Trailering Help

[Kaitlyn]

I was wondering if anyone has had experience trailering minis in a two horse straight load trailer? I'm not sure how exactly I could work it out, as there is a bar running from floor to ceiling where the chest bars attatch for regular sized horses. If I left the chest bar on, it is obviously much too tall for a mini, and they could duck right under. But if I take out the chest bars and the partition, I am left with that bar in the middle of the trailer. To me, that seems like a safety hazard if the horse were to fall into the bar or something. What would you suggest doing to make it safe to travel?

to give you an idea, this is very similar to my trailer:

 

[SampleMM]

I have a trailer with this exact setup. For the minis, I took everything out and put a heavy duty panel and attached it to the center partition. A couple of weeks ago, I hauled my mare and stallion home from the trainer's. I put my mare in the front part and my stallion in the rear. Does that make any sense to you? I hope I'm explaining that okay.

 

[Kaitlyn]

Do you mean that you attatched a panel to the swinging partition, or to the chest bar part?

And I forgot to mention that it would be really nice if I could manage to pull both a mini and a regular sized horse at once. I guess that would mean that I would need to extend the partition downwards, as well as put up a barrier in the chest bar area. Ugh, this doesn't sound easy.

 

[jleonard]

My neighbor and I frequent;y transport 3 minis in a trailer set up the same way. Her guy, who is rather larger than most minis, 36" but long (think mini Belgian) goes in the front section and rides sideways, tied to one of the tie rings over the door. We always lock the side doors so that if he leans on them they will not pop open (I know of a horrific accident that happened just a couple of weeks ago when the door opened and a big horse tried to escape). My two little girls (30" and 33") travel facing backwards and are tied to the butt bars. I don't know how safe this set up is, and I wouldn't do it if I didn't know that all three of them are good travelers, but it has worked for us.

You can also order mini dividers (I know Gore makes them) that go in place of the big divider to make 3 mini straight load stalls (my dream set up!). If you will only have one mini you could just take the divider out and let them loose. I don't have any ideas for transporting a big horse with a mini, you'd definitely have to create a stud divider, but I have racked my brains for years to come up with a suitable material to use and have yet to come up with anything. I'm sure if you contacted the manufacturer they could help you on that.

 

[valshingle]

I have a big horse trailer, a Merhow four horse slant load. I had the local trailer people install stud dividers to the bottom of the partitions/dividers. That is a solid, rubber sided divider that goes virtually to the floor. They can be removed easily, but are too heavy for me to lift so I just leave them in there. They were able to order the dividers from the manufacturer. That way you could easily haul a big horse and a mini at the same time.

 

[chandab]

I have a two-horse straighload, step-up with tack under manger arrangement. I just attached a piece of particle board to the partition, so the divider goes all the way to the floor (its wired to divider, and well above mini height). seems to work for me.

 

[bevann]

I have a two-horse straighload, step-up with tack under manager arrangement. I just attached a piece of particle board to the partition, so the divider goes all the way to the floor (its wired to divider, and well above mini height). seems to work for me.

We did an inexpensive divider in the middle by using a cattle panel from Tractor Supply.Used bolt cutters and then attached it to center divider and put pieces across front so they can't go under.Put small mesh wire on botton so feet can't go through.Still get great ventilation in hot weather and didn't spend much money.

 

[Minimor]

We did have a trailer that was similar, except our divider went all the way to the floor. What I did when we hauled Minis was swing the divider to one side & fasten it in place. Then I put a board at the front, under the chest bar, so the Minis couldn't get under it into the front portion of the trailer, and then we'd put both Minis together on the one side of the trailer. They could ride whichever way they wanted, just as if it were a stock trailer. The small area behind the divider and the area in front of the chest bars was used for tack, hay, etc.

The one time when we hauled a stallion along with a filly and a gelding, I fixed the divider so that it was swung part way to one side, making one large stall and one smaller stall--I fastened the divider in place and then the stallion was loaded into the smaller of the stalls and the other two rode together in the bigger stall. That worked well.

 

[SampleMM]

Do you mean that you attatched a panel to the swinging partition, or to the chest bar part?

And I forgot to mention that it would be really nice if I could manage to pull both a mini and a regular sized horse at once. I guess that would mean that I would need to extend the partition downwards, as well as put up a barrier in the chest bar area. Ugh, this doesn't sound easy.

I attached the heavy duty panel to the stationary center post. I took out the breast & butt bars, and that half wall type divider. The panel is wider than the width of the trailer so it goes across at an angle and then we tighten it down with bungie type cords at the sides and to the center post. The horse in the front rides sideways like a slant load and the one in the back usually rides forward. I leave them untied and my latest trip was an 8 hour trip with no problems. I have never tried to haul a big one with a mini so I really can't help you there, sorry.

 

[Katiean]

I tie 2 facing forward in the front and 2 facing back wards in the back. My trailer has a bar floor to ceiling in the back too where the latches for the back door are. My ramp is stowed under the trailer. My horses are such babies that they won't load unless I have the ramp out. My arab would jump into the back of a pickup truck that was chest high. Just shows what babies minis can be.

 

[AnnaC]

Many good suggestions here, IMO as long as you have any partitions/boarding meeting completely to the floor (no chance of a little foot getting trapped underneath should the mini happen to slip over) then you will be fine.

May I just add (but you probably already know this?) to be sure to travel the large horse on the side of the trailer on the 'crown' of the road (outer side) and the light weight mini on the side nearest the 'edge' of the road (inside) otherwise you will have a very unbalanced trailer.

Anna

 

[Kaitlyn]

I really appreciate all the input

I'm thinking that I may try something like this: