HOW BLOODY DREADFUL...

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RIP poor horse, bet the loaner feels absolutely dreadful. Not going to apportion blame, I have years ago had to travel mine in a trailer without a partition so it is quite possible this one didnt have breach bar etc. Regardless of blame, and despite losing my wheels due to ongoing court cause where garage caused damage that caused my lorry accident last month, I still rate lorries and WILL NOT use a trailer anymore.

Used to be a dedicated trailer person, but having had lorry line problems, doors flying open etc, just wont use them anymore, at least with a lorry you feel and hear stuff, you are "one unit"...........trailers are evil, even if you are careful.

I think if you are doing local stuff you can get away with them, but I would NEVER go on a motorway with one again, ever!

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sorry for your experiences but trailers are not "evil" provided they are serviced and maintained properly they are safe and useful bits of kit. i have an ifor williams, thousands of these trailers are in use, you hear of a few incidents......let's please keep this in proportion, i cannot afford nor justify a lorry, so should i not be allowed to transport my horses then??? i have clocked up many motorway miles in a truck and trailer, i prefer towing on the motorway to be honest, i keep the speed down, alot of towing accidents are due to speed.....and i hope to keep safe but i can't forcast ididotic behaviour by other drivers. I will be having a TUI bar fitted to my trailer, not only will it keep a horse in if the ramp drops accidently but it will act as a roll cage in the event of a turnover.....i have seen some pretty horiffic accidents involving horse lorries in my time FYI so perhaps these are evil too??

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agree, lillym..trailers aren't evil...what a strange and emotive thing to say....

for trailers to be made safer..i'm not sure there is an answer..a HUGE step could be made if owners assured their horses/ponies were pretty good loaders/travellers..but then that is down to whoever is driving/towing at the time.

unfortunately nothing is guarenteed
 
you're right there JM. the driver has a huge responsibility, it is not hard to see why some horses/ponies won't load or are bad travellers when you see the way people drive...harsh acceleration, sudden braking and too fast into corners, there is a horse at my yard who was travelled by a terrible driver and wouldn't load again, until i offered his owner use of my trailer for loading practice then took him for short drives and now he will cope with going as far as the local dressage centre for a comp, with careful considerate driving he is almost back to his old self.
 
I don't have a problem with people asking questions - but somebody suggested that the horse might have been alright if the driver had realised immediately and stopped. I think that is very unrealistic. Even if they had noticed a change and stopped immediately I suspect it would already have been too late. I would be interested in knowing more about what happened, but equally I don't think it is fair to assume that the loaners were at fault. After all, it is not as though horse trailers have never failed and caused accidents.

Also, it is easy for people to assume that they didn't fasten the ramp properly. Even though we check over and over again before we set off that all fastenings are secure, it would be easy to question yourself after the event. In my case, the two clips had bent like cheese and the pins were still in place so it was obvious they had been done up. JanetGeorge - I really wouldn't be too sure about how invinceable your IW is.

In our previous Ifor Williams (which we had not long replaced when the accident happened) we had new holes made lower down than the manufactured holes and had full width breast and breach bars with padding round the breast bar. This was after a lovely 14.2hh we had choked seriously, leading to liver failure and being pts, because we had to brake quite sharply (unavoidably). The breast bar, although on the lowest setting, was high enough to hit him in the trachea and oseophagus causing him to choke. The new lower bars we installed would catch a horse at sternum height, rather than higher up, and also make it very difficult for a horse to come out underneath the breaching bar. They worked very well - but alas the trailer was stolen. It was the replacement trailer which had the ramp that failed. So really it was all the fault of the thieves who took our original trailer...
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There is no excuse for people not to have full length breech and breast bars if they travel without partitions (I don't use partitions). Mine cost £40 each for my Bateson Ascot, cheap as chips and add security!

What a horrible accident, but I agree, how you cannot know you have lost your horse or your ramp is down is beyond me
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This is truly horrible and my thoughts go out to everyone involved. However I don't understand how this horse was able to get out. Our trailer jack-knifed and ended up on its side on a dual carriageway. My horse was double tied and even though she had gone 50 yards lying down and the trailer was a complete right-off when she got back on her feet we cut the lead ropes free and she walked out.
 
I agree that if they didn't have a breach bar and the horse wasn't tied properly and/or they hadn't done the ramp up then it is not so surprising the horse came out the back, but even if they did everything right the horse may have stayed on the trailer, but not guaranteed.

