Having had a severe trailer accident at 60 mph in November of 2008, I can well imagine what they went through!
I am
so glad that everyone came out unhurt (except the poor moose, of course) and that they had so many caring friends. The horses may have a bit of a delayed reaction- my Kody hopped right back in to go home from the scene but has been reluctant to load since then and isn't nearly as happy-go-lucky about hauling as he was. Poor guy.
Took me awhile to get over it too!
The tied-vs-not-tied thing is a tough one. Kody was hauling alone, untied, inside a wooden trailer box insert and came out unhurt but all the shavings were flung up against the rear door so I can only imagine how hard he must have hit it himself. He could have easily broken his neck or fractured his skull. On the other hand if he'd been tied he could have twisted his neck being flung past the tie ring and broken it that way, or hung from it and choked if we'd overturned. I don't know which is best and I did not have my trailer cam at the time so I can't tell you what happened to him during the accident. Needless to say, I'm not repeating it to experiment!
Neither of my boys likes being restricted to narrow stalls when hauling but I wonder sometimes if I'm doing them any favors letting them have a larger area to be flung around in.
The one thing I have decided is that good padding is important!
Their winter hair is sufficient if they have it but when clipped they ship in fluffy padded blankets in spring/fall or with well-padded walls in summer. I'm still considering the issue of shipping boots.
I think if Kody had been in a narrow slant stall he would simply have been flung against the padded wall and held safely until it was over, which seems better to me then having been flung across the length of the trailer. There's really no way to know though and each situation is different. I'm so glad no one was hurt in your accident!
Leia