My horse jumped the trailer chestbar tuesday afternoon?

Question

She actually sustained no injury to her legs whatsoever, which was very lucky. However, her face got all cut up, except for where the noseband of the halter was. No i'm wondering, do you think its ok to go back to riding her ( i gave her a couple of days off to make sure her legs were ok and let her cuts scab over)?

Also, she jumped it while the trailer was moving, i've never heard of them doing that while moving, only while parked. We are buying our on trailer after this incident. Any advice on a good trailer type (slant load, stock, straitload ect) that will discourage her from doing this again? we're getting a bumper pull, under $4000...

thanks!!

Answer 1

WOW... My horse did this too, and we had to take the WHOLE trailer apart to get him undone. As he is only 14.hh he was hanging there and was in soo much shock. It was a scary thing.  Yeah. She should be fine to ride... I rode my boy 2 days later and he was awsome.

Good Luck!

Answer 2

I would think that if her legs weren't injured and the wounds on her face, specifically where the bridle will go, are healed up, you could ride her.

As far as trailers, I would highly recommend a slant load.  The horse is better protected from injury should the trailer be involved in a car accident because the shoulder and hip are against the wall.

A stock trailer is fine, but be sure to put plywood up on the walls and rubber mats on the floors.  This will make your trailer heavier, but it will also help protect your horse.

With a slant load, there is no chest-bar for your horse to get hung up on. My main trail horse did the same thing once, while the trailer was moving, and I was inside the trailer with him.  He did scrape his legs up and his head, but he recovered and we never had to transport him in a straight load trailer again.  We used a slant load and have never had any problems like that again...with any horse.

Answer 3

It's not as rare as you might think...the amount of space in front of those bars invites it in some horses.  Any trailer where she has no space in front of her is what you should buy.

She should be ridden as long as you can do it without your gear irritating her injuries.

Answer 4

My 6 y.o. did the same thing. he got both front legs up in solid metal manger and just sat there for about 2 minutes. he wasnt scared he just didnt want to leave. he started bouncing the trailer and the got one foot up and then bounced again and then got the other foot up there. it scared me to death but we couldnt help him cause his sheer weight prevented us from lifting his legs to get them down. so my dad tied another lead rop to him (besides the trailer one) and gradually got them both losed up eough where he could get down and i released the butt bar and he got his legs out and backed down off the trailer. we loaded him up again and he was fine/ checked all over for injuries and when we got where we were going my dad put him through inspection and he was fine. now lame-ness since. he also kicked out the front glass vent in the process. its okay we were going to replace it anyway. no harm to him though. i rode him when we got to the fairgruonds and he was fine. but watch the cuts on your horses face to make sure nothing gets infected and make sure he/she is UTD on tetanus!!! horses do some weird and scary things!!

Answer 5

This is extremely unusual.   She should not be able to jump over a chestbar.  Was she not tied?    Was the bar not adjusted high enough?    

If you have any worries about her, I'd have a vet look her over.  She might look ok at a glance but have a back or other injury.  

The way to avoid this is to buy a stock trailer which has no chest or butt bars.  The horse rides free.  It's like a stall on wheels!   And the nice thing is they're usually cheaper than the fancy "horse" trailers.  

I personally HATE slant loads.  You have to load each horse & lock them in with a partition wall that swings.  If the horse get scared with this partition swinging up against him, he may fly backwards while you're trying to lock him in.  I also don't like how you have to unload horses #2 and #3 to get #1 unloaded.  

I also like quality straight loads.  Make sure the chest bar is the right height for your horse though!  I own a Brenderup brand 2-horse straight load, and I've never had this happen.   Also make sure your horse is tied properly to discourage them from rearing up or other silliness.

One other suggestion:   she may have mentally flipped out.  Most horses don't even try to get over the chest bar.   I might suggest more trailer loading training with her.

Answer 6

as long as the bridle isn't touching any of her boo-boos, she should be fine to ride.

I would have to say a slant load is your best bet as far as stopping her from going over the bar, as there is (usually) no bar, just a wall, which she obviously can't go through.