|
|
| Hi! My name is Kim Martin. Working in the horse and cattle industry has been my life. I grew up on a horse farm. I have always been working, showing, racing, and riding horses for as long as I can remember. I owned and ran a dairy farm for thirteen years, too! My horse experience includes training, World's show groomer, being a jockey, being a contracted youth rider for the Quarter Horse association, managing one of the largest Arabian racing farms in the country, working for a rodeo association, managing one of the top Warmblood Farms in the country, and managing one of the largest trail ranches in Wisconsin...to name a few! Now I'm on the other side of the fence due to injury, by helping people, just like you, find the trailer that fits your needs and budget. I would love to meet you and help get into your dream trailer. I'm here to answer questions on trailer safety and concerns you may have!
Edited by kmartin 2007-10-31 2:20 PM
|
|
| |
|
 Expert
Posts: 1877
  
Location: NY | Thank you any information is good keep |
|
| |
|
|  | Safety by Design - Designed throughout for the safety of the owners and their horses... full height cam latch, encased and recessed horse vents, telescoping rear divider, padded dividers, aluminum drop down face guards, smooth finish double face head and shoulder dividers, automotive strength divider latch, padded butt bar, heavy duty door hold backs, recessed light switches, triple wall and slant walls. Feel free to ask any questions or concerns you may have! |
|
|
| |
|
| | Under the thick, comfortable rubber mat that your horse stands on is a tough interlocking aluminum floor structure. The extruded planks provide added strength to prevent the dips and waves sometimes seen in other floors after a few years. |  Your horse rides comfortably in a spacious 42" stall, the largest standard stall in the industry. It stands protected between padded dividers, another standard feature which also helps prevent discoloration on light colored horses.
|
|
|
| |
|
Expert
Posts: 2615
| I suppose I'm correct to assume by your thread title that this IS a Sundowner trailer you are promoting? |
|
| |
|
Veteran
Posts: 201
| Please talk to Dave M. about paying $ for advertising on this site. This is too unprofessional, especially for a Sundowner salesperson. |
|
| |
|
Regular
Posts: 95
Location: East Central Kansas | This is what advertising on this site is for. If this person gets away with it, then the whole forum will explode into this type of ranting and raving for each type of trailer manufacter. |
|
| |
|
 Elite Veteran
Posts: 736
Location: Western WA | Kim Martin of Sweetwater Tennessee, I can almost assuredly say I will never buy a trailer from you. Like others have said, pay for your advertising, don't abuse a chat forum. There are lots of trailer dealers and salespeople on this forum that respect the rules and they are the ones that will earn my business. |
|
| |
|
| I sent the following message to the moderator myself......Sorry if this upset anyone....it wasn't meant to advertise.....most of the issues I deal with is safety....I thought a thread with a discussion started would be nice. I did not know that I could not discuss trailer safety on a thread....please delete this thread...I do not want to get anyone upset.....I just opened it to discuss different trailers and their safety....good or bad. Thank you.....and I'm sorry....I didn't mean for this to be advertisement....if people think that, than I'm sorry. |
|
| |
|
| We do pay to advertise........ and a discussion on trailer safety is not advertisment....it's something that all horse people are concerned about. |
|
| |
|
Expert
Posts: 1723
Location: michigan | So why is this thread entitled " Sundowner trailer safety?" I don't care if you're trying to sell something just be honest about it. |
|
| |
|
| Because I figured it would start other people talking about the flaws they have noticed....in their trailer.....the more feedback we get the better and safer all horses are in any trailer! |
|
| |
|
Expert
Posts: 3853
Location: Vermont | Originally written by kmartin on 2007-11-06 12:14 PM | Under the thick, comfortable rubber mat that your horse stands on is a tough interlocking aluminum floor structure. The extruded planks provide added strength to prevent the dips and waves sometimes seen in other floors after a few years. | Your horse rides comfortably in a spacious 42" stall, the largest standard stall in the industry. It stands protected between padded dividers, another standard feature which also helps prevent discoloration on light colored horses.
