Top doors....open or closed?

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Charlie007

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Just been reading the thread on the pony jumping out of the trailer on the M1. Poor poor pony and owners.

So do you leave your top doors open or do you close them when travelling??
 
The ones at the back? Always left them open because that's what everyone else does :o but definitely food for thought - coming from a non horsey point of view I would have thought the logical thing would be to shut them?
 
Didn't want to ask this on such a sad previous post but was the pony travelling without a centre partition? I can't see how it could have happened otherwise.

I never normally shut the top door but did the other day when we went to pick up a new youngster. I was so pleased I had when we broke down on the motorway and the lorries were thundering past us. The superstar little horse didn't bat an eyelid and just stood there munching his hay but I wonder if he would have been more worried if he had seen how close and fast the lorries were coming up behind him.
 
A very upsetting thread I feel for the poor people. We always close top doors on motorway as horses don't like the noise of HGV's etc. coming up behind.

If it is a hot day I prefer to leave them open on rural roads. I still don't quite understand our horses cannot turn round when they are loaded so could not jump out. Top door over fore ramp is always closed.
 
My horse travels with no centre partition and back doors open. He is 17.1 so in theory shouldn't be able to escape but reading that thread has made me question if what I'm doing is safe?

Not sure if the pony was travelling with partition or not.
 
They should be shut.
Having had to assist with a traumatic accident where 2 highland ponies escaped from a trailer on the (then newly opened) M25, where one got over 1/4 mile with a broken leg, & the other had to be PTS where it fell, the police prosecuted the driver for an insecure load.
Harsh I know :( coming on top of the disaster, but no livestock is secure unless doors are shut.
 
Hadn't thought about unsecured load issue. So if, god forbid, we were in an accident would we have an insurance issue if top doors not shut? Why do police not stop trailers and advise that top doors should be closed?
 
Charlie007 said:
Hadn't thought about unsecured load issue. So if, god forbid, we were in an accident would we have an insurance issue if top doors not shut? Why do police not stop trailers and advise that top doors should be closed?
Click to expand...

Technically they can only advise tho, and am sure many would get the hump about being stopped :o
Livestock only become 'insecure' under the road traffic act if they escape........ (obs not including escaping from broken transport if in a crash)
 
I thought they were supposed to be left open for airflow for the livestock, but it does make you think maybe we should be shutting them. You see the farmers type trailers have an extra bar which goes across where the rear doors of a horse trailer would be. Maybe that is the compromise horse box makers could make between airflow and safety.
 
A friend recently attended a BHS Travel Safety day and their advice was to close all doors. Apparently in the event of an accident a horse will often try and get out of any exit.
 
After spending the past 3 years in Australia it now seems odd to see horses travelling with any doors open. I had a 2 horse angle float, with a fold down top back door with air slits (you couldn't travel with it open) and a whirly bird on top. If I opened the windows my horse never arrived hot even in 30 degrees plus.
 
I think no matter what you think re was there a partition and 'you can't see how it would have got out if there was' (don't want to single people out) I think anyone who's been around horses knows how often they can do things that just seem impossible. I think you do the best you can, but regardless unless you literally wrap up in cotton wool there will always be something you haven't thought of, or is totally unexpected :o :(

Re Australia in WA I regularly saw horses travelled in trailers with just the front domey bit, no roof above the horses backs, or completely open with not even a windshield for the horses. These people were competing too.
 
Always with them open to encourage max air flow, and reduce travel stress due to inadequate ventilation ( back doors front always shut as dangerous to travel open)
 
Would a horse travel better or worse with the back doors closed if they have always been used to them open?
 
Mine will travel with doors open or closed.

In hot weather I travel with the doors open, otherwise my horses would cook in the 30ish degree heat. When it's cold and gross outside, the doors get shut.

Any horse I travel with has a centre devider and is tied to twine. That is a not negotiagble condition of my transporting someone's horse/horses.
 
Always open , always with a petition .
The only time I shut the back doors is with a mare and foal when of course you can't use a petition.
 
We had a pony turn around with a centre partition and a 16hh travelling companion. It can happen!
In NZ most people travel with the doors or cover over the ramp open.
 
Always leave both mine open in normal conditions, but if heavy rain/wind or travelling up a motorway in peak times with lots of HGV's I would have the o/s door shut where the horse is.

Always have them both shut when travelling trailer without horses in so people realise the speed I am going round bends is due to NOT having a horse in the trailer !

My partition is set 75/25 in favour of the horse, so he has lots of room to spread his legs.
 
Its amazing what horses can do in trailers. My boy and my bf's mare were travelling in an IW on a fairly short journey of around 30 mins. During the course of the journey his mare (15.3 ISH) managed to turn herself completely around and on arrival back at the yard was facing the ramp. The twine she had been tied to had broken and while the bars were still attached, the front portion of the partition had come off its attachment and was leaning against my boy who, thankfully, did not panic. On this occasion we were very lucky as the mare in question is a real panicky sort and I suppose could easily have attempted to jump out, as like many others here the top doors were open. Luckily she unloaded (high as a kite) more or less unscathed, very stiff and sore but otherwise fine after a session with the physio.

Interestingly a few days ago I was thinking along the lines of this thread, after seeing a horse in a trailer going down the dual carriageway with his tail hanging completely out. I flashed a couple of times to alert owner in case something happened and he panicked but unfortunately she was too busy chatting on her mobile to notice.

Regardless it is a sad fact of life that even with the greatest of care, accidents do happen.
 
I travel with the back open and front shut, partition as well. The only time I put it up is if I will be on the motorway but honestly never occurred to me that my horse could get out of the back. I "suspect" there would be such a commotion I would see and one of the reasons I went for my Bateson is that there is a large window at the front of the trailer so I can see my horse when travelling. Now even more concerned
 
Always travelled ours minus the partition (mine can't travel with partition in due to hind leg problems, he falls over even going at 5mph) but having had my mums mare manage to turn herself around, do always cross tie. Front door always shut, back doors always open. We had windows put into the front of the ifor but they're not opening ones, just so the horses can see out so would be worried about ventilation if travelling on a hot day with back doors closed.
Went and collected a youngster with a friend in her lorry, hadn't ever been on a lorry before so at the top of the driveway we stopped to check on him. He'd some-how wriggled out of his partition (herringbone style layout) and was wedged parallel to the sides of the lorry under the 2 partition arms. Hadn't heard a peep from him and luckily he stayed totally calm whilst we retrieved him but can see how these accidents can happen!
 
We had this discussion the other week.

For the first time in his 17 years horse was travelling in a trailer rather than a lorry. As we were going down motorway decided on shutting them. Then this week he has done a short local journey and the weather was muggy so left them open.

Back in the day when I used a trailer all the time, they didn't even have back doors. Like another poster I had a roll down flap added but that was only used when the trailer was parked up to stop the weather getting into it. Never ever put it down when using the trailer.
 
I have an ifor trailer and leave the top doors open at the back, I only travel two shetlands in it though so it's a long way up for them to try and get out.

I have a modified partition fitted which goes the opposite way across the trailer to normal so I have one in the front and one in the back. The breast bars for the normal partition are too high and I worried about them hitting their heads on it.

It gets quite warm in there on a hot day so would worry about cooking them if the doors were closed
 
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