# Trailer Window Style



## gottatrot (Jan 9, 2011)

I really prefer drop down windows. They are the easiest to check on horses at stops, to untie horses before opening the back doors, to give some feed through. You can get really good ventilation with the bars up and window down. 
Google Image Result for https://www.horsetraileraccessorystore.com/assets/images/2018_fabform_vision_deluxe__2_horse_trailer_-_galvanized_steel_-_upgraded_double_rear_doors_-_roof_vents_hphyda.jpg


----------



## ACinATX (Sep 12, 2018)

Do the windows at the top have screens? If so, that's what I'd prefer. That way you don't have to worry about stuff getting kicked up from the roads and into your horses faces.


----------



## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

You are referring to very different styled trailers...
*The first trailer is a enclosed trailer* with this one having a drop-down window, a window hinged at the bottom the top latch is released and window now opens and latches at the bottom for travel.
This kind of window for the horses protection should have bars on it that also can be dropped, but are kept up during travel so horses do not stick their head out with many sustaining eye injuries to as much as decapitation from branches and passing vehicles!!
Screens placed on the window inside reduce flying debris as another added option.

_*The second trailer is a stock trailer style...*_
There are no windows, but higher placed sides allow for excellent airflow._ {This particular trailer shown also has a escape door driver side and bet another passenger side so accessing a horse is really easy...in a emergent situation those doors can be used to remove a horse off the trailer, they are that wide!}_
If you go with a stock trailer speak to the sales staff about butterfly vent and if they have screening as they allow much airflow to the front sealed section where the horses head goes if you travel straight load or even slant, the first horse has good body ventilation but can get stuffy at the face area in the trailer nose.
My stock trailer happens to have a window on the front that opens...my husband made it able to vent and give a soft breeze of airflow...use to be jalousie windows on trailers allowed this years ago...{I age myself!}

Now, some slant-load trailers I see have the design of the stock trailer on the passenger side {open} but the drop-down windows drivers side...
The idea of this is more control of the airflow in inclement weather.
With open sides in rain the horse may indeed get wet who stands inside...cover with a rainsheet or turnout if that is a problem to you fixes that dilemma. Traffic passing on the road creating road-spray will reach your horse inside.
Open sides though are far more airflow positive so if living in a hot, humid climate...it is what I have living in Florida in honesty.
On a trailer with drop-down windows should also be a ability to slide the window open for ventilation but not having to drop it....you can control amount of air so regulate temperature inside if winter cold is near.
Roof vents on this kind of trailer also helps with degree of airflow given as well as often a trailer like the one you pictured has windows on the back door{s}...these too add a great deal of airflow amounts achieved depending upon how you open or not them.
A enclosed trailer {1st picture} is also able to be sealed against bad weather, keeping leaves and debris out, if a tack room it keeps tack dry and is also lockable where a stock trailer {2nd picture} is not.
The one thing I will suggest strongly is_ no matter the trailer _*get a insulated roof *so it reduces noise of rain/sleet/hail for the occupants insides comfort since their hearing is so sensitive. It also helps soften/absorb the road noise for the horse{s} traveling.

I will show in several pictures you can see what a drop-down can do...good or bad...
And that there is another option of window, a slider that also allows good ventilation that can be placed either side...
Today with so many having slant load the drop-down has become popular so each animal has airflow for cooling directly on them...
Years ago, or on straight load trailers, windows at front, in egress human door and side of trailer along with back door offer a lot of options for air flow and direction.
















This below is exactly why you never, ever trailer with window down and no bars in place...
Sadly, many a horse has lost a eye, received a severe face/neck laceration wound or...been decapitated by telephone pole or a passing tractor trailer as the vehicles pass close by...it happens, don't let it happen to your horses please!!










