Gard and Ingramacres,

Did y'all ever complete your window screens project?  Gard, did you end up putting in the zippers?  How'd it go?

Ingramacres, you were going to see about making a screen with and without the zipper.  Were you able to get to that project?  How'd it go?

Wanted to see what the outcome was before I think about trying my project.

My wife purchased some solid screens, that when installed, were a great impediment when trying to load horses. It was impossible to reach the trailer ties and halters with them in place. My wife installed a heavy zipper on each screen which solved the access problem.

As far as durability, I can't attest to that yet. Shortly after the screens were installed, my wife was injured and she was non ambulatory for some while. Only recently has she been able to ride assisted, indoors, within the confines of our arena. Our show and trail season, so far this year, has been non existent.

She and my daughter hope to try some small local shows later this month, and we again will use the trailers. We probably will use the Exiss first, which has no window bars, just the screens. It will be a good test of their durability.

As an aside, if we had window bars in that trailer like we do on the Sidekick, I think the other poster's idea of a fly hood would be a very realistic idea. The screens will lower the amount of air through the window and the resulting ventilation. The hoods would protect the horses eyes from outside and within.

The screens, however, are an easy way to provide eye protection and keep the horses contained inside the stalls.  I'll have to see how well they work in practice.

Gard

Here is an idea for those of you that already have drop down face guards in your trailer: Get heavy duty fiberglass screen wire at your favorite building materials store in a bulk roll.  Cut it about 1 1/2 inch bigger than your drop down guard is.  So you should have 1 1/2 ich overhang on all 4 sides of the guard. Than wrap it around the outside tube of the guard and secure with zip ties every couple of inches.  Place the screen material on the outside of the guard so the wind pushes it against the guard and your horse can't get hold of it.  You may need to cut a slit in the center or where your latch is located, so as to get hold of it to drop the guard.  It's cost effective, and will definitely keep bugs/debris from getting in your horses nose and eyes.