Herringbone loading

[jjsblackhorse]

Is there a recommended width for the horse to turn in?

The reason I ask this is that I have bought a trailer rated for up to 2 X 16.2hh horses, my boy is 16hh and will load fine but when it comes to making the left turn into the herringbone position struggles. I have measured both horse and trailer, there is a good 6" space, is this enough?

My plan is to do some ground work around flexing and turning and manovering in tight spaces the see if that helps.

Any suggestions / advice gratefully received.

Many thanks.....😀

 

[Red-1]

This is a reason I don't like the trailers that travel herringbone. To be fair, even when travelling a 16.2 in a lorry it is easier to turn in an 8' wide one than a 7'6!

I had a trailer loading session with a 16.2 in a trailer like this, and the horse quickly learned to load and reverse off, but was obviously antsy about the possibility of turning. I suspected the space would be too small, but the owner wanted to try, as, like yours, the trailer was sold as suitable for bigger horses..... When it came time to turn round the poor mare got stuck!

TBH she took a 6'9 rug, so it is not overly surprising that the trailer was too small for her to turn in.

We re-configured the partitions so it could travel her facing forwards, still on a herringbone, and she would reverse out. It made a 3 horse trailer only suitable for 2 though, a big one and a little one.

 

[Tiddlypom]

This is the trailer that you have, a rear loader, with an obliging demo 16.3hh somehow shoehorned in .

 

[9tails]

I've seen one of these and they haven't made it easy for the horses to get in and turn, why make it bum first rather than head? I wouldn't dream of trying for fear I'd put the horse off loading for a long while.

 

[jjsblackhorse]

They made it look so easy, that horse is much bigger than mine so never gave the size a thought....