Depending upon manufacturer and model/options available you can get a stock sided trailer and have "slides" made that slide in and seal the trailer for inclement weather travel...
And I see many trailers that have drop-down windows driver side have either a open stock side passenger side or longer slider windows installed so you get great ventilation with perks of a closed trailer for year round trailer use in areas where more protection may be wanted for cold weather travel.
When you travel within road use laws, trailers should be in the furthest right hand lane of travel so open passenger side has no/few chances of road-spray inside happening except for if you are passing a slower moving vehicle than you are.
Hope that helped you some...
Enjoy your trailer shopping...
*🐴...*


----------



## twhvlr (Jul 5, 2017)

I have one of each. I just got the one like picture #1 last year. I have 4 horses and the oldest one won’t go into it. Now granted, I haven’t tried very much yet as my DH is usually my helper and is very short on patience.
All go into the stock trailer with no problems. That trailer is going nowhere until I die! I live in a high fire danger area and need to be able to load quickly and easily just in case. I get the sense that my mare is claustrophobic in trailer #1. I guess the reason that I haven’t pushed the issue is because that mare isn’t technically mine. She belongs to my daughter-in-law and just lives here until son retires from the army next year.


----------



## AragoASB (Jul 12, 2020)

View attachment 1112649

This is my Calico stock combination horse slant load trailer. It has a sliding door for loading stock plus a swing out step up door for horses.

My new Saddlebred had been shipped across the US and was from a show barn on the east coast. So he had shipped before. At my trainers he was loaded on 5 horse slant loads and also ramp slant loads. He caused trouble refusing most of the times but this was stubborn behavior, not nervous never been loaded behavior. My trainer used yelling and jerking and he did get in those trailers for trail rides.

At the beggining of outr training relationship relationship I took my trailer to the trainer so she could 'train' him to get in my trailer. She did get him in there one time by yelling and jerking. He did get in after rearing and falling down. She said the trailer was too small for him. Once she got him in there he would likely never get in again and I needed a different trailer/ I looked at used trailers for sale now and they cost more than my barn. My trailer was for my Arabian. It is not a warmblood horse trailer. It is a 6'8" tall. 

She would not train him unless a truck (my truck) was hooked up because unhooked up trailers can move. I left my trailer there since I live 160 miles away When her gooseneck truck had to have some work I said she could use my bumperpull trailer to take horses to the vet. She also used it to get loads of hay but I digress.

We went there 4 days ago to bring Arago home. To my astonishment he got right in. My husband said she must have been working on this. Anyway, he turned in the trailer and seemed to want to ride backwards. So we tied him that way and my husband drove behind. Arago rode well he said. Big trucks passing on the highway he looked at and became less concerned. On the coast range mountain roller coaster highways I drove like I was hauling eggs. 

Anyway, this is how a big long tall nervous Saddlebred rode in a stock/horse trailer.

So, when my husband and I went to bring my horse home, apparently she had been working on loading because he got right in. This is an open stock type trailer where a horse can see around. He turned around in the trailer and seemed to want to ride backwards so that is what we did. This nervous and high strung horse rode well. My cowboy husband was following us and this is was opinion.


----------



## puff (Jan 18, 2021)

Do NOT trailer your horses with the face side windows open unless they have a mesh screen or bars. Here in Oklahoma keep seeing horses with their heads hanging out the windows while going 70+mpj down the highway. Extremely dangerous for your horses. If a rock or big bug hit's them in the face they will throw their head up and suck back which can cause terrible injuries


----------



## Chevaux (Jun 27, 2012)

I prefer closed trailers with windows shown in your first pic, OP. As mentioned by others, the bars and screening are important. 

I live in Canada (with cold winters) so this is my primary reason for a closed trailer, my second reason is the safety provided by the screens and bars on the windows, and my third reason is the bigger windows bring in more light making for a brighter interior for the horse. 

I have a slant load with screened drop down windows on the driver side, screened slide opened windows on the passenger and back sides plus roof vents so feel I can achieve a ventilation level that is compatible with an open sided stock trailer without the nuisance of unwelcome and possibly damaging debris coming into the trailer.


----------



## beau159 (Oct 4, 2010)

I prefer a trailer with drop down windows, rather than a stock-style trailer, because then I can control the air flow. So if I need to haul in the winter when it's below freezing or colder, then I don't have to blanket my horses and I don't have to mess around with pexiglass inserts to control airflow in the stock.


----------

