangers) has the ability to undo the chest bar from the outside of the trailer. > > Personally, I don't like getting into a trailer with a horse as I consider it rather unsafe. In my experience, the type of trailer that has the least amount of risks associated with loading and unloading (with only one person to do it), is the straight load, step up trailer with a hay manger. You can send the horse into the trailer, close the back door go around to the front and tie the horse in, and you don't have to worry about the horse putting its head under the chest bar (if what you have is straight load with a chest bar), you don't have to worry about the horse turning around before you close the divider (if what you have is a slant load), and you don't have to worry about the horse putting its head under the divider after you have closed it (if what you have is a slant load). > > And the unloading can be done equally as safely in the same way: go to the front and untie the horse and put a lead rope on and throw it over the horse's shoulder, go to the back and open the door, tell the horse to back out, and take the lead rope before the horse is even all the way out of the trailer...even if the horse comes out really fast, and if they balk about coming out and go back in...so what (unlike when you have a chest bar if they balk and go back in with their head lowered they now have their head under the chest bar). Slant loaders, as far as I am concerned, the only way to truely safely unload horses from them is to have two people (one to hold the horse's lead rope after having untied the horse but before the trailer door is open and to kep it from trying to get out while the person opening the door and the divider gets out of the way). > > When it comes to safety for both horses and humans, give me a straight load with a hay manger any day...and get rid of the ramp as that thing is just an accident waiting to happen. > > kat > Orange County, Calif. > :) > > p.s. I am willing to concede that the inability to put their heads down in a trailer with a hay manger can cause some problems on long hauls, so I like my stock trailer better for this, but if I had a trailer with any kind of divider that the horse could get its head under (and yes, this includes a "chest bar"), I am not going to tie the horse loosely enough that it can get its head down far enough to get it under the divider, so even with slant loaders or walk throughs my horses wouldn't be able to get the heads down very far anyway. > > > =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- > 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!! > > =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
