Tie Rings

More unexpected upgrades, necessitated by my horse being a jerk.  And I suppose partially by the crappy design of these trailers.

So, the original design of the trailer had the tie rings (where you tie the horses up while you're tacking or waiting around) on these side wing panels.  Which happen to be about the least sturdy part of the entire trailer- they're just thin sheets of metal that are basically there to hold the turn signals on.

So a couple weeks ago, Major decided it would be fun to yank one of the panels off entirely.  The one with my license plate, specifically.  Stupid horse.  Anyway, I was able to get someone to weld it back on for me, but it only reinforced the fact that these tie rings are just not sturdy, especially since this trailer is forty years old.  So, on the suggestion of the guy who fixed my panel, and with the help of my wonderful husband, we came up with these.

The diagonal placement is to maximize the pressure on the support beam, giving it added stability and reducing bowing and movement.  There's a support plate inside and out with nuts on either side to prevent movement.  Knock on wood, but the horse would basically have to knock the trailer over at this point to get that thing back out.  I'm also going to swing through tractor supply and grab some trailer ties, which will provide a shorter, more secure way to attach them to the trailer without risk of the knots coming undone.  

I didn't get pictures, but I also had to replace the pins that hold the divider bar in (again) after he tore it down and bent them.  I upgraded them to 12" long front and back.  And I put in a new clip for the butt bars, since he was kind enough to knock that off and lose it as well.  He was in rare form on that last trip.  😒

The last thing I'm doing today is moving the hook for the head dividers up higher, since the horses have started pushing them aside and harrassing each other anyway.  I'm hoping that adjusting the angle will stop that.

Also hoping that in a couple weeks we'll get the right weather for me to FINALLY get the interior metal sanded and painted.  Fingers crossed.

Head Dividers

They worked!!

PVC, pool noodles, and a tie-off at each end = instant head divider bars!  They're not fool proof obviously, but they give the horses enough sense of separation that I think any not truly aggressive horse will be fine with them.  Major and Cody were perfectly comfortable.  The only improvement I want to make now is to replace the paracord with thin chain and snaps at either end, to make them a little sturdier and a little easier to take in and out.  But overall a total success!!  

New Idea

Tried to come up with an idea for some sort of head divider system for the trailer, so that I can actually look at trailering geldings with Major and not just mares all the time.  The biggest design issue is the front escape door:

The front vertical bar makes a great anchor, but if we tried to attach it straight in front, it would have to attach the door.  And then how would we open and close the door?  Just not a good plan.

So tonight I had a breakthrough.  Not ONE, straight divider, but TWO, angled dividers!

Right about where the back of that cardboard piece is, there is a steel ring welded into the trailer frame where we tie off the lead ropes.  It should be no issue at all to run a divider piece of some kind from the center pole to the rings on either side.  They would not be able to be totally immovable, of course (as we'd then have to duck around them during loading), so the design would need to allow for easy opening on one end or the other.  But this would allow something (I'm debating between foam-wrapped PVC (to make it nice and bulky) or simply a stretch of hay netting (to cover more vertical distance).  I only have a few hours in the morning to experiment with this, but I'm going to give it a shot!  I may not be able to design anything that two very aggressive animals couldn't fight through if they really wanted, but it SHOULD be enough to keep two horses that are simply a bit irritable on their own side of the trailer.  That and a full hay rack "ought" to be enough for most trips.

Pics of the experiment to follow tomorrow!

The Unexpected Project

So I ordered a set of pads to replace the chest cushions in the trailer.  Because they looked like this:

Old, ugly, torn, brown, and gross.  So I bought two shiny new black ones to match the others.  They arrived today.  One small problem.

They were 4" too long.  Also, the bolts holding the previous ones on were rusted together and would not come out for anything.  So I had to get creative.

I didn't get pictures of the "during" phase, but I cut off all the old leather and foam first.  The old backing was a piece of wood bolted to the metal- no problem.  I left it there.  Then, I removed the vinyl and foam from the new ones, and discarded the cardboard backing.  I re-wrapped the foam with the vinyl, and attached the new cushion to the old wooden backing.  

Ta-da!!!

Now all my cushions match, are new and clean, and have no rips!  :-)  Yay!

Comparison Shots

Just another side-by-side comparison of the current progress.  :-)

Paint! Part 1

I was utterly determined to accomplish something this week.  I ran out of time to do the metal painting- after the long winter, it's going to need a couple good hours of sanding and priming before I can paint it now.  But we had a good warm sunny day, so rather than waste it, I picked up some deck stain and at least got all the wooden surfaces painted.  It looks nice!

 Of course, it shows just how ugly the metal is in comparison now.  But any form of progress is acceptable at this point.  I didn't get a picture, but it does now have 2 installed magnetic lights near the front, so night time travel should be a lot less anxious for me.  Also I'm going to order the smaller chest cushions this week and get those installed so that all the cushions match (and are not torn up).  That's as far as I'll get before the next camping trip.

We'll be busy the next two weekends, but hopefully after that we'll get a day to go ahead and do the painting.  Slowly but surely!!  

Trip-Ready!

Divider bar pins replaced with locks:  Check.

Divider bar padded on both sides:  Check.

New working light installed:  Check.

Trailer clean, safe, and ready to roll:  Check.

Let's do this!!  :-)