Driving with a Horse Trailer
One of the most important aspects of horse trailer safety is learning how to drive the vehicle towing the trailer. Regardless of the length of the trip you are taking with your horses, there are always some risks involved that you just can’t get around. There are also factors outside of your control that can attribute to a situation out on the road. It is essential to make sure that you are prepared as best as possible for the unexpected.
Before hitting the open road it is important to give your trailer a good look over. Check to make sure that the doors shut properly and that there are no protrusions that could cause some injury to your animals. Make sure there are no holes in the floorboard of the trailer. Along with checking the trailer for any type of defects, you should also check the vehicle that will be pulling the trailer. Make sure that the vehicle is able to pull the weight of the trailer safely. Also check the brakes and make sure they are working properly.
Image credit: mjerry49
One way you can test out the horse trailer to make sure it is comfortable is to take a ride in the trailer itself. Make sure you don’t take this for a test ride on the open road, because this can get you in some hot water legally speaking. This will give you a feel for what the ride feels like for the horse that’s riding in the back of the trailer. If you drive considerately, your horse will appreciate it a lot more. You want your horse to be physically safe when you arrive at your destination, but you will also want your horse to be physically well after the ride. This depends largely on how well you drive with the trailer on the open road.
If you are a newbie to driving trailers around, you may want to drive the rig around without any cargo on board for practice. This will help you get a feel for the vehicle and the differences in acceleration with the added weight of the trailer. It’s highly recommended that you master parking and backing up before you hit the open road. While these skills may take some time to get familiar with, they are not impossible to master. Just keep working on them and practicing them and you’ll be an expert in no time.
One tip that you can use to help you learn backing up is to put your hand on the bottom of the wheel. When you want the trailer to go to the left turn your hand to the left and when you want to go to the right, just turn your hand to the right. It’s a lot easier than what you may think.
If you are hauling more than one horse on a straight load trailer, you will want to put the heaviest horse on the driver side of the trailer. This will help to balance the trailer, as most roads are crowned in the middle. Whatever you do, never put a horse in a trailer backwards if the trailer wasn’t designed this way. It can drastically change the weight and this can make for a dangerous trip.
Making sure that your horse is safe and healthy is the ultimate goal of using a horse trailer. Keep this in mind as you are learning how to drive the rig. Learning how to drive safely and carefully is an important part of providing your horse with a safe trip both physically and mentally.