Tricky
������������������ Story and Illustra�ons By Tom Scheve No matter how much you prepare your horse trailer for a trip, annoying situations are going to pop up, and you’re going to have to solve them. When they do, it’s wise to take a slow, deep breath and contemplate the possible solutions before reacting to the first thoughts that come to mind. By reacting rather than responding, you may find your first choice worsening the problem rather than solving it. The following is an example of one of those unanticipated, vexing situations that can unexpectedly arise.
PROBLEM. It’s a beautiful morning. You’re excited because you’re heading out to spend a long-awaited day out with your horse. You’re jacking your trailer up and before it raises high enough to drop it on the ball, the crank handle abruptly stops. Your immediate thought is it’s stuck, but don’t keep cranking the handle. If you do, you will hear a “pop,” your jack handle will start turning freely, and your jack is shot and so is your anticipated day with your horses. Generally speaking, when something on your trailer quits doing what it’s supposed to do, something is wrong. In this case, the jack had reached its limit. Before you read the solution, take a moment to test yourself. What would you do to fix the problem? SOLUTION. You need to get the trailer weight off the jack so you can retract the jack stand to place blocks underneath it. But how?
TRAINING & Showing
Near the coupler, stack enough wood or concrete blocks under the trailer frame until it almost reaches it. Slowly crank the jack down until the nose of the trailer frame is resting on the blocks. Keep cranking the jack until the jack shank lifts off the ground high enough to place one to two blocks underneath it. If your bumper pull jack has a detachable wheel instead of a sand foot, remove the wheel and crank it down onto blocks without it. Now crank the trailer up off the blocks under the frame, remove them, hitch up, and enjoy your long-awaited day with your horses. See top illustration
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TIPS • Bumper pull trailer jacks come with a detachable wheel or a sand foot. A sand foot is safer. With a jack wheel supporting the trailer nose, and four wheels in the rear supporting the body, you might find yourself chasing it if unhitched on uneven ground. • Always place blocks under your bumper pull jack before unhitching your trailer for extra height. Four-byfour wood posts cut in twelve-inch lengths make good jack supports. Or you can buy pre-maid support blocks on Amazon or RV sites.
Blocks Blocks
PROBLEM. The same problem could arise with a gooseneck jack, especially if the jack is on soft ground. The overall solution is the same as for bumper pulls; you have to free up the jack from the trailer weight to place blocks under it. Again, take a moment and consider how you might respond before reading the solution. SOLUTION: Start by lowering the truck tailgate. Back the truck under the Gooseneck coupler until the coupler is over the rear of the truck bed. Crank the front of the trailer slowly down until the coupler (trailer weight) is almost resting on the back of the truck bed. Place a rubber mat, cardboard, or other protective material under the coupler to protect the truck bed. Lower the coupler down until the weight of the trailer nose is resting on the bed instead of the jack. Now you can wind the jack up off the ground and place blocks under it.
Trailer weight on rear of bed. Raise jack. Put blocks underneath it.
TIPS • Always place blocks under the gooseneck coupler before unhitching it from the truck. • There are two basic styles of gooseneck couplers. One that you have to hitch at the coupler in the truck bed and one that you can secure outside the bed with a quick-release wire. If you don’t like the coupler you have, you can replace it by loosening the bolts and sliding it down and out the coupler sleeve. FINAL TIP Situations will arise, both small and large when you have horses. The way your mind interprets the situation can either help or hinder your ability to solve it. My advice is to take a moment, be present, assess and accept the situation, then do what your gut tells you. Tom Scheve, with wife Neva have been advoca�ng horse trailer safety since 1984. Both have given safety clinics at many hose expos around the country and have wri�en numerous ar�cles for ar�cles for na�onal magazines, bout horse trailer safety. Their na�onally acclaimed textbook, The Complete Guide to Buying, Maintaining and Servicing a Horse Trailer and Equine Emergencies on the Road (with Jim Hamilton DVM have been adopted by most Na�onal Horse organiza�ons. Tom is also owner of EquiSpirit Trailer Company with corporate offices in Southern Pines, NC. For more informa�on on horse trailer safety, visit their website equispirit.com or email Tom at tom@equispirit.com. Toll Free number is 1-877-575-1771.
EE
www.EliteEquestrianMagazine.com
