3.5t with anti weave grills

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Louby

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So downsizing to a trailer was short lived and I now own a 3.5t. It is purely to carry one horse so Im fine payload wise, it has a great horse area and has anti weave grills which I really liked. Im now wondering how on earth you unload with them in place as I cant see there being a lot of room behind the horse to back up to free his neck from being over the grill? This one is one long grill with the two 'V's that goes the full width of the horse area, it can be removed but Id say pretty impossible to do with a horse in and it doesnt pivot so it cant be swung open for unloading.
I just wondered if anyone has anything similar and is it possible to unload with it in place.
Thanks in advance for any replies.
 
Its a knack to do this.
One of my local chums had one of his small boxes with the weave grills in from new about 4 years ago (does transport as a living) but this box only lasted under 3 months with him before he got them removed and higher than std breast bar wall installed instead. They were too dangerous to horses in transit as restricted movement too much. He has 2 small boxes and 4 v large ones one the go all the time.
Not one of the professional transporters I know has them in their boxes - they are either std breastbar or full stallion-type wall/grill if in the little boxes.
 
My box (uprated 3.5t) has weave grills. I specifically asked for them to be put in when we bought the box and we spent a lot of time getting the design right as they needed to open up so that my 18 hander could get out easily.

On my box the weave grills are split in the middle and can be easily swung back and fastened out of the way.

I'm no professional transporter but in the 3 years of having my box I have never had issue with them restricting the horses' movement and the horses have all travelled well in the box (including an over seas trip) but they have stopped a few accidents happening when I have had the misfortune of taking youngsters in it as the horses cannot get their shoulders through the gap.
 
Ive got a fixed weave grill in my 3.5 van, my horse is a 14.2 highland so not the longest horse, but he tends to stand with his head through whilst travelling so he can look out the side window but happily drops his head back through when I unclip the tie chain. I have to be honest and say we never travel more than 30 mins as all our venues are local. If I was doing longer journeys I wouldnt be happy about the set up as would like him to have a bit more freedom to move his head and neck around without the restriction of the bar but for short trips Im perfectly happy as I know he cant attempt to climb over if he spots a stray bit of hay on the tack area floor! The tie chain is on the horse side of the grill but with enough length that he can put his head through the bar or bring it back through.
 
Don't use them! If you've ever seen what happens when a hose tries to get over them .....
Get full doors fitted with or wother out collapsible Breast bar
 
Wimbles said:
Can I ask what happened please?
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He got over the weave grille and ended up wedged just behind the shoulder (basically where girth lies) it was only by sheer luck OH manged to shove him back over after 20 or so mins. Firebrigage arrived 2 mins after we got him out.

Weave grills are touted (and recommended to me) as making it impossible to get over. They aren't and when a horse does get over its much harder to free them than if there was nothing there at all. He would have had to be cut out if OH hadn't been there and there was a real chance if he'd panicked that he'd have had to be PTS.

It was horrific, I wish I'd taken a picture but at the time I thought it would be the last ever picture I took of him so didn't.

Awful things, yes I'd travelled other horses and him in it before with no problem BUT when you've seen what happens with them and how difficult they make rescuing a horse stick in them I would never use them again.
 
I bought the lovely ElleSkyWalkers box with the intention of having an anti jump bar fitted. In the end I actually decided to travel him with them pinned back and bought an insert for the grill to put the whole thing across when he is stood on the lorry whilst I walk courses etc (that is when he is most likely to misbehave). Working well so far and I feel better knowing that if he did go over he would likely damage himself less than if he wedged himself through a weave grill. I am only able to have insert and whole thing across when wAiting because the lorry is very roomy and there's more than enough space for him to not have his head through it though.
 
ElleSkywalker said:
He got over the weave grille and ended up wedged just behind the shoulder (basically where girth lies) it was only by sheer luck OH manged to shove him back over after 20 or so mins. Firebrigage arrived 2 mins after we got him out.

Weave grills are touted (and recommended to me) as making it impossible to get over. They aren't and when a horse does get over its much harder to free them than if there was nothing there at all. He would have had to be cut out if OH hadn't been there and there was a real chance if he'd panicked that he'd have had to be PTS.

It was horrific, I wish I'd taken a picture but at the time I thought it would be the last ever picture I took of him so didn't.

Awful things, yes I'd travelled other horses and him in it before with no problem BUT when you've seen what happens with them and how difficult they make rescuing a horse stick in them I would never use them again.
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Thanks for taking the time to reply. I can quite understand your horror about them being used after a situation like. Hopefully mine would make this situation less likely to happen as they are fully collapsible along with the breast bar? Some definite food for thought.
 
