Travelling in a trailer - front flap open or closed?

ncarter

ncarter

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What do you do?

I haven't had my trailer for long, and did a short journey recently with the front flap open as it was warm .... Ozzy seemed to love it, he was sticking his head out like a dog out of a car! Was very amusing to watch.
 
Never, ever leave the top door open at the front. Even at 20mph , if your horse gets smacked in the face by a low hanging branch or anything kicked up by the car tyres - it would not be a pleasant experience.
Or if your horse has a long enough neck to hang it's head out and an articulated lorry gets too close.....even with a wing mirror....?:(
 
Jeeees closed! Too dangerous open.

Can't understand why someone would let their dog hang their head out ofva window either,.
 
I cringe when I see top doors open whilst being driven. An accident waiting to happen :(.
I don't and never would let my dog travel with his head out of the car, same goes for the horse and trailer!
 
My old trailer had front Windows, no ramp, I travelled with them open.
But ... the window had bars AND a fly screen.
I would never, ever leave unbarred, unscreened windows open, it is as irresponsible as letting a dog hang out of a car window. Sorry lol :(
 
Definitely closed, for all the reasons already stated. It's something I feel really strongly about, and am glad to see the majority of people are sensible enough to keep the front closed. Cannot believe how stupid some people can be :rolleyes:
 
I was riding a motorcycle at about 30-40mph & was hit in the face by a bee. It felt like I'd been shot. If it has hit me in the eye I'd probably have lost my sight in that eye, fortunately I was wearing goggles.

Close the front up as serious harm could be done to your horse!
 
Closed!!! Although leaving it open seems to be a new craze at the moment! I've seen more people do this in the last few month than ever before! It's so unsafe for the horse to!
 
Closed every time, for the reasons stated above - it's so easy for something nasty to happen. I left the tiny sliding windows open (ifor williams) on hot days when we had a trailer but never the front flaps.
 
Another reason is if something spooks the horse or panics it might encourage him to try and jump out that way. I had one try it! Trailer was standing still at a show and opened the top door to let some air in and nutcase pony thought it could somehow mange to jump out! Would hate to think what would happen if that happened while travelling!
 
Definatly close.

Poor horse getting wind swept, dangerous if horse sticks its heard out.
Even if a smaller horse/pony, ive be too worried about it trying to climb out!
 
Last edited:
Always Henesy said:
Never, ever leave the top door open at the front. Even at 20mph , if your horse gets smacked in the face by a low hanging branch or anything kicked up by the car tyres - it would not be a pleasant experience.
Or if your horse has a long enough neck to hang it's head out and an articulated lorry gets too close.....even with a wing mirror....?:(
Click to expand...

Kat said:
Jeeees closed! Too dangerous open.

Can't understand why someone would let their dog hang their head out ofva window either,.
Click to expand...

My mate at the yard saw a dog decapitated on a motorway by a wing mirror many years ago. Still haunts her today :(

Toby_Zaphod said:
I was riding a motorcycle at about 30-40mph & was hit in the face by a bee. It felt like I'd been shot. If it has hit me in the eye I'd probably have lost my sight in that eye, fortunately I was wearing goggles.

Close the front up as serious harm could be done to your horse!
Click to expand...
I got a black eye from a moth quite a few years ago on a balmy summer evening. Visor kept shut now if moving at any kind of speed.

I can see why it would be tempting to leave the door open on a nice day, but there are too many factors which would make it dangerous to make me do it.
 
Closed always. Aside from something hitting your horse at 50miles sn hour there is a risk of it destabilising the trailer snd increasing the risk of he trailer flipping over as the air flownis going under the roof not over it as it should
 
Closed - for all the reasons mentioned before.

Years ago my first pony jumped out of the trailer - over the front bars and the bottom door (we were just shutting the trailer after having unloaded a friend's pony). He was left hanging from his leadrope, thankfully the string snapped and he was fine, but imagine if he'd done that at a junction or something.:eek:
 
Close it sweetie. I bought my trailer direct from manufacturer who told me that he had seen some terrible accidents caused by leaving top door open. I didn't ask him to elaborate though!
 
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