|
It would be nice, if your dividers went all the way to the floor, so the horses don't step on each other... |
|
| |
|
Member
Posts: 7
Location: warren, Ohio | You can get a full stud devider or even a partial one that goes from the devider to the floor.....that's what I have ....I have a 3 horse and most of the time only haul 2....so I like to use the front stall for carrying hay and extra supplies.......it works great as a midtack and it's cheaper than buying one with a midtack. |
|
| |
|
Expert
Posts: 2615
| Originally written by kmartin on 2007-11-06 3:26 PM I sent the following message to the moderator myself......Sorry if this upset anyone....it wasn't meant to advertise.....most of the issues I deal with is safety....I thought a thread with a discussion started would be nice. I did not know that I could not discuss trailer safety on a thread....please delete this thread...I do not want to get anyone upset.....I just opened it to discuss different trailers and their safety....good or bad. Thank you.....and I'm sorry....I didn't mean for this to be advertisement....if people think that, than I'm sorry. Doesn't matter to me if you're selling them on here,or not,I'm not the "Ad police" |
|
| |
|
Elite Veteran
Posts: 792
Location: East Tennessee, USA, Planet Earth | Originally written by kmartin on 2007-11-06 3:58 PM
Because I figured it would start other people talking about the flaws they have noticed....in their trailer.....the more feedback we get the better and safer all horses are in any trailer! Okay...I'll bite. I have a 2007 Sunlite 2 horse BP. Front stall has escape door with drop down window. Here's the deal...and it's a HUGE safety issue for me. Why are the pull down rings (handles) on the metal grates designed to be easily open by a horse's nose????????????Every damm time I put my horse in the front stall, he rubs his nose on that ring and unlatches the drop door grate and then pops his head out. Causing me to pull over, walk back to my trailer and relatch the drop door grate.SO......WHAT CAN I DO TO PREVENT THIS? And please don't tell me to keep my drop down window closed. The is NOT an opition on hot days when hauling an Icelandic Horse. |
|
| |
|
Expert
Posts: 3853
Location: Vermont | You need to buy dumber horses... Not those Icelandic smarties... |
|
| |
|
| That's too funny.....I have never thought about that....I guess a smaller horse could get in there and do that.....I wonder that if they put a cross member in that loop if it would fix the problem for you....then your horse couldn't get their nose in the handle as easy. Is it just one horse that does that all the time or do all of them do it? If it's just one I bet he's always getting into stuff.....my daughter has a horse that does things like that.....he's always curious about things like that. |
|
| |
|
Regular
Posts: 57
| When I was recently trailer shopping, I looked for months at many brands of trailer, including Sundowner. I was shopping for a 3H slant, and one of the biggest turnoffs was at the rear of the trailer. The width of the horse opening seemed small and uninviting, and the angle of the rear tack made it feel like you were walking into a tunnel. Plus, the rear tack formed such a corner, that it seemed like a good place for a person to get pinned. I looked at this specifically after a friend told me about her horse becoming a hard loader on her Sundowner; he didn't like that "tunnel" either. I know that the rear tack has to be that big to accommodate that swing out saddle rack system, but I didn't like that either. I would rather have a fixed saddle rack and a more inviting opening for the horses. I ended up with a 4-Star, which I have already put a couple thousand miles on, and couldn't be happier. Although mine has 50/50 rear entry, the rear tack is angled much differently which provides for a much safer, more inviting loading situation. The stalls are roomy, the latches are beefy and user friendly, the hinges and welds are stout, the floor is marine-grade and sealed with WERM, lots of padding, low position latches on the drops, and overall, the trailer is just built like a tank. I have yet to find anything that is a safety issue on this trailer. |
|
| |
|
| That's why Sundowner has this option....No rear center post construction provides a totally open loading area in a matter of seconds with a collapsible rear tack. Operate the user-friendly feature with a horse in your hand, also when you go into a Living Quarters....Sundowner has made a larger Rear Tack to compensate for buckets...and more tack area...50".....cause you loose the storage in the dress. Also if your loading and worry about getting pinned...it's best to do the collapse anyhow......I see where your coming from...I have a 4 year old that's 16.2 hands and I have to collapse the tack for loading and unloading, he just don't like to back out of a trailer and it's much easier to just turn him around and let him walk out. |
|
| |
|
Regular
Posts: 57
| I understand that the rear tack is easy to collapse (it is easy on the 4-Star, too), but I haul several times a week and honestly don't want to hassle with that. Plus, if you have all this stuff (buckets and such) in your rear tack, then you can't collapse it without removing stuff. |
|
| |
|
Member
Posts: 7
