Sad, sad, story...
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I haul my horses ( well the minis) loose in the trailer. About 5 years ago, I bought a Ponderosa gooseneck trailer, new, and hadnt had it a month, and had a mare and colt in the front compartment, and was driving through town, after a vet trip, and the whole rear door fell off. the hinges on that trailer both sat the same direction, and for some reason, when crossing a fairly rough ( not so rough that I thought about it though) track, the whole rear door fell off. Imagine my suprise when I heard that clank. My worst fears had just happened.
I was so lucky, the horses did not come off, but what if. There were several people walking down the sidewalk who came to my assistance. But the mare and colt remained on the trailer. Bet they were truly scared to death, or else had no idea why I slammed on my brakes.
Now I traded that trailer IMMEDIATELY that very day, for a aluminum trailer that had doors hinged in a up and down position so that I didnt have to worry about that ever happening again.
IT was a costly thing, I lost big time on the steel trailer, and the dealer knew whatever trade in he gave me, I would take., but I dont think I could have ever driven it safely again. I now tell everyone to check their hinges, and if they are put on that way, to go get a piece welded onto them, to cause a door not to be able to ride up.
I was so lucky, the horses did not come off, but what if. There were several people walking down the sidewalk who came to my assistance. But the mare and colt remained on the trailer. Bet they were truly scared to death, or else had no idea why I slammed on my brakes.
Now I traded that trailer IMMEDIATELY that very day, for a aluminum trailer that had doors hinged in a up and down position so that I didnt have to worry about that ever happening again.
IT was a costly thing, I lost big time on the steel trailer, and the dealer knew whatever trade in he gave me, I would take., but I dont think I could have ever driven it safely again. I now tell everyone to check their hinges, and if they are put on that way, to go get a piece welded onto them, to cause a door not to be able to ride up.
One of the most awful trips I made with the vet last year was to put down a horse that had been dragged behind a trailer. The horse was tied in the trailer but it looks like he panicked when the door flew open (hinge broke off) and lost his balance. Once down his hind end started dragged on the ground. The owner felt the slam of the broken door as soon as she'd realized what had happened (she thought at first the commotion was one of the horses kicking the trailer). When she pulled over her horse was missing the lower half of one leg and most of the front of the other from being dragged approximately one mile (doesn't take long for the abrasiveness of the cement to abrade off a limb).
_minihorses4ever_
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:no: :no: :no:
RobinRTrueJoy
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how gruesome, I am so sorry. Its my worst nightmare!
keeperofthehorses
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Ugh... horrible, very sad. :no: There but by the grace of God go any one of us.
I didn't see anything in the story indicating the horse was either untied or tied. It doesn't seem right to call someone 'stupid' with so little information.
It can happen with a tied horse too. Guy, my big accident-prone paint horse was tied correctly in the front section of a parked three horse slant. The first two horses unloaded fine and I was getting on board to unload him. He was either upset that the other two horses had left him or freaked that his tail hairs were caught in the slant divider (it happened so fast I'm not sure) and pulled back, breaking the latching device on the slant divider and then his lead rope, causing him to fall back on his haunches. He went end over end backwards out of the trailer, falling hard on his withers in the trailer and hitting poll first on hard ground. He wasn't hurt, thank God for Angels, nor was I (I was trapped in the trailer with him, pinned by the broken divider), but it was terribly frightening. We've worked a lot on hauling and loading/unloading manners since then.
I didn't see anything in the story indicating the horse was either untied or tied. It doesn't seem right to call someone 'stupid' with so little information.
It can happen with a tied horse too. Guy, my big accident-prone paint horse was tied correctly in the front section of a parked three horse slant. The first two horses unloaded fine and I was getting on board to unload him. He was either upset that the other two horses had left him or freaked that his tail hairs were caught in the slant divider (it happened so fast I'm not sure) and pulled back, breaking the latching device on the slant divider and then his lead rope, causing him to fall back on his haunches. He went end over end backwards out of the trailer, falling hard on his withers in the trailer and hitting poll first on hard ground. He wasn't hurt, thank God for Angels, nor was I (I was trapped in the trailer with him, pinned by the broken divider), but it was terribly frightening. We've worked a lot on hauling and loading/unloading manners since then.
