Re: [RC] RE: [RC] Re: RC: Ramp vs Step

[MtnRondi@aol.com]

My first trailer was a step-up and I didn't have a problem with my horses 
entering or exiting. However, one year we went to an NATRC ride (Swanton to 
be exact) and we took our neighbor, her daughter and their horse. When we got 
there our horse backed out just fine. But the neighbor's mare started to 
back, found out there wasn't a ramp, and firmly resolved to never leave that 
trailer. Doris said that it was the first time the mare had been in a step-up 
and she never thought about the un-loading part. We worked and worked and it 
was apparent that this mare planned on living in that trailer for the rest of 
her life. We finally took out the center divider and my husband went in to 
turn her around. She panicked and thrashed around and slammed him against the 
wall and broke his watch (thank goodness that was all that broke) and leaped 
out head first. That was back in 1976, so my memory is fuzzy on what happened 
when we got home and had to unload again. But my next trailers all had ramps 
and I wouldn't go back to a step-up. I have never had a problem using the 
ramp on uneven ground (can always find a rock or something to put under the 
low spot), have never had a horse slip, and guess that any horse I haul will 
figure out how to unload with a ramp.

Bonnie
So. Calif.