Location: warren, Ohio | I would think your trailer wall wold be more of a chance to get pinched than the Sundowner....it's more angled and not a boxed in feeling....where your tying your horse....it's slanted more....and you have a larger exit....a 60/40 is much larger than a 50/50 when it comes to an accident waiting to happen in the trailer. |
|
| |
|
Regular
Posts: 57
| The angle of my rear tack is MUCH "shallower" than the Sundowners that I looked at, all of which also had 50/50 rear doors. I never feel trapped or crowded loading into my 4-Star, and I've never had a orse so much as hesitate to get on it. The opening is just much more inviting. |
|
| |
|
Member
Posts: 7
Location: warren, Ohio | YOur right they do have 50/50 doors....I was thinking about that Cherokee trailer I use to own.....it had 60/40 but the rear tack didn't collapse and it had a full permanent post.....with the Sundowner now it's just with the deeper rear tack...I mean there's no place to get pinched cause the trailer doesn't let you get in that position.....also I really like having that deeper rear tack.....I have extra bridle hooks in mine and my buckets get hung......so I can still open the rear tack up quite a ways without having to remove them.....it works great for me. |
|
| |
|
Member
Posts: 7
Location: warren, Ohio | Isn't it funny that we all see different obstacles but all trailers have their pro's and con's!!! |
|
| |
|
Elite Veteran
Posts: 792
Location: East Tennessee, USA, Planet Earth | Originally written by kmartin on 2007-11-07 8:18 AM
That's too funny.....I have never thought about that....I guess a smaller horse could get in there and do that.....I wonder that if they put a cross member in that loop if it would fix the problem for you....then your horse couldn't get their nose in the handle as easy. Is it just one horse that does that all the time or do all of them do it? If it's just one I bet he's always getting into stuff.....my daughter has a horse that does things like that.....he's always curious about things like that. Hi...actually Huginn has a big head for a 13.2 hand pony.  My other equine is only 30" tall, poor thing...she's can't even look out the window. |
|
| |
|
 Elite Veteran
Posts: 720
Location: Never miss a good chance to shut up. | So tell me K Martin. What do you do for a living right now? And our moderator didn't forward any messages to me. But I miss a lot. |
|
| |
|
Elite Veteran
Posts: 644
Location: Odenville, Alabama | And the board suddenly got ... .  QUIET |
|
| |
|
Elite Veteran
Posts: 792
Location: East Tennessee, USA, Planet Earth | Hey Kim...can you please address my post?  |
|
| |
|
Expert
Posts: 3802
Location: Rocky Mount N.C. | Sorry IPG, I was responding to Dave's post about K.Martin. I got one of them 13 hand Icelandic critters! He is nosey and will teach the other horses how to get in trouble! He is the best horse I've ever had so far as putting new weanlings with. He's really laid back and is good with the babies. He hasn't figures out how to open the bars on our Silver Star, our new Cherokee 6H-H2H don't have any drop down windows. |
|
| |
|
| The reason the bars were changed over is due to testing.....if the bars are horizontal....a horse could rear up get a foot caught in them and brake a leg......with them vertical a leg will slide out go to the manger....which is slanted....or drop into a feed bag that will brake away. This was put on here to find issues that all company's can better.....just like trailridingal said....all trailers have there flaws......getting input from true horsemen and women can help put a safer trailer on the road for all of us. |
|
| |
|
Expert
Posts: 3802
Location: Rocky Mount N.C. | Cool, never thought about one rearing and getting his or her leg caught in the "window bars". That is one reason I have never liked mangers, something to get hung up on. If one of mine rears, getting his leg caught in the bars will be the least of their worries!!! Tie them with their head high to the old Black Gum tree, put hobbles on the front, and go on about your business. Now, that will work on that rearing thing, gives them some quiet time to think about their bad behaviour!!.....And you'll be able to continue to use your old unsafe trailers with the old style cross bar drop down windows. See, I just saved a bunch of you alot of money, you don't need a new non-rearing horse or a new trailer!!! |
|
| |
|
Expert
Posts: 2615
| I saw a young horse panic,lose his balance topple over and became hung by the rope and halter which didn't break that was tied in such a manner at a trail ride. He had injuries to his neck and his spine from it.They can really hurt themselves if they fall over while tied up in crossties or sit back and pull hard. |
|
| |
|
| Being a jockey all those years....I really seen some crazy things go wrong in a trailer....it's hard to believe the mess a horse can get itself into. |
|
| |
|
| I'm like you.....I really don't care for mangers either.....they can put a hurting on a good day....for the wrong horse, but I guess it's all preference.....everyone has their pro's and con's. |
|
| |
|
Expert
Posts: 2615
| Yes,as my dad used to say about my brother,"He could tear up a cannon ball with a paper napkin." Same with horses. Watch that YouTube video "them hardcore hossies". |
|
| |
Sundowner Trailer Safety
