# Trailer Help



## Creeping_Charlie (Mar 25, 2020)

Hi. I have a stock trailer for my horse with a divider in the middle. I was wondering if I should put him in the front or back. (Which is safer?) I did want to put him in the back so I can make the front a tack room since I have non. Any opinions appreciated!


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

In the front, makes the load stable for driving.


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## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

Agreed. the front is your load stability.

If you consult with a trailer dealer or body shop they might be able to offer insight on if a partition wall could be formed that would minimize the trailer capacity but give you a small tack space instead...but it must be designed properly to continue the load dynamics = stability during travel you need for safety reasons.
Light in the front and tail {back of trailer} heavy is not the safest design for traveling and not fishtailing or wagging the trailer going down the road.
🐴...


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## dustyk (Nov 14, 2020)

The simple solution is to put a counterweight in the tack room portion of your trailer. steel drum with cement??


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## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

Is this a bumper pull or gooseneck cause that makes a huge difference in what you can do and how easy to accomplish...
What brand is your trailer and how far apart are your cross-members spaced? 
How long is your trailer? 
Now how long is the horse cargo area floor space...
How many feet in front of the center gate and how many feet behind the center gate?
How wide is the trailer? How high is the trailer?
How big are the horse{s} hauled and how many?

Charlie, the mid section gate you refer to...
That I know of as the slam gate, full height, barred opening at top section with a snap shut mechanism approximately mid height of door and a slide bolt at the floor location?
That's what my trailer has...









Now......you could design a small tack room in the nose section {you have no mangers with tack compartment under them??} and build a moving wall to open and close it from the horses. Remember though that _any wall that moves also does not lock and your tack is vulnerable to theft!_
On a stock trailer your sides are open and not sealed against the weather either...
Once you make a tack room in front how and where is your escape door to get out when loading or in a uh-oh moment of danger?








If you are only ever going to haul one horse you can build that kind of tack room and go from a stock to a dedicated slant design...not great space, but space for a saddle bridle and a few small items.
So when you do trailer design and look at trailers that have tack rooms...the axle assemblies are set further back under the longer trailer length.















That is what gives stability and better ride for truck and trailer occupants...
The truck carries only a percentage of the weight of the entire load, the trailer balances the rest of the weight on the axles appropriately placed.

There is a lot to think about to do this so it remains a safe trailer to use for horse and human...
There is no do this or that you think...it comes down to equations, and number crunching...
Best though is if the trailer was designed to have a tack room it would...the fact it doesn't have one makes me think its not been designed for the change in load dynamics you are referring to doing.
That can make it challenging, potentially dangerous to trailer.
🐴... _ jmo._


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## Creeping_Charlie (Mar 25, 2020)

horselovinguy said:


> Is this a bumper pull or gooseneck cause that makes a huge difference in what you can do and how easy to accomplish...
> What brand is your trailer and how far apart are your cross-members spaced?
> How long is your trailer?
> Now how long is the horse cargo area floor space...
> ...


 should I only give him half or whole trailer if I do no tack room?


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## Creeping_Charlie (Mar 25, 2020)

Horse free in stock trailer. Or confined to 1 half?


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## ChieTheRider (May 3, 2017)

Confined is best. If there's an accident there will be less bouncing around on the inside. I find horses loose in a stock trailer tend to get worked up.


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## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

In my opinion..._*1/2 the trailer*_...
He needs to fit in body length and height, but to be given more extra "roaming" room, no...not in the best interest of the animal truthfully.
You may not want the horse "in a stall" configuration, but you do want him in a compartment configuration as he is actually safer that way than loose or no restrictions to where his body would be tossed if the unthinkable happens of accident.
Close the center gate and give him a piece of the trailer to travel in.

Just like humans riding in a vehicle should wear a seat-belt/shoulder harness combo, you are also "in a bubble" called the passenger compartment and that then divides down smaller to driver, passenger, front or rear seating position and vehicles are made to take impact and reduce concussive forces to the occupant inside in that compartment space...
Those passengers who had/have restricted movements are less likely to be injured...that is a fact, hence airbags, seatbelts and the designs of vehicles today as they are.
Want to go further into compartmenting...look at professional car racing.
Not only are drivers secured by seatbelts, they sit in a custom designed seat, it is literally molded from/to their body that restricts and absorbs impact energies...compartmentalized and it saves lives as is proven. Today special devices are worn to prevent the head from forces that snap the neck and lower brain stem...which under incredible force is near instant death as is the case of the famous drive Dale Earnhardt...
What was learned by his death has saved countless others and those physics of motion then worked with and applied to animal transport...so, yes restrict the space the horse has to have his body launched around in...
Besides that...you do not want a loose horse moving around when you are traveling at speed cause that animals movements and weight unrestrained will cause a terrible accident.
Horse trailers are no different, neither are livestock cattle hauling tractor trailers...those when in accidents have less carnage when the animals are not flung far and wide but held in a smaller area.
If you read reports of gruesome facts from accidents that include trailers with animals on them...the facts are compartmented animals have less injuries than loose do.
Cattle on large commercial trailers going to slaughter houses carry full loads or cattle side touching cattle side...they can jostle, they can fight if they want, they can knock each other down...but...in a accident situation the trailer that was full of livestock has much less death and serious injury than the trailer near empty and the animals were tossed around sustaining disastrous injuries and more deaths.

So, to me...the horse is safest during travel not "roaming" the trailer nor having a large expanse to bounce around in should the unthinkable happen.
You need to pre-plan for the what if scenario occurs cause sadly, post disaster is the time to second guess....being pro-active to safeguard is done before you ever load up.
I also don't leave mine loose, but tie for the same reasons...reduce movement and in a "compartment".
🐴...


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## addctd2horses (Jul 10, 2020)

My trainer leaves them free, but I have the dividers in my trailer.... When they are with cows, she leaves them packed in with the cows and loose. It worked wonders on making a really calm and happy horse out of mine when she was somewhat tightly wound LOL


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