Ramps.. my experience is a broken jaw

[guest@endurance.net]

Char Antuzzi char_antuzzi@hp.com
Just my words and thoughts. Everyone has their own and this subject seems
to be one of those touchy ones. Think about this.. when you are by
yourself, the horse is loaded, where is your face as you bend over to get
the ramp off the ground? It is directly behind the horse. I was bent over
picking up one of those heavy ramps, had the smaller top doors closed and
was kicked in the face by a very well trained, older horse. It shattered
my jaw and for 3 months I had it wired shut. The only benefit to this was
that having your jaw wired shut, does help one to lose some unwanted
pounds! What caused this horse to kick, who knows, this horse was hauled
everywhere, he loaded just fine, we had been roping off him for the
afternoon with not one problem. This was one of those solid older
trailers, but there is no way, a person can lift one of those ramps, off
to the side. You have to get down and lift the thing in the middle.

I would never own a ramp, not just for the reason that I gave, but like
all the other replies, they are horrible on un-even ground, the ramps bend
and torque, springs break, etc. I am also a firm believer and was taught
you NEVER lead a horse out of any trailer. You make the horse back out. I
have a slant load and I just hold the divider over against my horses and
they all back out. You never know when you will have to get hauled out
somewhere in a strange trailer and they have to back out of a straight
load trailer. I have also seen first hand a horse that had its head
sticking out of the drop down window, going down a narrow road, a semi
truck was coming the other way hauling logs. Without getting to graphic it
was not a pretty picture to see the horses head being struck by a log on
the logging truck and dying instantly. This was the most horrific things I
have seen and could have been prevented, just by shutting the door.

Good luck in your decision, which ever way you go, make sure the trailer
is safe, has a good floor, you know all those important details.