Re: Slant load trailers

[Knaptyme@aol.com]

My horse learned to trailer in a 3 horse slant (a friends) then I bought a 2
horse straight load.  When we first started with my trailer, he was more
comfortable with the center partition out, he could slant himself.  After
hauling friends with me and the partition in place, I would remove it for him
when we were alone.  It didn't take me long to realize that he had accustomed
himself to standing straight and wouldn't move out of this position even with
the center partition out.  This can only be deduced from the fact that he was
still straight when I stopped the trailer. 

The other thing I learned, the hard way, he has always been trailered on the
left side of the straight load.  One day, my sister picked me up and we put
him on the right side.  After the first turn out of the driveway, I made her
stop because of the racket in the trailer, figured it was her horse (she never
trailers well).  About 1 hour into the road trip, we had turned a corner and I
heard major scrambling again and I made her stop.  Much to my dismay, it was
my horse that was cut up and bleeding all over.  We pulled into a horse
friendly area (tack shop) and found all the cuts were superficial.  We treated
them and wrapped him from head to tail and took turns at about 2 miles an
hour.  On the way home, we put him on the left side (his normal side) and took
all turns and curves at the normal speed.  Not a sound of the trailer.  He was
so used to putting out his right feet to balance that he didn't know what to
do when they hit the wall.  It never occurred to him to put his left feet out
to balance.

This did teach me that horses are creatures of habit and don't adapt as easily
as we think they will.

Diane & Phoenix (it was +35 today and I finally got my blanket off for a few
hours)