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Ditch side slant? Related to DR door placement...

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happyrider929
Reg. Jul 2007
Posted 2007-07-16 11:03 AM (#63958)
Subject: Ditch side slant? Related to DR door placement...


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Posts: 57
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Does anyone have a ditch side slant? I am considering one because I am custom ordering a trailer which will be set up for light camping (no LQ), and based on most campground configurations, I would like my dressing room door to be on the right.....BUT, that eats up space on my long wall. The solution to this would be to flip the horse stalls and do ditch side slant (horses face passenger side). How user friendly is a ditch side slant? I'm not sure how comfortable I will be loading in the configuration. My horses are good travelers and will load and ride well on anything, but I don't want it to be awkward for me to use.I would prefer a traditional slant, but I worry about losing that long wall, and I think it is important to ahve the dressing room door on the right.
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Dunoir
Reg. Sep 2005
Posted 2007-07-16 11:58 AM (#63963 - in reply to #63958)
Subject: RE: Ditch side slant? Related to DR door placement...


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Location: Coconut Creek, FL
My DR door is on the left - driver's side and I prefer it that was so you do get the long wall.  I see more and more trailers being done this way so you do get the longer wall.  Not sure as to any benefit with it on the right side... 
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headhunter
Reg. Oct 2004
Posted 2007-07-16 1:08 PM (#63969 - in reply to #63958)
Subject: RE: Ditch side slant? Related to DR door placement...



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Posts: 736
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Location: Western WA

You could order your trailer with the stalls configured to face the back, but with their heads still on the left side of the trailer.  I've seen this setup with a ramp on the right at the first stall to load horses, then they are just lead out the back.

I have doors on both sides of my mid-tack and will use the door opposite my LQ door if its more convenient, depending on how I am parked and who my neighbors are. 

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reinergirl
Reg. Feb 2007
Posted 2007-07-16 5:35 PM (#63991 - in reply to #63958)
Subject: RE: Ditch side slant? Related to DR door placement...



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Location: Youngstown, OH
Why don't you just order it with the dressing room door on the street side?
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happyrider929
Reg. Jul 2007
Posted 2007-07-16 5:37 PM (#63992 - in reply to #63958)
Subject: RE: Ditch side slant? Related to DR door placement...


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We plan to camp in it (sometimes at regular campgrounds, without horses), and most campsites are set up with the actual site on the right side of the trailer. This is why I think the door needs to be on the right, but I hate to kill my space by putting the door on the long wall. Not sure what the best compromise is here.
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Rose66
Reg. Dec 2006
Posted 2007-07-16 5:46 PM (#63994 - in reply to #63958)
Subject: RE: Ditch side slant? Related to DR door placement...


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Location: Alabama
I don't know about whether slanting the heads to the ditch side is good or bad. The only thing I can think of is that having your horses facing the ditch side might make the trailer heavy to that side and it seems like I remember being told that the trailer should be heavy to the inside of the road, not the outside. I really don't know if that is true but if it is true, then it's something to think about.

I do understand completely about how having a door on the passenger side screws up your long wall. My trailer's DR door is on the passenger side and I also have a walk-through door into the horse area so that's two walls that are limited in space. I friend of mine has a trailer like mine and she just uses the walk-through door and then the trailer escape door on the drivers side as her entrance door to the DR so that she has an intact long wall. It actually works quite well because you can knock the dirt off your boots in the horse area before you step into the DR. I'm in the middle of converting my DR to small LQ's and am almost to the point where I have to decide if I'm going to use my passenger side DR door or use the walk-through door like she does. If I choose to use the walk-through door, whatever I put in front of the passenger side door will be temporarily attached so that when I decide to sell the trailer whoever buys it can go back to using the passenger side DR door if they want to.

Oh, one other thing, because my DR passenger side door is located right next to the front of the trailer, I cannot attach an awning to the trailer on that side. So if you get your DR on the passenger side, make sure it's far enough down so that an awning can be installed over it. That's another reason my friend uses her walk-through door and escape door as an entrance because she could only put her awning on the driver's side of her trailer.

Good luck in your decision.

Rose
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gabz
Reg. Oct 2003
Posted 2007-07-17 11:58 AM (#64023 - in reply to #63958)
Subject: RE: Ditch side slant? Related to DR door placement...



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The reason that horses are hauled with their heads on the driver side is because horses are heavier in their front end. Roads are built with a slight crown down the center - in fact, semi-trucks are set up with this in mind. I remember when the tires on my ex's semi, driver side front and drive wheels, were wearing terribly - the alignment was done incorrectly to compensate for this crown. Semi's are tricky - because it depends on whether you do local driving or interstate (multi lane highways are less crowned than 2 lane roads).

