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Trailering Your Horse: A Visual Guide to Safe Training and Traveling
De Cherry Hill et Richard Klimesh
Actions du livre
Commencer à lireLongueur: 431 pages9 heures
- Éditeur:
- Storey Publishing
- Sortie:
- Nov 12, 2012
- ISBN:
- 9781612122434
- Format:
- Livre
Description
Properly trailering your horse is an essential skill every horse owner needs to master. With clear text and detailed photography, Cherry Hill shows you how to choose an appropriate truck and trailer combination; train your horse to confidently enter and exit the trailer; and drive safely while pulling a loaded trailer. With tips on emergency equipment and caring for your horse en route, this guide has everything you need to know to create a safe and stress-free traveling experience for you and your horse.
Informations sur le livre
Trailering Your Horse: A Visual Guide to Safe Training and Traveling
De Cherry Hill et Richard Klimesh
Longueur: 431 pages9 heures
Description
Properly trailering your horse is an essential skill every horse owner needs to master. With clear text and detailed photography, Cherry Hill shows you how to choose an appropriate truck and trailer combination; train your horse to confidently enter and exit the trailer; and drive safely while pulling a loaded trailer. With tips on emergency equipment and caring for your horse en route, this guide has everything you need to know to create a safe and stress-free traveling experience for you and your horse.
- Éditeur:
- Storey Publishing
- Sortie:
- Nov 12, 2012
- ISBN:
- 9781612122434
- Format:
- Livre
À propos de l'auteur
Cherry Hill is an internationally known instructor and horse trainer and has written numerous books, including 101 Arena Exercises for Horse & Rider, Horsekeeping on a Small Acreage, How to Think Like a Horse, What Every Horse Should Know, and Horse Care for Kids. Visit her at www.horsekeeping.com, where you can find information on her books, DVDs, and horsekeeping knowledge.
En rapport avec Trailering Your Horse
Aperçu du livre
Trailering Your Horse - Cherry Hill
Index
PREFACE
We are a mobile society and we often want to take our horses with us when we go. Whether traveling to a weekend horse show or trail ride, moving across the country, or taking a horse for an emergency visit to the vet, you need to know safe trailering practices.
Safe trailering starts with a good rig — a suitable trailer and an adequate towing vehicle. An important key to low-stress trailering is spending time on training and familiarization lessons for your horse. For your actual trip, you’ll need to pack the right gear and emergency equipment, learn how to drive while pulling a trailer, and know how to take care of your horse en route.
Whether you are a man or a woman, I really encourage you to become familiar with all aspects of trucks, trailers, training, and traveling: You will gain the knowledge, confidence, and experience to have a safe trip with your horse.
As my cover girl, I chose my high-mileage Quarter Horse mare, Zinger, aka Miss Debbie Hill (named after her sire, Smutty Hill, not me!). Zinger and I have done a lot of traveling together since 1975, when I purchased her as a yearling in Washington. I moved her from the coast to Washington State University, where I was doing a summer sabbatical, then back up to Alberta, Canada, where I had a full-time teaching position in the equine program at Olds College.
When my husband and I returned to the States in 1977, we had only a two-horse trailer, so we had to make two trips to haul our three horses and belongings to the Midwest. Sassy and Poco went on the first trip, which meant Zinger came second and shared the horse trailer with a bookcase and a filing cabinet in the adjoining stall. When normal winter weather turned into a wicked storm, we still forged ahead, hoping to get through the worst of it. I’ll never forget passing the Montana Highway Department’s wind sock that had been so whipped by the gales that the only thing left was the metal ring. After that, we passed a sign that said, CAUTION. HIGH WIND AREA AHEAD! The 70-mph winds and Montana’s icy roads finally forced us to pull over in a truck stop, where we shared the crowded parking lot with countless semis and passenger cars. Although keeping Zinger in the trailer protected her from the wind, eventually I had to unload her and take her for a walk to loosen her up, as she had been standing for many hours already.
It was everything you don’t want for a trailering trip: an icy parking lot, winds trying to rip off the trailer doors when you open them, and a crowded scene with many diesel engines rumbling. In spite of all this, Zinger was steadfast and reliable in her unloading, and when it came time to put her back in the trailer, she walked right in.
This is just one of Zinger’s early road-trip stories. She followed me to Iowa, Illinois, and on to Colorado. Over the years, she and I have trailered to many lessons, shows, clinics, trail rides, and cattle drives. She’s reliable. She’s a veteran.
