By Lydia K Kelly

Horse trailers come in several different loading and shipping styles. Each style offers advantages and disadvantages to the owner and the horse. When purchasing a horse trailer it is important to consider which style best suits you and your horse.

Straight Load

This is the most common load style. In a straight load trailer, horses are brought in from the back and are tied side-by-side, facing the front of the trailer. There is usually a partition in the middle of the trailer, protecting the horses from banging into one another. Some straight loads have partitions to the ground, while others only have bars to separate the horses. You can also get partitions that separate the horses at the front of the trailer so that they cannot bite one another.

Because these are so common, most used trailers you will see for sale will be steel straight loads. Unfortunately, they may not be the best trailer for your needs. Studies on transporting horses have shown that facing straight ahead is in fact harder on a horse than traveling facing rearward or on an angle. Another disadvantage of straight loads is that most are designed to only allow horses to unload backwards, something many horses are uncomfortable with.

Slant Load

In recent years, the slant load trailer has become highly popular. Horses are loaded from the back of the trailer, and are squeezed into stalls with swinging dividers that hold them into a slant load position. Because of the angle at which the horses stand, there is usually a triangle-shaped cubby at the front of the trailer that is often converted into a tack room. There is also a space at the back that is not used, and may be converted into a small storage area. Many slant loads offer front unloading ramps so that the horses can get off more easily. This also makes it possible to take a horse off who was loaded at an earlier stage of the trip.

The slant load position is supposed to be far more comfortable to the horse when traveling. The increased space occupied by the horse in a slant load makes the trailer size larger than a straight load. If purchasing a steel trailer, this added length also needs to be considered as added weight. A three horse slant load is the same size as the average four horse straight load.

Head-to-Head

A common loading solution for show trailers, this configuration allows horses to be loaded so that half are facing to the front and half are facing to the back. The ramp is placed on the side of the trailer so that horses can walk straight on and off without difficulty. One big advantage of this style of trailer is that you can unload any one horse without disturbing the other horses, making it the perfect solution for horse shows.

The center space does add a bit of length, but can sometimes be used for an extra small horse or pony. The ramps are generally fairly steep, and need to have side panel to prevent a horse from falling off the side. Some horses are intimidated by this style of trailer at first, but most get used to it quite quickly.

Stock

Stock trailers are open concept. They are made up of one or more box stalls with a gate that splits the trailer in the middle. Horses can be tied so that they face forward, backward or are slant loaded. You can also ship horses loose in one of the box stalls.

Stock trailers are probably the most flexible trailers for shipping large numbers of horses. The do not offer the protection of dividers, but they do allow the horses to position themselves comfortably for the trip. They are also the safest way to ship mares and foals, or youngstock. Most stock trailers have rear step-ups, but some do come with ramps.

About the Author: Lydia K Kelly is a writer for HorseClicks, classifieds of

horses for sale

,

trailers for sale

,

saddles for sale

, and she is a featured author at

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Which of the Last 20 Kentucky Derby Winners Would Win When Racing Against Each Other?

by

Lee Lane-Edgar

That’s a question we wanted to know the answer for and thought everyone in our community would like to know. Horse Racing Simulation, in partnership with the NTRA, created a virtual simulation containing the past 20 Kentucky Derby winners. We’re talking about Derby winners such as Smarty Jones, the first undefeated race horse to win the Kentucky Derby since Seattle Slew; Big Brown, another undefeated horse going into the Kentucky Derby; Real Quiet who was barely beaten in the Belmont to be denied his Triple Crown quest; Thunder Gulch who won the Derby at 25-1 with jockey Gary Stevens;Barbaro, who was drawing away late in the race to win the Derby by 6 lengths; Monarchos, who is the only horse besides Secretariat to win the Kentucky Derby in under 2 minutes.

Other contenders include the likes of Street Sense, who was the first Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner to actually go on and win the Kentucky Derby; Rhinestone, whose racing career was cut short when he was retired 5 days after his Derby victory; Giacomo, the second-longest shot ever to win the Derby at 50-1; Funnycide, the gelding drew a lot of fans during his brief period of fame; Silver Charm, who stalked the pace and was able to hold off the late rally by Capt. Bodgit to hold on for victory in his Derby; and several other horses including Super Saver, last year’s winner who actually gave trainer Todd Pletcher his first Derby win ever.

Wouldn t it be great if you could build your own champion races, matching up the greatest such as Secretariat and Man o War? Wouldn t it be incredible to bring the champion horses from the 30s and 40s and race them against the top horses of the 70s and 80s? If you re into racing or fantasy sports in general, you might want to check out an exciting game that is considered the best of all horse race games horseracegame.com offers everything from a casual experience to the most in-depth, engaging world of virtual racing anyone could ever want. Want to breed your own horses and race against other players? Do you want to jockey Secretariat in the Kentucky Derby? They have it. Want to fictitiously participate in betting competitions with players worldwide? They have that, also. Virtual horse racing has never been more exciting than this free horse racing game.

We want everyone to enjoy this virtual simulation featuring the last 20 Kentucky Derby winners and let us know your feedback on who you think would have won and why we got it right or why we got it wrong.

Enjoy the race!

An ardent fan of horse racing for years, I am extremely passionate about writing articles on adventurous topics on the lines of new developments in sports, online games as well as other fields. You can find articles regarding Horse racing industries and interesting facts about the understanding of

horse race

. To know more about horse racing games online and related information log on to www.horseracegame.com.

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