EXIT PLAN
Over 264 million cars are out on today’s roads. With
the advent of cell phones, IPads, and GPS touch
screens, rear vehicle collisions are at an all-time
high. Since horses mostly enter and exit at the rear
of horse trailers, additional protection, and alternative
exits are becoming a must rather than a luxury.
It could be the difference between life and death.
Before considering where and how additional exits
can be used effectively on horse trailers, let’s take a
look at the benefits and drawbacks of the common
rear entrances found on most horse trailers, and
how effective they are in protecting against rear
impact. There are only three basic rear entrance
configurations (with variations) on all horse trailers:
lower ramp with upper storm doors, two full height
doors (no ramp) commonly called “step-ups,” and full
height doors with ramp.
FULL HEIGHT DOORS. The “Full Height Door” configuration,
commonly called “step-ups” consists of two full doors
hinged on both sides of the rear of the trailer. They are
standard on most straight load manger style trailers and
slant load trailers. The two full doors commonly found on
straight load manger trailers completely enclose the rear of
the trailer. Both doors are the same width and height and
open in the middle. The same is true of a slant load trailer
unless it has a rear tack whereas the door that opens into
the mid tack will be smaller in width. This configuration is
called “one third/two third” doors. Since full height doors
open on side hinges, heavier, stronger doors are easy to
open and close so adding weight for strength to protect
horses from rear collision is not a hindrance as it is with
ramps that have to be light for manageable lifting. But
horses having to back out of step up trailers are always at
risk of slipping under the trailer. However, slant load trailers
without rear tack compartments, have enough room for
horses to turn around and be led out head first, eliminating
the problem. But this does not negate the many other
safety design flaws inherent in slant load trailers.
LOWER RAMP WITH UPPER STORM DOORS. A “Ramp With Upper
Storm Doors” combination consists of a ramp located
on the lower portion of the rear trailer that commonly
ranges from forty-eight to fifty-two inches tall, and two upper
storm doors directly above the ramp. The upper doors
are hinged on both sides of the trailer and open from the
middle. They may or may not have windows for ventilation.
Often, they can be opened with side tie-backs during
travel to increase ventilation (unless not recommended by
the manufacturer) or removed. This ramp/tail door combination
is usually standard on most three, four, and six horse
straight load style trailers. Since horses most always face
forward in straight load trailers, their heads are safely away
from a rear collision, and they are in the right position to
move forward to a secondary exit. Note, however, that
for normal loading and unloading, a ramp eliminates the
possibility of horses slipping under the trailer, which always
exists when horses are walking backward and blindly
stepping down and out of the trailer. The drawback is that
ramps need to be light enough to lift yet strong enough to
withstand impact since it is the only barrier protecting the
horses.
TRAINING & Showing
FULL HEIGHT DOORS WITH RAMP. The “Full Height Doors With
Ramp” combination are two full doors with an addition
of a ramp installed behind the doors. The doors are equal
in width, completely closing up the rear of the trailer, with
upper windows and are secured by an exterior two-point
latch. Since heavily built full height doors have the optimum
strength against rear impact and because ramps are
vital in preventing horses from slipping under the trailer, the
combination is ideal. With the full doors now being the protector
of your horses, ramps can be much lighter, and with
the assist of helper springs, will take little to no effort to lift.
There is no question that a common fear of those hauling
horses is getting hit in the rear. With the right rear configuration,
minor impacts are often not injurious to horses but are
damaging enough to make the rear exit inoperable. If this
happens, a second exit becomes invaluable. There are
two types of additional exits: those for use in an emergency
and those for use as a common exit.
Standard side, walkthrough doors, located just in front of
each horse are common on most all two horse straight
load walkthrough trailers and can be fairly safe to use as
emergency exits if designed for that purpose. Most confined
horses will willingly exit through any opening available
to them that they can see. If the walk-through doors
are wide and tall enough, it’s not a problem to encourage
horses to jump down and out of a trailer head first. A
recommended door size for use as emergency horse exits
is thirty inches wide and seven feet tall, which we have
standard on our EquiSpirit two horse trailers.
70 www.EliteEquestrianMagazine.com
Continued...
STANDARD EXITS
ADDITIONAL EXITS
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