That’s why I chose Zinger for the cover and for several of the training and traveling demonstrations inside the book. A horse like Zinger is worth her weight in gold. You can make your own horse a Zinger
if you follow the advice and procedures you’ll find here.
Happy trails and safe traveling to you.
PART I
THE TRAILER AND THE TRUCK
Your rig consists of a towing vehicle (usually a truck) and a trailer. The selection, use, and maintenance of your truck, trailer, and hitch are of major importance. To ensure safety for you and your horse and to protect the big investment you have in your rig, learn all you can about truck and trailer features, maintenance, and maneuvering.
An ideal horse-hauling rig is a ¾-ton or larger truck with dual rear wheels and a gooseneck trailer (it attaches to the pickup bed just ahead of the rear axle). This will afford the safest and most reliable hauling experience for you and your horse. I realize that most horse owners must make some compromises, though, so I would like to provide you with the information to help you make wise and safe decisions. If you already own a towing vehicle and must buy an appropriate trailer, or if you have a trailer and need to find a suitable towing vehicle, or if you are looking to buy both a truck and a trailer, you should become very familiar with the material in this section to help you make the right decisions.
Read about truck features, towing capacity, and maintenance in chapter 1. See the wide array of trailer designs, features, and options in chapters 2 and 3. Find out in chapter 4 why trailer maintenance is the best insurance policy for you and your horse. Learn how to maneuver your trailer and drive safely in chapter 5.
1
THE TOWING VEHICLE
There are many factors to consider when determining whether a vehicle is suitable for pulling a horse trailer. Your choice of vehicle will depend on the other uses you plan for it (commuter, family van), the number of passengers and type of cargo it will carry, the climate and terrain it will be used in, the extent of use for hauling, and the types of roads it will be used on (flat interstate, mountainous gravel).
Be sure your truck has the adequate weight, length, horsepower, and towing capacity to safely pull your trailer! Overloading a tow vehicle is not only illegal and unsafe but it will also take longer to stop the load, require more power to start the load moving, and cause increased wear and tear on the suspension, brakes, engine, and drive train.
Manufacturers rate each vehicle according to its towing capacity, but manufacturers’ ratings are usually based on hauling a static load such as a boat and trailer. The demands on a towing vehicle are greater for live weight than for fixed cargo. When you are hauling horses, plan to haul about 25 percent less than the maximum load rating. It’s better to have more truck and not need it than to need more truck and not have it.
Towing Capacity
Towing capacity is determined by many factors, including vehicle width, engine size, wheelbase, transmission, gear ratio, and the vehicle weight.
Vehicle Width
The width of your vehicle will greatly affect the stability of the rig when you are moving. Trucks with single rear wheels are adequate for two-horse trailers, but for larger trailers a truck with a wider rear end can increase rig stability by decreasing sway. Sway is often caused by the movement of live cargo. When a tow vehicle sways, the tire tread stays in place on the road but the sidewalls of the tires are pushed off to one side by the weight of the trailer. A truck with dual rear wheels (a dually
) not only increases vehicle width but also adds a second set of heavy-duty tires to the rear axle. The extra tires with heavy-duty sidewalls help counteract the tendency to sway, which results in increased stability and traction.
Engine
The towing vehicle’s engine should have enough horsepower to haul the extra weight of a loaded trailer. The example truck (see chart on page 6 for metric conversions) has a 5.9-liter V-8 (360 cc) engine with 235 horsepower at 4,000 rpm, which is suitable for pulling a two-horse trailer. If you opt for a smaller engine, what you save in gas mileage may result in greater repair costs due to excess strain on the engine. In the mountains, figure your engine will lose 2 to 4 percent of its power for each 1,000-foot (305-m) increase in altitude.
If you plan to own your truck for a long time and will be doing a lot of long-distance hauling, especially in hilly or mountainous terrain, you might want to consider a diesel engine. Diesels are noisy, smelly, and higher priced; and they have higher repair costs and run on higher priced fuel than do gas engines. However, diesel engines have a longer life than gas engines and are very reliable for long-distance hauling.
WHEELBASE
The wheelbase is the distance between the centers of the front and rear axles. The longer the wheelbase, the greater the towing stability when the rig is in motion. For a short, two-horse, straight-pull trailer (this attaches directly to the rear of the truck), the wheelbase of the towing vehicle should be an absolute minimum of 114 inches (290 cm). This eliminates small pickups and most sport utility vehicles (SUVs). To haul a two-horse trailer with a dressing room, you will need a wheelbase of at least 120 inches (305 cm); for a three- or four-horse trailer, look for a vehicle with a wheelbase of 139 inches (353 cm) or longer. The wheelbase is determined in large part by the length of your truck’s cab and bed. Cabs are available in (from shortest to longest) standard, Club Cab (also called extended, super, and extra cab), and Crew Cab (also called four-door). Beds come in short (6½ feet [2 m]) or standard (8 feet [2.5 m]). Be aware that the longer the overall truck, the harder it will be to park and maneuver as an independent vehicle, an important consideration when your truck also serves as your town car. The wheelbase of the full size ½-ton pickup with a club cab and short bed in photos 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, and 1.14 is 139 inches (353 cm).
