# Is this true? Is it safe?



## Speed Racer (Oct 21, 2009)

A lot of people leave their horses loose in stock trailers, or take out the dividers in regular trailers to make one big box stall.

A horse in a loose box will find their most comfortable position and stand there. They're not going to be moving around all that much.

Honestly, it's not any more dangerous than any other type of hauling.


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## fkonidaris (Jan 26, 2012)

Speedracer, thank you for the answer! Phew! It sounded like a cool idea to me to allow ahorse some extra room and comfort, but then I started worrying, what if she starts moving all over? I'm thinking of getting a slant load trailer once I have a little more saved up and would love to be able to give my horse the most comfortable ride as possible!


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## texasgal (Jul 25, 2008)

One of my geldings rode all the way from north Arkansas loose in the back section of a stock trailer. (We had two other horses in the front .. but they were tied.)


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## NBEventer (Sep 15, 2012)

I prefer hauling my horse in a loose box. And actually anytime you hire a long distance hauler, unless otherwise requested your horse will be in a box. Horses will actually lay down and sleep on long hauls in a loose box. 

Some horsse prefer standing sideways, some prefer standing on a slant and others will like to stand backwards. Every horse is different.

So nope, no worries about being in a loose box


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## DraftyAiresMum (Jun 1, 2011)

That's how I trailered my gelding to his new barn. He wasn't stressed and was happy as a clam (it was his first time in a trailer since he was a weanling and he's coming four in May).
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## peppersgirl (Aug 24, 2012)

I personally don't like to let a horse roam freely about the trailer...They only time I do it is if I am hauling a horse who hasn't been hauled before (when we brought our newest horse, jazz home she had free reign of the trailer)... Not that I think its dangerous or anything, and I have hauled plenty of cows and other livestock, but when they do get the mind to move, you can feel it..I don't like that LOL.


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## Kayella (Feb 11, 2012)

Speed Racer said:


> A horse in a loose box will find their most comfortable position and stand there. They're not going to be moving around all that much.


Can you give that memo to Henny? :lol: Lately I've been hauling him tied with a straightload divider. However any time I hauled him before his accident, I'd take out the divider and let him loose. On the way home from the vet's after his accident, he was pacing circles while we were going 70 miles an hour. :shock: That might have been his brain injury getting irritated when he was getting all hyped up, though. When he's "free to move about the cabin" he takes full advantage of it LOL. But with the divider in, he stands there calmly like a big boy.


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## Speed Racer (Oct 21, 2009)

Silly Henny! He's supposed to stand still!


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## Kayella (Feb 11, 2012)

Very silly Henny! He's so clumsy on solid ground but can pace circles in a moving trailer. I just don't get him sometimes. 

But I find no problem hauling a horse free without the divider. I will say though that your horse should be used to being tied with a divider in just in case they need to be hauled like that in the future. That's why I started hauling Henny with the divider in, so he could get used to it.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Speed Racer (Oct 21, 2009)

My trailer has a divider and it's too heavy for me to take out myself, so mine get hauled that way. They don't seem to have much of an issue with it.


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## Failbhe (May 8, 2012)

I still don't have my own trailer either, though we're hoping to get one soon. I've been lucky enough to have a friend with a trailer offer us rides and she has a 16' stock trailer with a center divider - I'd never seen a trailer with a box stall type setup before. Her gelding and my mare seem to travel very well in it, and now that's what I'm looking for when we buy our own.


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

Most of the time, my horses are hauled free in a stock trailer (even if there are 2 or 3 in there together). Never had a problem yet. They tend to get into a comfortable position and stay there.


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## churumbeque (Dec 20, 2009)

fkonidaris said:


> Speedracer, thank you for the answer! Phew! It sounded like a cool idea to me to allow ahorse some extra room and comfort, but then I started worrying, what if she starts moving all over? I'm thinking of getting a slant load trailer once I have a little more saved up and would love to be able to give my horse the most comfortable ride as possible!


 Might be more of an issue if you were pulling with a undersized vehicle.


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## MyBoyPuck (Mar 27, 2009)

I hauled my horse that way for two seasons. I don't think he moved much at all during transit. I always found him standing the same way he was when we left. I like the idea of him being able to find his own balancing sweet spot.


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## HollyBubbles (Jun 22, 2009)

In New Zealand it doesn't seem to be so much of a common thing to haul your horses loose, so it makes me a little nervous :lol:
My boy has always been trucked until I got him, he didn't know what a straight load trailer was (most common thing in NZ) so he is very unbalanced standing straight in the float. It might seem strange I'm not sure, but I do prefer to haul him with the partition in and him tied up, just to get him used to it. I take him on random journeys to help him get used to it and he is getting much better.. Just recently I took him on a drive that took an hour and a half (mind you I was pulling over for other trucks and horse trailers as Mitch has to take corners veeeery slowly for now) through extremely windy roads both up and down hills, and by the time we got there he was almost asleep in the float, the journey home(next day) was half an hour faster as I didn't have to slow down to snail pace for the majority of the corners.

-Reason being that I have the partition in is because at 16.1hh and wearing a 6'6" cover, Mitch isn't small, and not many floats around here will accommodate that big of a horse should he want to move about and possibly turn to face backwards. I have seen him turn around in that float (when we were teaching him to reverse out of the float) and it was not pretty, he got stuck halfway around and I had to step in and actually forcefully pull him out, but this is a straight load 2-horse trailer remember.


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## fkonidaris (Jan 26, 2012)

Thank you everyone for your responses! The information definitely helps and gives me some to think about. My mare does not like the trailer...only trailered her once and that was when I bought her. It was a HORRIBLE experience! I'm hoping to get a slant load and open it up inside so she has some room and get her trained to load and unload nicely without being so scared. I'm hoping the extra room will help her out.


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## NBEventer (Sep 15, 2012)

For a horse that is nervous about loading the more open the trailer looks, the better. I always like to have a door in the front that opens so there is light at the front of the trailer. So a nice open box with an open door at the front should help make a more inviting place


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## Sherian (Aug 28, 2012)

My stock trailer is set up as two box stalls so the horses are not tied and can pick there own posisition. 
A few things to remember are - mine has a calf door in the back door as well as a front escape door, so you can acess the both stalls without giving the horse an opprtunity to escape. The back door is solid so I don't have the issue mentioned in the thread on horse chat where the horse has his head out. It is a bumper pull so if I have one horse on board he is still confined to the front stall, because if weight is heaviest at the back of the trailer it lifts the trailer front and takes the weight of the hitch, this makes the trailer fish tail easily.


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## beau159 (Oct 4, 2010)

When my pocket book can afford it someday, I am going to buy a custom *reverse slant* horse trailer. Because 99% of the time, if horses are allowed to move freely in an open stock trailer, they are going to stand backwards. Might be quite a while until my pocket book can afford it, but someday.

So I do find it rather silly that horse trailers (for the most part) are all forward slants. That's what I have right now for the time being, and it's not like they are uncomfortable, but I know it could be better.


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