Full Length Breast Bars

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Pink Gorilla

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Has anyone found that taking the centre partition out and adding full length breaching bars in an Ifor Williams has helped to stop their horse stumbling round corners? Also I have a HB510 Hunter. Is this a different width to the regular HB510? I can't find anything online about them and don't want to buy the wrong width bars.
 
Pink Gorilla said:
Has anyone found that taking the centre partition out and adding full length breaching bars in an Ifor Williams has helped to stop their horse stumbling round corners? Also I have a HB510 Hunter. Is this a different width to the regular HB510? I can't find anything online about them and don't want to buy the wrong width bars.
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Yes. I had a horse that used to lose balance and lean against the centre partition. The scrabbling of his legs around corners was alarming. We were advised by an experienced elderly horseman to remove the partition and put in a full length breast bar BUT to tie the horse with a lead rope to the tie rings on either side . This way the horse could not turn around. He became a very good steady traveller like this.
This was some years ago so I can’t advise on trailer models today,but I am sure the same advice would apply
 
Yes it worked for both horses i had do this but would also add both my horses used to travel fine and then in the same trailer one day could no longer balance and were later found to have lameness problems. One arthritis and one suspensories. vet said scrambling in trailer is normally linked to something
 
Timelyattraction said:
Yes it worked for both horses i had do this but would also add both my horses used to travel fine and then in the same trailer one day could no longer balance and were later found to have lameness problems. One arthritis and one suspensories. vet said scrambling in trailer is normally linked to something
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Same with one of mine he had a suspensory injury he started leaning on the partition and the back of my 3.5 ton lorry.
 
Timelyattraction said:
Yes it worked for both horses i had do this but would also add both my horses used to travel fine and then in the same trailer one day could no longer balance and were later found to have lameness problems. One arthritis and one suspensories. vet said scrambling in trailer is normally linked to something
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Oh interesting. I will mention it to my vet when he comes next month.
 
Yes I did. But also as mentioned above my horse went from travelling well to scrambling about and shortly later diagnosed with arthritis. I used 2 ropes, from the rings on side of headcollor one to each side of trailer. I then used the same set up with my next horse as he was quite big in that trailer until I got a bigger one.
 
Is it a mare? I think they struggle much more with partitions due to their pelvis.

A really simple fix I used to do was to remove the bars at the back of the partition and tie the partition to the side so the horse had a lot more space at the rear and solved a lot of problems. I now have a herringbone trailer instead.
 
i have always travelled my boy with a full length breast bar. travels beautifully. the main reason i did it initially was he was extremely tricky to load. i would never travel anything else with him. he is 17.2 so needs the extra space. the bonus is i can tack up easily in the trailer (511) and then get him off when we are ready. i don't think i would ever have solved his loading issues if i had left the partition in
 
I always travel without a central partition. Years ago my horse, who had always been a very good traveller, suddenly began to scramble to keep her balance. She was loaded on the correct off side as she was travelling alone but as an experiment, I tried her on the near side and that worked OK for a while. But eventually she began to lose her balance again. I can't remember now how I came to remove the central partition but it worked a treat and she found her balance and no problems from then on. I have done that with horses I have had since and also no problems. One thing I have noticed is when I arrive and open the jockey door, they are standing slightly diagonally with hind legs spread a bit, both mare and gelding I have had since. Which implies to me that they need the space to do that.
 
I travel one with no partition and full length breast and breach bar. Important to cross tie as mine almost got stuck trying to turn around once when I wasn't quick enough to cross tie after loading.

He always stands diagonally and doesn't move an inch when travelling. He's a v chunky 16.1 in a hb505.

I would always use back(breach) bar although I know some people don't. ... Imagine going to lift rear ramp and horse reverses out .... Could be nasty... Bar also stops them leaning on rear ramp when travelling.
 
My old mare struggled when I turned left in the trailer. I only folded the partition and used the full length back bar . So her front was supported and her rump could find its own balance and that worked really well for her.
 
scats said:
I had a gelding who we always travelled without the partition. He would choose to stand diagonally so we tied him as such.

I removed the partition in my van conversion and my mare travels diagonally too, by choice.
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Given enough space to do it, I think every horse I've ever travelled has chosen to travel diagonally, whether facing backwards, forwards or sideways.
.
 
Thank you everyone! I'll call the trailer place and order some today. It does sound like it would be worth the money. No he's a gelding LEC, but sounds like a lot like to stand diagonal. Would love to buy a herringbone or rear facing trailer or box one day, as that seems to be the preferred way for them.
 
The only time I’ve had a horse come down in the trailer is the time I had partitions in. I don’t even really know why I did, but I’ve never had them in again since.
 
Pink Gorilla said:
Thank you everyone! I'll call the trailer place and order some today. It does sound like it would be worth the money. No he's a gelding LEC, but sounds like a lot like to stand diagonal. Would love to buy a herringbone or rear facing trailer or box one day, as that seems to be the preferred way for them.
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Studies have shown that EVERY horse prefers to travel diagonally when given the choice, and most will turn to face rearward if left loose and with sufficient room (like in a cattle truck).
 
Weirdly enough I took my lad out yesterday and decided to try travelling him minus the partition. So I put the big bars in, cross tied him fairly loosely and loaded him up. When I got to my destination an hour later he'd arranged himself diagonally and had travelled really well. He'd even eaten a bit of hay on the way. I definitely sticking to this way of travelling from now on.
 
I agree with what others have said, I have always found that horses travel better with full-width bars. It might be worth checking ebay etc before ordering new? Got mine from a local seller on ebay for about half the new cost!
 
We tend to leave the partition in but pin it back at the rear and put a full bar at the rear only.

Gives them space to spread at the rear end but gives some support at the shoulder, as well as them not being able to move too much

EDIT this does effectively allow them to travel diagonally
 
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Pink Gorilla said:
Has anyone found that taking the centre partition out and adding full length breaching bars in an Ifor Williams has helped to stop their horse stumbling round corners? Also I have a HB510 Hunter. Is this a different width to the regular HB510? I can't find anything online about them and don't want to buy the wrong width bars.
Click to expand...

Yes it does. My last boy couldn’t stand up due to arthritis (how we discovered he had changes actually) with a partition took it out and never paddled round a corner ever again.

I keep them out with Faran as I like being able to tack up etc out of the typical wet Scottish weather 👍🏼
 
Another tip is to leave a rope in the trailer, so that when you load, you only have to clip onto the headcollar and then you can focus on your leading rope for cross tying. My boy started to struggle travelling and now only travels full width/minus partition. In his case he was diagnosed PSSM1.
 
I also travel using full width bars and take the central partition out.
The biggest problem for me in my trailer, is where to tie the hay net, as it is a horse trailer and being a pony they cannot reach a haynet tied to the nose of the trailer. I tie the haynet up on the right and then cross tie but with the left hand lead set very long and the right hand lead set very short.
 
Fransurrey said:
Another tip is to leave a rope in the trailer, so that when you load, you only have to clip onto the headcollar and then you can focus on your leading rope for cross tying. My boy started to struggle travelling and now only travels full width/minus partition. In his case he was diagnosed PSSM1.
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Ah yes mine has Pssm1 too
 
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