Wimbles said:
Thanks for taking the time to reply. I can quite understand your horror about them being used after a situation like. Hopefully mine would make this situation less likely to happen as they are fully collapsible along with the breast bar? Some definite food for thought.
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You just have to think/find out how easy it actually is to collapse them with a few 100kgs of horse wedged on top of them. Does lorry have a large rear door if horse gets over so they can get out?
 
I think neither is considered ideal - weave grills or open breast bar. Mine has the open breast bar. I know a lot of people don't like them because of the risk of horses going over them, although mine have all travelled fine as it is. I think if I had a choice, I'd probably got for no weave grill at all, or the insert like Michen uses.
 
ElleSkywalker said:
You just have to think/find out how easy it actually is to collapse them with a few 100kgs of horse wedged on top of them. Does lorry have a large rear door if horse gets over so they can get out?
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Yes, it has an extra large rear door for emergency escape and the collapsible pieces work on the same principle as the ifor williams (I think that was the one) breast bar, being released on the outside of the box
 
ElleSkywalker said:
Had an awful incident last year due to weave grills and would recommend you get them removed and replaced with a jump barrier or just left open. Dreadful things!
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I would also never use them, in a stable or travelling, as I too had something happen with them. We had a really intense thunderstorm early one morning and wandered out to check everything was okay. I found that a large NH gelding(16.3hh and built like the proverbial)had bent his grill back flat into his box. It had bent down at an angle so I couldn't open the door. I can only imagined he tried to go over during the thunderstorm, got stuck and bent the grill flat. He had multiple scrapes on his legs, shoulders and around the girth area. it could have been a real disaster. These were not the flimsy ones you can buy at any tack shop but really heavy, solid ones that took two people to carry. I also don't like the welts pushy ones get on their necks , looks like you've been abusing them.
 
Thanks everyone for replying. Gosh :( We fell across this little lorry by chance, it was supposed to be a trailer oooops and the horse area sold it to me as it was so well built compared to others Ive seen over the years. It will have been built before builders started putting full walls in to divide the horse area from the grooms compartment. I dont think it would be straight forward to change it to have a dividing wall in this one but I will have a good look later.
 
I mention this on every thread like this, but I had a full anti-climb barrier retrofitted into my little old lorry. I looked at the weave grills and decided they were a bit iffy for my mischievous horses. I think the climb barrier is a good compromise - plenty of room for the horses, a full barrier and doesn't eat into the grooms area too badly. Mine was fitted by Racemaster who originally built the box.

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Thanks milliepops. Ive had a quick look at some options and I think I will need to go down the same route you have. I really dont want to lose much payload if at all possible, plus Im finding it hard to imagine the head room with these barriers, what size horses have you please as yours really doesnt seem to take up much room at all? Also I can see yours has bolts into the side, is the whole thing removable?
 
it is removable - I'd need some help as it's all one piece but they do different designs including a folding version. I chose the one-piece because it also stops hay and grot getting into the groom area as no gaps ;)

My horses are 15hh and 14.2 but you could put a big horse in without a problem - it's a long and tall box which will accommodate a 16.2 horse with ease size-wise. My horses don't even need to put their heads over what was the wall, tbh, but if they wanted to there is plenty of space. I only ever take one at a time.

The hire boxes I used to use before I got my own had these barriers fitted (as the hire lady had previously had an accident with a horse climbing over) so that was what I was used to - wouldn't consider anything without a full physical barrier of some kind especially as one of mine was a very nervous traveller to start with.
 
Great thanks. Do you mind me asking how much about it cost please? Ive not had my little wagon a week yet so havent tried my horse in it but got the eeby jeebies when a friend said oh its nice but is the horse stall long enough!! After panic set in lol and a lot of googling, Ive since been told mine is a pretty standard length but then my horse is in a 6' 6 rug so I think she will fill the stall so need enough room for her head and neck.
 
was about £600 incl labour and vat but I had an extra window put in at the same time. I had budgeted for it when I bought the box :wink3:

If you know someone handy then it wouldn't be a difficult job to get some treadplate and make your own.. my (now) OH could have done it but at the time I was on my tod and it was preferable to let the experts do it for me :lol:
 
Well theres no hope with my OH ha ha. They certainly know how to charge dont they!! Im going to have to speak very nicely to the OH as he will need sitting down to tell him, as hes already said, we've bought a very expensive trailer :)
 
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