It says they heard a slight noise and pulled over as soon as it was safe to do so. Depending on the vehicle, the trailer and the horse, it may not have been obvious that the trailer suddenly felt lighter.

A surprising number of people I've known who use trailers seem to be oblivious to the horse's requirements and once cocooned in their powerful modern towing vehicle don't give a second thought to the horse until they get to their destination, which I think is shocking. Problem is, we don't know what happened in this case. My point is that it really might be the case that they had done everything right and yet it could all still have gone horribly wrong. If they didn't do everything right then presumably the police, horse insurer and/or trailer manufacturer will pick up on it.

Either way, the ramp came down and the police have appealed for information from people who have had the same problem - so anybody who has had a similar problem should contact them.
 
Not sure a breaching bar would have made that much difference. We have 2 Ifor Williams and have had the breaching bars moved lower on the advice of our vet who has had to deal with a number of incidents of horses getting under the bars and causing themselves serious damage. She has written to IWT about this but reckon the bars are set fine.

Be interested to know what make of trailer this is. I just can't see how it's possible for an a properly closed IWT ramp to come down unless there's a problem with it.
 
if it was an older model with anti-luce catches it seems possible, eriskaypony...i cant fathom out how though with the newr types..
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Somebody responded to my post in LN that it WAS an Ifor Williams trailer, a newish one.
I think I'm going to put my breach bar on the lower setting now so he can't go under it!
 
My trailer ramp has failed (luckily whilst empty) I was convinced that I had done it up properly and put the pins in. After reading this I have checked my trailer & can honestly say that the pins could pop out and the handles are so loose a child could open them.

I am now more convinced that I had put the pins in. I was going down a very bumpy road when the ramp came down and looking at just how loose the pins and handles are I can see how they could come out with vibration or bumpy surfaces.

The grooms door always opens without fail whilst driving along unless I put an extra clip on.

My horse loads and travels perfectly but I have had the breast and breach bars clips bend. If they do that with a good traveller, what would happen with a bad one? They bend so easily I feel that they could fail completely and break if they had enough of the horses weight on them.

It is a 2007 Ifor Williams 510
 
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My trailer ramp has failed (luckily whilst empty) I was convinced that I had done it up properly and put the pins in. After reading this I have checked my trailer & can honestly say that the pins could pop out and the handles are so loose a child could open them.

I am now more convinced that I had put the pins in. I was going down a very bumpy road when the ramp came down and looking at just how loose the pins and handles are I can see how they could come out with vibration or bumpy surfaces.

The grooms door always opens without fail whilst driving along unless I put an extra clip on.

My horse loads and travels perfectly but I have had the breast and breach bars clips bend. If they do that with a good traveller, what would happen with a bad one? They bend so easily I feel that they could fail completely and break if they had enough of the horses weight on them.

It is a 2007 Ifor Williams 510

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oooer, that doesn't sound too good.

i'd be worried to death now if i owned one of those trailers now......
 
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The accident happened outside my friends house!
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OMG
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have you any different/up to date info, mooch??
 
I have literally just come in from having an IW arrive on my yard with every one of the spring pins inserted upside down. Had the springs failed they would have dropped straight out.

It will be going out again with the pins the right way up and I'm just off to see if I have a spare couple of carabiners for the jockey door.
 
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I have literally just come in from having an IW arrive on my yard with every one of the spring pins inserted upside down. Had the springs failed they would have dropped straight out.

It will be going out again with the pins the right way up and I'm just off to see if I have a spare couple of carabiners for the jockey door.

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What do you think is upside down? They are meant to be inserted from the bottom up.
 
To start with I read this thread with horror and a certain amount of 'Thank goodness I've got an Equitrek' but on reflection a ramp failure on an Equitrek would result in a very different type of accident - the horse would probably be fine because of the internal gates, but the ramp would drop into passing traffic ... The ramp fixings are pretty heavy duty, but even so I think the carabiner idea is a good one. Mind you, the driver couldn't fail to notice the ramp swinging down as it would fill the mirror.

The groom's door now has an external clip for extra security while travelling. Earlier models didn't have that and I was once flashed by a couple of following cars when my horse managed to open the groom's door (not difficult) and stood there having a good look out ...! A DIY bolt went on pretty sharpish.
 
We have an ifor williams and when we bought it i asked for any tips from the dealer and he said that the front pin on the unloading door should always be fixed from the top, pointing down because he had known someone travel with the pin up and it had worked loose and the door flung open and the horse inside panicked and smashed the front of the tralier, putting their leg through thr front.
I alwaysput my pins in from the top pointing down on the front door and ramp and also on the ramp itself but do admit that i can't do it on the top door when pinned back as the chains are too tight.
 
