Personally I find mangers an ideal way to use mostly useless space.  You can get your saddles up and out of the way of the dressing room. 

Just my $0.02

And while an idiot can climb in them & cause a big mess, the corallary is that in a sudden stop, mangers act as a firm stop against the horse's chest, rather than his face hitting the wall. Similar to a seatbelt- stop you by holding you where you are least likely to be injured. This scenario more aptly applies to a slant rather than a straight load however.

RTSmith

My horse has been in a borrowed trailer with mangers three times that I know of and seemed perfectly fine.  What I like about this trailer is the nose windows and screen in door form DR to horse area (seems for good airflow).  Would it be possible if I did have problems to have the wall redone or have the mangers removed?  Do you think this would be extremely costly?  Thanks.

I think you had that mixed up - a horse in a slant will not come against the manger in a stop. I've also heard of horses injuring knees on mangers in a sudden stop, bad bump or quick turn.

It was my idiot mare (that Reg was refering to) that climbs things... not too much you can do about it other than remove the thing to climb on. And a horse with 4 feet off the ground in a trailer is not scenario I'd like to replay on the side of the road. IMO mangers are just not worth the risk, even if the horse isn't a climber, all it would take is a bump at the wrong time or bee sting on the butt and up they go... I'll never have mangers in a trailer.

Built-in mangers, on a straight load, can be a blessing or a nuisance.

As RTSmith said - it gives the horse a better "wall" to lean against in a sudden stop; however, as MBRA and I have found - a horse CAN get stuck in there too. My always-traveled-well, safe-sane gelding suddenly popped into the manger on my beloved 2H straight load - Took a couple of very good friends to help get him out.

SO... if you like the trailer and you want built-in mangers - just be sure that there is NO LIP - that is, not upright piece at the edge of the manger towards the horse. If your trailer COMES with a lip - have someone build up the manger so that it is level and smooth. That way if the horse DOES get into the manger, they can just slide back out again.

Make sure that your mangers are very solid; steel, and well-supported and HOPEFULLY - you will never have to experience the horror of having this happen.

I have a BP manger straight load trailer and I love it.   I got a walk thru and sold it shortly after because my tack got all messed up with no place to put it except in the truck.  Traded it in on another BP manger.

If you are a sane driver, the horses are confident of you, you should have no problems. 

My friend had a walk thru and her horse went up over it on one of her trips, no manger at all but the same deal.  She thinks that it was something from behind had scared him.  So her next trailer had tail screens with windows to help protect his fragile psyche -- could have been a truck or something that forced him to startle forward.

Jbsny

Welcome to the forum. I pulled a two horse trailer with mangers for 30+ years. While I never had a problem, and yes the storage space is great, I would not get another one. Tom and Neva Scheve's book "The Complete Guide to Trailering" pointed out that the horse can not lower it's head to clear out the mucus membranes in a manger situation. That's probably not a problem with short distance hauling. However, since I have had my straight load, no manager, we have been on several 1,000 mile plus treks. I was glad the horses had the freedom for their heads. Also, a walk thru with a chest bar is much more open and inviting to a horse (my opinion only) than staring in at a manger. Also, I am a firm believer in straight loads over slants, but that is whole other discussion that has been repeatedly discussed on this forum. 

Just my opinion!

Brenda

I have a trailer with mangers, one without, and I had one manger removed. :-)  Also have one horse that will climb into mangers and 4 that don't (he also paws the trailer constantly while it's moving).

Removing them will be fairly expensive, you may get into rust or things that need done if you remove them, I would NOT plan on removing them.  I had one removed because that stall is turning into a shower.

The mangers are great for my horses that trailer well.  I love them, the horses can eat easily out of them.  All of my gear fits into the space under the mangers.  Love it!  I have not yet put my horse that climbs into the mangered trailer...  I did have the welder check my mangers and make sure a horse can't fall through them.  The steel is heavy enough in mine that it should be OK no matter what.  The nice thing about my manger trailer is that the horses can see the horse next to them (the mangers have bars dividing them), which may mean my climber will be happier in there.  Who knows??

The trailer without mangers is really nice if you need the extra space.  A horse can easily turn around in there or can be hauled loose in a large box stall if necessary.  I wouldn't try that with the mangers because there's not as much room to turn.  I have had to haul emergency colics, etc. (thank God, not my own) and it's a true luxury to have a large open box stall when you really, really need one.  When I hauled my BLM mustang and two rescue foals (not at the same time!) it was really nice to have a big open box for them.  Using dividers would have been an absolute wreck.  I can also fit more things into my trailer without mangers - I can haul my horse and my husband's 4-wheeler at the same time, for example.  I can also haul 2 4-wheelers, which isn't possible in the mangered trailer...  I do have fabric mangers for this trailer, but they are always getting torn up somehow.  I can hang a haynet, but I don't like having loose hay swinging near their faces.

So there are the pros and cons that I've experienced. :-)

Happy Trails,

Michelle