Has anyone had a full width breast bar made?

Coblover63

Coblover63

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We have an old Bahill trailer which is structurally sound, but it only came with two half-width breast bars (and a centre partition!). I want to try travelling my cob without the partition as it is a very snug fit for him when it is in place so we are going to enquire at a local place that does welding (and did a lovely job repairing a previous trailer) to see if they can make us a full-width breast bar. I just wondered if anyone had had one made and how much it cost you? Thanks in advance.
 
Do you know what internal length you'd need? You may find that the Ifor or Bateson bars might fit. You can buy bars from Bateson for £40 so I wouldn't expect it to be much more than that :).

OH made me a pair of full length bars as I didn't fancy the 8 week wait from Bateson. He got some strong metal from work and welded metal to them so they'd sit in the retainers, and drilled holes for the retaining clips. Then added pipe insulation and used electrical tape to cover the full bar. Actual material and time cost was less than £10.
 
Have you a local welder/blacksmith as ours made ours for a Rice Beaufort. He checked the size and fittings needed and made one from a solid steel bar to match which is perfect. Cost us £35.
 
took mine to a local metal fabrication shop, so they could measure it themselves and I could talk through what i needed. think it was £40, a few years ago now. my mare has to have the hole trailer or she cant balance.
 
I made one for a Rice Beaufort... 2 x long upper gate hinges (the kind you get on wooden 5-bar gates), bolted to either end of a stout 3x4 beam.
The pins on the original rice fittings drop nicely through the hinge.

:)
 
Check the length of the regular Ifor Williams ones, also the brackets for the ends. If the regular bars are too long, the ends can be removed and the aluminium bar simply cut to length with a hacksaw. Then put the ends back on and secure with a self tapping screw. Re-attach the brackets for securing each end and you're done. I've shortened a bar that was too long, but that was refitted to an IW trailer. A 30 minute job.
 
All nice and easy....but given the problems you can have if a horse gets over the bar, why not speak to Alexanders and see if they'll sell you one of their frangible bars...?
 
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