I lost my horse in an accident with an IW trailer (as posted in Latest News) when the trailer actually came unhitched, despite being hitched correctly. (It had been checked, double and triple checked) It was my friend's trailer and she was driving, and her horse came out of it with minor cuts and bruises. My mare suffered massive head trauma and a broken back after being thrown OVER the back ramp, and had to be put to sleep at the scene. I've called the number on the article, as I have my reservations about the safety, although once bitten twice shy I guess. Personally I will only travel my new horse in a lorry now.
 
That poor, poor mare
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That, and some of the horror stories told here, have made me seriously wince. Thought I would just mention that although we've never had a problem with doors undoing themselves on the trailers (although our Bedford lorry jockey door was a nightmare!), we did once 'lose' our trailer.....despite being hitched 100% properly, it jumped off the hitch when we hit a bump. Luckily it was a very, very quiet lane, and my pony was fine. This was on a 10+ yr old Rice trailer. Also, I had a scare last year when my girl got her headcollar caught on one of the hooks on the partition - she went ballistic, until the headcollar (leather) snapped, but in doing so she lost her back end and could quite easily have come off the back ramp, had we not managed to quickly bang the rear breach bar out of place (we hadnt quite finished securing it when she became panicked). Now, I would never travel without a breach bar, but it is my belief that in incidents such as the one this thread relates to, it would have made no difference if there had been a breach bar behind the horse or not. She would probably have scrabbled like crazy and fallen underneath it
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I guess trailers are never, ever going to be 100% safe, but for those of us who cannot afford a lorry, what other option is there?
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That poor, poor mare
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That, and some of the horror stories told here, have made me seriously wince. Thought I would just mention that although we've never had a problem with doors undoing themselves on the trailers (although our Bedford lorry jockey door was a nightmare!), we did once 'lose' our trailer.....despite being hitched 100% properly, it jumped off the hitch when we hit a bump. Luckily it was a very, very quiet lane, and my pony was fine. This was on a 10+ yr old Rice trailer. Also, I had a scare last year when my girl got her headcollar caught on one of the hooks on the partition - she went ballistic, until the headcollar (leather) snapped, but in doing so she lost her back end and could quite easily have come off the back ramp, had we not managed to quickly bang the rear breach bar out of place (we hadnt quite finished securing it when she became panicked). Now, I would never travel without a breach bar, but it is my belief that in incidents such as the one this thread relates to, it would have made no difference if there had been a breach bar behind the horse or not. She would probably have scrabbled like crazy and fallen underneath it
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I guess trailers are never, ever going to be 100% safe, but for those of us who cannot afford a lorry, what other option is there?
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but neither is a lorry abosolutley 100% safe........ accidents will always happen all we can do is do our very best to prevent them.
 
I have to agree with those posts above, neither trailer or lorry is any good if it is not extremely well maintained etc. I wont use any mode of transport without a decent floor, preferably metal, with rubber matting over it.

I too have seen lorries in ditches, as have seen trailers upside down, each to their own will always rule, we all have different tastes. I just find for motorway work I feel that i am more in touch with what's going on in a lorry.

I was merely saying that at least in "some" lorries (and always in what i purchase) I have the door open so that you can hear any problems, if trailer involved was an Ifor it is quite possible that it was newish and quite quiet when the door fell open.

The TUI is fabulous contraption and if you use a trailer I would defo recommend having seen one in action!!

However, there is CCTV now which you can rig up for trailers so you can at least see what is going on in the trailer even if you cant hear it.

BTW I am not rich, I too cannot justify the cost of running around 100's of miles each week for work in a 4x4 capable of towing a decent trailer. In the current market lorries are cheaper than some of the nicer trailers!!



I dont want to detract from the seriousness of this OP, so hence I will not be adding anything further. THis is a very valid subject.
 
thats interesting that you mention about the direction of the pins, everyone of my friends always inserts their pins top to bottom???? - these are on the last few years' worth of IW's trailers? Should it be bottom to top then? Do people get a manual with these types of things, I dont think you do? - you certainly wouldnt be guaranteed to with a secondhand trailer or lorry?
 
That's right, it should be top to bottom, that way if the spring fails the pin can't fall out! The other way round is just potty - IMHO.
 
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I have to agree with those posts above, neither trailer or lorry is any good if it is not extremely well maintained etc. I wont use any mode of transport without a decent floor, preferably metal, with rubber matting over it.

