Sorry, cross tying in trailer again and breast bar question.

[Louby]

Hi, finally got my trailer, got the breast bar, breaching strap and are ready to go Eeeeek. I want my boy to have the option of standing diagonal but am a bit concerned of the length of rope needed to tie him to allow this as I havent cross tied in a trailer before..
How much length do you allow?
I think he will put his head to the left with his bum in the right corner, (looking in from the back) would you not bother cross tying and tie him to the left ring instead with his hay net?
Also he is a bit of a panicker in a trailer and wants out the moment the ramp is down. We need practice I know but until he calms down how do you suggest we safely get the breast bar out of the way without getting mowed over. I did try getting it out before lowering the front ramp but the moment the ramp began to lower he was off!

 

[Shilasdair]

Don't know about the cross tying til you work out how/where he likes to stand.
As for the rushing out - feed him in the trailer once you have arrived...something tasty if you don't want him to have a lot of hard feed. That'll stop him focussing on escape.
S

 

[Bess]

With a friend's horse who will only travel alone without a partition we cross tie him, the haynet is tied up at the front end and the two cross ties are long enough to allow him to reach the haynet. When we are getting him out we drop down the front ramp, clip on a lead rope, then drop the bar down on one side - the ramp side - putting the end of it up at the front end so it doesn't obstruct the ramp. Then unclip the cross ties and lead him out. It does take two of us to do it though.

 

[lizzie_liz]

I would always cross tie in a trailer with no partitions. We don't have any in our trailer and cross tie her, she stands diagonally in the trailer with no problem and has the hay net tied up at the front.

 

[SSM]

Our cross ties are left on the trailer - they are long enough for her to look around but not turn around. I then also tie her up with the lead rope I am planning on unloading with. As for the shooting out, yes I agree with food but could you not back him out of the trailer?
Good luck

 

[Michelle73]

We used to leave our trailer open on the yard and let our foals wander in and out loose whilst we were mucking out (we were lucky enough to have a large yard and field alongside so had the room to do this). The foals used to love playing in the trailer and used to trot though if the partition wasn't in!!! As they got older we used to take them in turn and feed them in the trailer that way they got used to being in there and thought it was a fab place to be! One of my mares used to stand in it and lay her ears flat back bearing her teeth at any horse who dared to come near her whilst she was in the trailer - it was hers!!!! So my suggestion is that if you have enough room at home set the trailer up in the yard fully open and feed him his hard feed in there as often as you have time for. Do it with the trailer fully open and then eventually start closing the ramps one at a time over a period of days. Eventually he's think its a fab place to be and stay because he'll assocaite it with food.

Hope that helps.