Rice horse trailer

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ThePinkPonyClub

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My grand parents have this old horse trailer on there farm, I thought it might be a good idea to use it for training my 3yo to load, not sure it would be safe now to actually use? Does anyone know what model this is please?

Think it could look lovely spruced up but not sure they would be any good for horses any more?
 

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I would get a professional opinion on the state of the floor/chassis before trying to use it for loading practice. You really don't want your horse to have a bad experience putting his hoof through the floor or the trailer collapsing under him.
You won't know the real state of it from looking at/standing in it yourself, it may well support a human's weight but be too fragile to take a horse's.
ETA if it's been sitting in a field for some years, chances are it will be very rusty/rotten underneath.
 
You'd need to really check that the ramp and the floor are totally sound. I'd be surprised if the ramp is, floors are well built on Rice boxes, but are wood and rot. Check the corners at the rear and the edges very thoroughly. It's likely to be a double floor, so you will need to get underneath and look for rot. Any discoloured, spongy or crumbly areas and I wouldn't put a horse near it.

It's not in the best place for storing a vehicle. I'd say it is probably rotten. Could be a good project to strip it down and restore.
 
Sadly that trailer, though it would have been good in its day, looks too far gone to be worth restoring. I certainly wouldn’t put a horse in it as it now, even when stationary.

I think it’s a Rice Eventer, which were around in the 1970s. I had an Eventer and the pic matches yours - same number of side hoops, same ventilation louvre above the front window. The newer ones had an aerodynamic front nose cone instead of a square front like yours. Good lightweight trailers.

My Rice Eventer in c1983.

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Errin Paddywack said:
Looks like a Farmer's Hunt to me. I used to have one and it was a brilliant trailer. Only parted with it as we had to downgrade our car.
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Yup, usually super light weight but really sturdy. You definitely need someone underneath to properly check the chassis and floor before a horse goes in it. If the chassis is sound but the floor is knackered, which is the usual prognosis, its not hard to fit a new floor.
 
Tiddlypom said:
The Farmers Hunt was heavier and sturdier to carry two big hunters. The Eventer was built down to a weight to carry two lightweight 16hh horses and had a single floor and lightweight partition, but was still a great trailer that towed beautifully.
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I have had both. Farmers Hunt was a 'big' trailer. I seem to remember we could get 40 bales of hay in it as we used to deliver hay in it. It was wide enough that my stallion could turn round in it to be led out. Heavy but towed brilliantly and very stable. I replaced it with a Rice Eventer and loved that too, so light and well balanced when we went to see it that I could move it with one hand. Could get 30 bales in that with very carefull stacking. Had that many years till neglect and living out in a field meant it needed too much restoration for us and replaced it with an even older trailer that I suspect might be a Junior Foxhunter, (think that is what it was called). Only very slightly smaller. Still got that but not moved in years now.
 
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