I too have seen lorries in ditches, as have seen trailers upside down, each to their own will always rule, we all have different tastes. I just find for motorway work I feel that i am more in touch with what's going on in a lorry.

I was merely saying that at least in "some" lorries (and always in what i purchase) I have the door open so that you can hear any problems, if trailer involved was an Ifor it is quite possible that it was newish and quite quiet when the door fell open.

The TUI is fabulous contraption and if you use a trailer I would defo recommend having seen one in action!!

However, there is CCTV now which you can rig up for trailers so you can at least see what is going on in the trailer even if you cant hear it.

BTW I am not rich, I too cannot justify the cost of running around 100's of miles each week for work in a 4x4 capable of towing a decent trailer. In the current market lorries are cheaper than some of the nicer trailers!!



I dont want to detract from the seriousness of this OP, so hence I will not be adding anything further. THis is a very valid subject.

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i would love a lorry!! a bit more comfort on show days!! but alas.....we already have 2 cars and if i got rid of the 4x4 i would have to buy another care to replace it, leaving us with 3 sets of tax and insurance and MOT
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i only do a meagre milage of about 20 miles per day so it is actually cheaper for me to run the 4x4, although saying that it cost me £515 for an overhaul of car and trailer......still it's the safety aspect and money well spent i feel. i do however feel that all livestock trailers should have an MOT style test every year, i see some horrific sights being towed around shows, often with completely unsuitable vehicles
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I think and agree with those that say there is risks involved with both trailers and lorrys.
infact there is risks involved in travelling full stop.

I also reacon that on my 2007 iw trailer, it would be virtually impossible for the ramp to fall down unless as I myself have done it was not secured properly.

I also think this was a one off tragic accident, and my heart goes out to the people involved, but lets not all overreact and condem our probably perfectly well designed trailers that you see on a daily basis on use on the roads as being lethal pieces of equipment.

The most dangerous thing with both trailers and lorrys is the driver behind the wheel!
 
The ramp can down on my Transit lorry once. It had one of those 'T' bar things that had hooks which slotted into rings either side of the rear ramp. And then you put a pin through across the bottom of the 'T' supposedly to stop the thing pinging up.

The rear breach was only a webbing strap. But luckily for me and the horse it also had wooden gates across the back which stopped the horse being too alarmed, when the bl**dy thing fell down!

The ramp weighed a ton, and must have hit the floor with a crash and yet I didn't feel a thing.

It was only that the motorist behind me overtook and slowed to a halt and waved towards the back of the lorry, that made me aware, as I didn't have a clue.

I didn't have a radio in it so no background noise, though the ramp had rubber feet on it which would've stopped the noise for a bit.

It still makes me shudder now.

After that I got some secondary fixings fitted and tied the T bar down with a rod and padlocks both ends.

So I can see how it can happen.
 
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I guess trailers are never, ever going to be 100% safe, but for those of us who cannot afford a lorry, what other option is there?

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Buy a trailer with American Doors. Seriously. There is no way I would ever use a ramped trailer anymore. I've used ADs for a decade now and think they are absolutely wonderful. They lock properly, none of this pin nonsense.

Over here I have a big American stock trailer which has two loose box compartments where I can travel 2 horses loose. If I want to travel more horses then they are tied herringbone. Again I have a huge back door without a ramp. This door has a personal door on one side of it. The main door is held closed by locking handle which inserts into a space within another locking device. The personal door is kept closed with a giant bolt on the end of a chain. Then the personal door also has a master heavy galvanised chain which attaches over the whole of the door, hence none of these doors can open on their own, ever! It is just not possible.
 
Right sorry for being extremely THICK but when you say pins do you mean the little things that secure the doors by moving them outwards and horizontally? Or the actual bit of metal with the chain on it that you put through?

I don't have my own trailer but I get lifts with some people.

One trailer is quite old and has little slot -like things that you move outwards to open the ramp andthen place horizontally to keep it closed.
The other trailer is brand new(maybe 2 years old now) and has handle-type things, andthen a little piece of metal attached to a chain is put through a hole infront of the handle.

My descriptions are pants but I don't know how else to describe them!

What a tragic accident. Heart goes out to all involved.
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Words fail me. Does anyone have any idea what make of trailer this was? I have heard of a number of incidents where this has happened unfortunately I do not have contact details.If this has happened to someone you know please ask them to contact PC Kate Hardt at Rugeley police 0300 1234455. If this was a car there would be a manufacturers recall. If at all possible we should all help prevent this happening again.
 
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