Have you tried taking out all of the dividers and using it like a stock until they get used to it? Is your back tack collapsible or fixed? In our 4H, we can collapse the back tack and remove the center post for loading mares with babies.

Removing the managers will kill the resale.

Why not just take the deviders out and not worry about removing the mangers?  Sure the front horse will have a little more room, but the main compartment is wide open.  Removed our from our Sundowner last year just to haul our cow to the vet. (no other trailer to use)

To gut/remove mangers and dividers in this the trailer will make it pretty much worthless to anyone other than you. Also, by removing those mangers, you are probably weakening the structural integrity of the trailer on the street side. Those manger doors will have to be secured in a manner so as to remain in place if a horse were to kick or paw them.... My suggestion, sell this trailer and return to a stock type with a LQ. Nice sellection of stock/combo LQ trailers on HTW. 37 stock/combo LQ matches on HTW.  JMHO...

http://www.horsetrailerworld.com/home/searchtrailers.asp

 I am wondering if the slant is short making the space small or your stalls are narrow. Mangers shouldn't take up floor space. There head n neck has to go somewhere. When I had mangers my horses chests din't touch the mangers as they are not that deep.

My horses and I too went from years of riding in a stock trailer to a slant load, and I think the difficulty is more with the people's attitude and fears than the horses! At least with me that was true - I had to learn the best way to make it work, then I was able to help my horses.

I would suggest opening your front drop-down windows when teaching them to load. Once I did that mine were able to get in the narrow slant easier because they'd walk in further, putting their heads and necks directly outside. That made it easier to close the divider behind them. I would then walk outside and give them a treat through the open drop-down window.

Also, when you're in the learning process, fold up the rear tack, or at the very least, make it smaller.

My horses now prefer the slant load to the trailer - probably because its quieter when they ride down the road. I don't have mangers, so I leave my horses loose and let them eat off the floor. I tried hay bags, but with my 7' wide trailer the bags just took up too much space. My long mare fits better in the slant when allowed to be loose. When she lowers her head to eat she takes up a shorter space, and is more comfy.

Don't get discouraged, just work at the problem slowly. Don't make it a war, but find ways to teach your horses to load and unload, and I suspect there will be the day when you and your horses really appreciate the slant load. And since I too load alone, I've found the slant much easier than the stock trailer. I found loading one horse in a stock trailer fine for one person, but two horses got hard because the first would always try to turn around and look at us when we came in behind it. With the slant load each horse stays in place while I load them alone.

Good luck!

Because your trailer is made out of metal, it can be repaired, modified or changed to any configuration you need. It will take some tools, a skilled fabricator, some applicable metal materials and a competent welder.

If you know of a fab shop with a plasma cutter, most solid dividers can be cut with slots or any shaped opening, to allow an air flow or better vison between horses. The cut edges will have to be dressed smooth, but the modifications are quick and easily performed once a template is made. This is much less expensive than replacing the dividers. Another option is to have the shop cut off the top or a section of the solid divider, and fabricate a tubular replacement.

Any modifications to your trailer will effect its resale value. If the revised trailer will suit your needs for some time, this will not be an issue. However, if you plan on a replacement in the near future, you might want to consider purchasing a trailer already built to your specifications, and selling yours while it has some more value.

Originally written by Sodak Girl on 2010-08-12 1:44 PM

Here's the ticket peoples, it's 7' wide, add 2' to that for mangers, takes alot of room away, Arabs would fit real nice, it's just too dang short, the boys are wide too, their bodies literally rub against the "solid" (no air there)dividers & wall, hence they feel squished. any of you know what it's like to walk around in jeans that are too tight all day? than stand in a closet with a shelf stuck up against your chest? that's how it must be for them, when we get to where we're going they were drenched in sweat & shaking from head to hoof, I want to take the mangers out so they have more room,(yes I will beef up the wall) so they are more comfortable for they're ride, they mean everything to me, they are my sanity, I was just trying to find out if anyone knew anything about converting a trailer, not a lecture on training my horses to go in, but it is nice to hear I'm not alone with this little problem;)now that, that's said & done, does anyone know where to find dividers? I wanted some that have a better air flow. thanks

I have never seen mangers in a 7' wide trailer just 8' so design is an issue but if the slants were more slanted that adds length so maybe a few issues on how it was made. That said there neck and head takes up at least least 2 feet of space so taking out mangers may not help unless you want them to travel with there head bent to the side and there body closer to the front

There is a thread here where someone wanted to create more visibility for a horse who is blind in one eye. 

That poster was talking of putting holes in the solid divided.  He/she talked of 4 inch circles and someone suggested doing more 2 inch circles.  It seemed like a good idea to me.

As for mangers, I only looked at one trailer with them.  It was not more that 7' wide and I don't know if it was even that wide.  It was nice looking, and sold for a good price, but when I looked at it, I didn't think I could ever fit more than one horse in it, and then not a big one. I never looked at another slant with fixed mangers.