3.5t Breast Bar height question

K

kempah

Member
Joined
15 February 2017
Messages
11
Visit site
hi, looking for your thoughts on having an adjustable breast bar in a horsebox with tack lockers in the horse area

like this one

http://media.ybw.com/files/instance.../f26be47a6c2203114324a67affab0a08-360x270.jpg

Does the lower setting have any benefit?....since the tack locker/boxes are right behind it?

doesn't look like the rear door is big enough to fit a horse through but would you still want the bar to be collapsible if the tack lockers are there like in the pic?

Is there any need for rear wide doors if there's a partition seperating the horse and grooms area?
 

Ther are worse designs out there than this one, though I still wouldn't travel a horse in it.

Always go for a collapsible breast bar cf a welded in one, but it is imperative that you can collapse them from outside the vehicle if a horse does get strung up on it. Adjustable height breast bars are good to accommodate different height equines. That rear door does look too narrow to be a viable emergency exit.
 
hi

what is it you dislike about that one?

would you rather have no tack lockers in the horse area (just breast bar, with a small amount of wheel arch near the bulkhead) or do you mean something else?

I've seen this same design but with a shelf over the middle part, looks a bit odd.....they could still get their feet up if they tried! the but zero chance of the horse getting stuck



thanks
 
IMHO that design encourages the horse to think of exiting the box via the grooms door. Many horses have attempted to do just that, and there have been a number of serious injuries and even fatalities as the horse got trapped.

Some folk on here advocate anti jump barriers, maybe someone will come along and describe them better than I can (I've never seen one IRL).

I prefer the stallion box design, with no breast bar. I've travelled horses in one very similar to this, and I was very impressed with the safety and useabilty of the whole thing.

 
thanks again

The Stallion Box design makes sense to me....it's not like there's any breast bar in bigger Herringbone boxes....but the Stallion boxes appear to make up a small percentage of 3.5 tonners

I'd have thought it's pretty unlikely the horse will ever use the breast bar as support in a rear facing box
 
Last edited:
Surely the problem with stallion boxes is that in the event of an emergency stop, or getting shunted from behind, the horse has nothing to brace against and it's head will go straight into the back resulting in head and neck injuries.

My preference (I think) is for that shelf type design but a full shelf with no gap. That way if the horse does get its legs up you just have to pull it down. Shelf world need to be a solid build, probably rubber covered, so the horse's legs can't go through it.
 
In the event of an emergency stop or front end prang in any rear facing box (stallion or conventional), the sudden deceleration will shift a horse backwards so that its quarters are pushed against the bulkhead (behind the driver).

If crashed into from behind, then the breast bar of a conventional box may help prevent the horse from tipping forwards cf the open design of a stallion box.

It's a case of risk management, really. There will always be compromises with small boxes. IMHO welded in/blocked in breast bars should be banned.
 
Tiddlypom said:

Ther are worse designs out there than this one, though I still wouldn't travel a horse in it.

Always go for a collapsible breast bar cf a welded in one, but it is imperative that you can collapse them from outside the vehicle if a horse does get strung up on it. Adjustable height breast bars are good to accommodate different height equines. That rear door does look too narrow to be a viable emergency exit.
Click to expand...

This design is very inviting for the horse to climb on/over, whether in panic or if they're just restless. I wouldn't put mine in a box designed like this
 
hadn't thought about the breast bar's use in a rear collision....definitely compromises with these boxes, doesn't seem to be an ideal type

which design type do you prefer Catroo?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top