1.1 DUALLY TRUCK WITH GOOSENECK
This is an ideal setup for hauling horses. This dually truck with crew cab has a more than adequate wheelbase. The three-horse, aluminum, slant-load, gooseneck trailer with dressing room is ready to take you and your friends safely to the next show or trail ride. It has the size and power to be a stable hauling vehicle, and the trailer is well suited for the truck.
Differential/Axle Ratio
The gear ratio of the differential or rear end
(the gearbox on the rear axle) determines how the engine’s power is transferred to the wheels. It is a measurement of how many times the drive shaft must turn for one rotation of the vehicle’s wheels. The higher the gear ratio, the better the torque or pulling capacity, especially for starting, accelerating, and passing. Finding the ideal gear ratio is a compromise, however, because as the gear ratio goes up, the top end speed and the gas mileage go down. For occasional hauling, the 3.55:1 gear ratio in the example truck is about optimum for a ½-ton multipurpose vehicle. If you do a lot of hauling or pull a four-horse trailer or larger, look for a greater gear ratio. For ¾-ton trucks and heavier, a gear ratio over 4:1 is more suitable for hauling.
Transmission
Automatic transmissions are easier to drive, last longer, generally make for a more comfortable ride for the horses, and are usually rated higher than standard transmissions for their towing capabilities. A standard transmission (manual shift) can be tricky to master but it should get slightly better gas mileage than an automatic. However, when you’re hauling a horse trailer, no matter which transmission you have, when it comes to gas mileage, you really don’t want to know! If you choose an automatic, be sure you can lock out, or shift out of, overdrive (fourth gear). On some roads and with certain loads, the constant shifting in and out of overdrive can be annoying and cause unnecessary wear on the transmission.
Heavy-Duty Towing Package
A heavy-duty trailer-towing package is necessary for all loads over 2,000 pounds (907 kg), which means all horse trailers. The towing package should include a heavy-duty hitch (see chapter 2) and receiver, a heavy-duty radiator, a heavy-duty transmission with auxiliary oil cooler, heavy-duty suspension (springs and shocks), a heavy-duty battery and alternator, heavy-duty flashers, and a wiring harness. The wiring harness usually consists of seven wires connected to a plug, in order to accommodate electric brakes and trailer lights.
Look in the owner’s manual for specifications on your vehicle or ask your dealer to help you determine whether you need to beef up your truck.
Two-Wheel Drive (2WD) vs. Four-Wheel Drive (4WD)
Those who live in snowy country or are going to be doing off-highway driving, such as is necessary at many trail ride sites, should consider 4WD. Four-wheel drive adds quite a bit of weight to the towing vehicle’s Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW; see box), which adds stability to the towing vehicle but decreases its towing capacity and lowers gas mileage. A four-wheel-drive truck sits higher off the ground than does a 2WD, so it may require adjustments to the truck’s suspension or hitch for the trailer to ride level.
Weight
Your towing vehicle must be heavy enough to control the load it is pulling. You will need to gather and calculate some numbers on your vehicles. Refer to the chart on page 6 for the stats on the example truck and trailers. Make similar worksheets for your own truck and trailer or those you are considering buying. More detailed information on these weights is given throughout this chapter.
Curb Weight (CW) is the weight of the empty vehicle. The best way to determine actual curb weight is to drive your empty truck onto a commercial scale. Actual curb weight usually includes a driver, a full tank of gas, fluids, and standard equipment such as spare tire and jack. To calculate an estimate of your truck’s curb weight, first get the manufacturer’s standard curb weight figure for your truck. Most truck dealers can provide you with the manufacturer’s curb weight (with plus or minus 3 percent accuracy). You’ll need to know the year, model number, engine, transmission, cab style, whether 2WD or 4WD, and other information to get the most accurate estimate from the dealer. (You can also get vehicle statistics from http://www.consumerguide.com.) The manufacturer’s curb weight figure represents a vehicle with standard equipment. For the example truck, the dealer provided the figure of 5,000
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