If you expect to sell this trailer anytime in the future, you would be better off keeping the horses in a traditional slant arrangement, and then instead of backing into campsites, pull in and then back out (or vice-versa). Perhaps you can arrange to have your hookups/drains on the predominant campside?

The majority of my friends who camp, have the LQ door on the short wall, driver's side. It actually works well for us as those of us with pass side doors, will face those with driver side doors - and that frames our campsites. We camp where there are no elec/water/dump hookups. There was one time when 3 rigs formed a "U" and gave us lots of privacy from others.

hope this helps you make a decision that works best for you.

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jdzaharia
Reg. Apr 2006
Posted 2007-07-17 4:33 PM (#64038 - in reply to #63958)
Subject: RE: Ditch side slant? Related to DR door placement...



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Location: Texas
Horses are heavier on their front hooves than their back hooves. But that does not mean there is more load on the head side of the trailer than the butt side. Look at where the horse stands and places its hooves and do the math. The center of gravity of a horse in a traditional slant load is slightly to the right (butt side) of the centerline of the trailer. Based on 60%/40% F/R on a 7' wide trailer, I estimate the center of gravity of the horse would be approximately 6" to the right of the trailer centerline. So the argument posted by a couple people on here holds no water.

I have seen two slant load trailers that the heads of the horses were on the ditch side of the trailer. Both were stock trailers converted to slants by the owners. Both seem to work fine. The owner of one of them told me that he thinks his horse prefers to look out at all the grassy fields as they travel rather than having trucks whizzing by their heads all the time. Ha ha.

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dwnsouth
Reg. Jan 2006
Posted 2007-07-17 5:23 PM (#64043 - in reply to #63958)
Subject: RE: Ditch side slant? Related to DR door placement...


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Posts: 90
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Location: louisiana

My trailer is a 3 horse slant with the horses heads to the passenger/curb/ditch side, 10 foot short wall.  

Done this way because every where I go, I park in a certain spot almost every time.  Used to tying the horses and saddling on the passenger side.  In order to put the rear tack close to where I am saddling with tack door on the passenger side instead of the rear, we had to flip slant direction.  Just FYI, no rear door on tack because walking up and down ramp with saddles and stuff is a pain.  The living quarters door is on the passenger side which is my short wall due to the opposite slant direction. 

Another reason was because I feel safer for the head to be curb side.  This is just my opinion, so some of you dont get your panties in a wad.  Have seen road debris fly up from oncoming cars, into windows and even through the screens and hit horses in the face.  Have seen a trailer swiped down the side from an oncoming car and have seen one hit on the interstate by a car next to it swerving.  I would think the butt could take a beating better than the head.  I ride on cows and my horses take getting hit in the butt ok but when something comes close to hitting their face they dont care that much for it and they are usually kinda headshy for a while after.  

I love the configuration because I never had to change the way I was used to tying and tacking up.  The horses kinda looked at me funny the first time when they went right instead of left but no problems.   They seem to ride the same and no pull to either side with weight issues(one gelding is a big boy at around 1400 lbs). 

If you want you can email me at dwnsouth@cox.net and I can send you pics to show what it looks like.  Oh, the trailer company did not charge me anything to change direction of slants. 

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cutter4life
Reg. Mar 2007
Posted 2007-07-21 10:41 AM (#64197 - in reply to #63958)
Subject: RE: Ditch side slant? Related to DR door placement...


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Posts: 71
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Location: Northern CA

i don't do any camping, but I have a Jamco with the GN access door on the right (passenger) side. The horse's ride with their heads facing the drivers side in a traditional slant load arrangement. I like having the GN access door on the curbside because if I was ever to break down, etc I could easily access this area for repair kit, etc without having semis whiz right by me on the interstate. I can see where this would take up some of the usable space on the long wall if you were camping, but it seems much safer for interstate travel.

On the other hand, wasn't there some research done by UC Davis that stated horses haul better facing backwards or in a reverse slant configuration? It seems to me that there were a couple of years where the reverse slant was a huge selling point and I believe it coincided with the research performed at UC Davis.

Just my 2cents!

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headhunter
Reg. Oct 2004
Posted 2007-07-21 6:08 PM (#64201 - in reply to #63958)
Subject: RE: Ditch side slant? Related to DR door placement...



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Posts: 736
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Location: Western WA
I think I'd buy a reverse slant if I ordered a custom trailer, with headside still the left, but with horses facing back rather than front.  Rear tack would then be on the right I would guess.  Just would change the slant direction of the bulkhead wall in the LQ or dressing room.  I think horses like traveling backwards. 
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