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We Are Flying Solo

August 31, 2009

A Tale Of Two Trailers

As I intimated in my clinic post, trailering had suddenly become an issue in the winter of 2006. At the time, I had my cherry red 1987 WW which stood at a whopping interior height of 6'6". As I mentioned, Solo technically fit in it. As long as he did not raise his head or want to move. At all. It had mangers and a solid divider too, so his feet had to STAY PUT. But he'd ridden in it quietly the three hours up when we moved and we had gone on a trail trip or two.



When I went to load him up for our PNH clinic, his reaction went something like this:

Walk walk walk walk, oh, the trailer, hmmmmmm, I don't really want to OHMYGODHELLNO I AM NOT GETTING IN THAT THING SCREWYOUI'MOUTTAHERE!!!!!!!

Yes, he stood up on his hind legs (I had put a butt rope on him for gentle encouragement), hopped over the rope and galloped off down a fenceline.

Leaving me standing with a longeline and ropeburn in one hand (note to self: gloves are a good invention) and a dumbfounded look on my face. Well, crap, now what?

I went and got my horse again and recruited two helpers from the barn and with a little coercion (which included me smacking my head on the escape door, gah!) we got him in and slammed the door. It would get us there.

At the end of the clinic, dear, wonderful Carol spent two hours with me and Solo showing how to properly load a horse onto a trailer. I use that method to this day: keep their feet moving forward. Life outside the trailer SUCKS REALLY BAD and life inside the trailer is awesome and full of pets and treats.

My conclusion: 6'6" trailers are for cows and small ponies. Not for 16 h beefcake horses. It had to go. AND since my Expedition had broken down on the way home from the clinic and was quickly revealing itself to be a problem ridden BEAST, it HAD to go, I was tired of fixing it.

New rig requirements:

-7' tall!!!!!!!!!!
-stock sides (Horses need ventilation! If they are sweaty when you pull them off the trailer, "ur doin' it rong!"
-straight load (My horse just didn't fit in any slants I tried, he was too long)
-bumper pull (I still wanted an SUV)
-steel steel steel (I like my horse haulers heavy and strong)
-dressing room (I am a charter member of the club I Have Too Much Crap Even Though I Only Have One Horse )

Voila!!!
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It had 150,000 miles but it purred like a kitten and had a brand new transmission. I <3'ed the Tahoe!

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2007 Adam Special 15' -- brand new on the lot!

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Open, airy, inviting, just the way I wanted it!

3 comments:

  1. Dude, I love this rig! I need to find myself a good, inexpensive setup. I know next to nothing about towing, though. :(

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  2. Yes, count me as another member of the "Clueless About Towing" group.
    Is there some kind of a school where they teach you how to drive one of those things? I can't even back up my Saab without breaking into a cold sweat.
    But I'm sure Solo was happy to have a brand-new, airy trailer that you could load him into without the use of Crisco and a crowbar, lol.

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  3. Practice practice practice practice. Since I work on boats, I get lots of free practice at work, that turns you into a trailer backing fiend! In the course of buying three trucks and two trailers, I have learned a LOT about towing though, hmmm, perhaps someday a topical post on that might be in order.

    Oh, and Nicole -- Adam trailers are SUPER affordable and made to laaaaaaast and they tow just beautifully!

    ReplyDelete