Horse float accident - any of us?

www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10775266

Just the thing I was avoiding happening with us and our issues. I hope she makes a full recovery quickly...

Well it was very kind of her to try and help and not good that this happened but it does make me wonder why the person responsible for the float did not warn her not to stand directly behind the ramp. Also makes me wonder if they had rump bars on the float - as previously discussed - they are there for strength and control of the horse. Mind a full on kick would not have stopped this presumably. Hope she gets well soon.

Using our float door as an example, if you were caught off guard mid lift a decent kick may well throw someone off balance and under the darn thing, its so heavy. However I think you are right Didi about the rump bars, sounded like the horse came back out on her.

I never paid much attention to float details before, I certainly will be looking with new eyes at them at field days 2012.

What would be an ideal design for a rear facing ramp?
There are probably as many opinions as design options. []
Springs at the hinge that reduce the weight of the ramp are helpful
In addition to rump bars, hinged panels like half height doors below them would prevent kicks from affecting the ramp lowering/raising -there are versions that can become side panels to the upper part off the ramp, preventing horses from sidestepping off at the upper end. A neighbour's young horse died after doing this and falling.[]

swaggie;401907 wrote: Using our float door as an example, if you were caught off guard mid lift a decent kick may well throw someone off balance and under the darn thing, its so heavy. However I think you are right Didi about the rump bars, sounded like the horse came back out on her.

I never paid much attention to float details before, I certainly will be looking with new eyes at them at field days 2012.

does your float have a spring on the tailgate.tkf

Hi Having now retired from the helicopter industry I have seen many people in other areas failing to take the very BASIC precautions in using their wider vision. So many of us are very narrow visioned and all it takes is a simple remedy, SLOW DOWN. Your get there faster and in one piece, believe me it works. Soooo many of the problems that arise on this site are because of people rushing. Our neighbor is a classic example of this. Slow down as we get older, everyone can still do the same chores it just takes a little longer.

Perhaps a lot of us us can finally achieve our dream of a lifestyle block but can only afford it 5 or 10 years too late. Take care and good wishes for 2012.

TKFARMER;401932 wrote: does your float have a spring on the tailgate.tkf

Yep sure does, but the door itself is heavy.... and it would be easy to slip (if you had wet hands for instance) and get donged with the door falling back down...

For me, i think having a hydro' tailgate lift with auto controls that can be walked about would be ideal (same as on rear loading trucks). That way I could stand in the front of the float with the horse, whilst the back door comes up by itself.

I had springs on my truck ramp and the guys redoing the ramp were able to alter the springs somehow (don't remember anything being moved!) and it really lightened the ramp.
The other thing I discovered down the line was to grease the (can't think what they are called) the tube type things that the ramp hinges turns inside and that too made a huge difference to the ease of lifting it.

Is that what you were thinking TK only you can no doubt explain it better than me!

Well it was very kind of her to try and help and not good that this happened but it does make me wonder why the person responsible for the float did not warn her not to stand directly behind the ramp.

I saw this and wondered.....

My initial reaction was different to your DiDi.

Having been on the receiving end of unwelcome help when having trouble floating my horse, I wondered if the 'help' contributed to the accident.

In my case it certainly would have. Said person bulled ahead despite repeated requests to stop and go away and put not only themselves but, me and my horse too, in dangerous positions
It took me being *ahem* very assertive to get them to leave, and even then, they only retreated far enough away to rush to put up the ramp when I had loaded my horse. It was very lucky I had spotted them there because I was in the process of backing my horse back out again to reinforce the float loading lesson. Still gives me shivers some 15 years later.

swaggie;402026 wrote: Yep sure does, but the door itself is heavy.... and it would be easy to slip (if you had wet hands for instance) and get donged with the door falling back down...

For me, i think having a hydro' tailgate lift with auto controls that can be walked about would be ideal (same as on rear loading trucks). That way I could stand in the front of the float with the horse, whilst the back door comes up by itself.

the problem with hydro gates is the amount of reinforcing required to hold the motor and stop the gate pushing back on the float and bending the chasis. tkf ps: I don`t think they are .cheap

TKFARMER;402094 wrote: the problem with hydro gates is the amount of reinforcing required to hold the motor and stop the gate pushing back on the float and bending the chasis. tkf ps: I don`t think they are .cheap

yep, didn't think it would be easy, or else someone else would have done it by now....[][][][8D]