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My new trailer has chest bars, but they have pins, the same as the  
butt bars. The idea is that if two people are loading, one person can  
walk all the way through, stop and fasten the chest bar, while the  
other fastens the butt bar.  The escape door is full length - you  
could stand outside the trailer and pull the pin if the horse really  
did get hung up on the chest bar.  Once you pulled the pin, I'd shut  
the door and let the horse's movement free the chest bar.  IMO, it  
would still be a dicy situation, but no dismantling of the trailer is  
required.

As for getting their heads under dividers, chest bars, etc. - I think  
the main prevention is proper training, and restraint when in the  
trailer.

I let Caisson check everything out before I started confining him.  I  
let him bat the butt bar around (I made him quit when he got it  
swinging around like a club), and yes, he stuck his head under the  
chest bar .. once.  Scared himself, and backed out in a hurry - but  
since he wasn't restrained in any way, it was no big deal (and now he  
hopefully knows better.)

As for loading - I trained him to load just like Kat described - I  
stay at the back, he walks in and I fasten the butt bar, close up the  
trailer, then go around and secure his head.  I always have some  
treats up front, so he knows to walk in and put his head *over* the  
chest bar to get the treats.


On Apr 20, 2009, at 12:44 PM, k s swigart wrote:

> Terry said:
>
> > The lady didn't know her trailer. The chest bars are bolted
> >  from the outside. Just loosen the ring/bolt with a tire iron,
> >  and they drop down/off.
>
> As near as I can tell from the photos, neither the Sundowner nor the  
> Exiss "walk through" straight load trailers (the ones with chest  
> bars instead of hay mangers) has the ability to undo the chest bar  
> from the outside of the trailer.
>
> Personally, I don't like getting into a trailer with a horse as I  
> consider it rather unsafe.  In my experience, the type of trailer  
> that has the least amount of risks associated with loading and  
> unloading (with only one person to do it), is the straight load,  
> step up trailer with a hay manger.  You can send the horse into the  
> trailer, close the back door go around to the front and tie the  
> horse in, and you don't have to worry about the horse putting its  
> head under the chest bar (if what you have is straight load with a  
> chest bar), you don't have to worry about the horse turning around  
> before you close the divider (if what you have is a slant load), and  
> you don't have to worry about the horse putting its head under the  
> divider after you have closed it (if what you have is a slant load).


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