Re: one more lesson learned....comments.....

[Lynn Kinsky <lkinsky@silcom.com>]

 . . .  I think it
>is very important to NEVER OPEN THE BACK DOOR OF THE TRAILER WITH YOUR HORSE
>STILL TIED, NOT EVEN WITH A BUTT BAR OR CHAIN.  I've seen several horses get
>badly hurt going under the butt bar/chain once the door was open.  Anyway,
>don't blame the slant load for your mistake, you just didn't think thru all
>your options.
>Leigh

With my regular horse by myself I take my chances in my slantload, since an
untied horse could easily be an escaped horse once I let down my ramp (with
the straightload it is a different matter -- they get funneled out right
past me).  But we do a lot of practice at home and with an assistant before
I ever solo trailer with a new horse.

But the ramp adds an extra factor to be paranoid about, especially if you
*do* untie the horse first or you have a horse in the rear stall, and that
is to be very, very sure that when you undo the final latch to release the
ramp that you are standing completely to the side.  When that ramp comes
down, especially with the weight of a horse pushing it, you do not want to
be behind it -- because you will quickly be *under* it.  That's a very big
mistake.


Lynn Kinsky (Santa Ynez, CA)
http://www.silcom.com/~lkinsky