Making good time today.  The weather is clearing up real nice and the horses are having a great time seeing where they have been.  We stopped in Salt Lake City today for some diesel and a chance to stretch our legs and let the horses take a load off.  Here is a pic of one of them enjoying the break

While we were taking our little rest stop several people came over to admire the rig.  Of course we are real proud of it so we gave them the full tour of the trailer and bored them with all the details. (don't you have fun doing that?!!)

One of them commented about what she called the "walk thru door."  This was a new term to me.  I didn't know there was any other kind.  Are there "hop thru doors" , "waltz thru doors", "skip thru doors" or "crawl thru doors"  Mercy, what other kind of door would there be?    Next thing you know people will be calling the thing in the closet the "hot water heater" instead of the "water heater."

I hope that someone on this board can tell me about those doors that aren't the walk thru kind. 

We are settled in for the night in Bountiful Utah and it is.  Great place here.

RollinPonies,

  Excellent point on the walk thru doors, here's another one for ya to ponder while y'all are taking your rest break... why do they call that thing in the closet a hot water heater?  If the water is hot, why does it need heated?  Shouldn't we call them... cold water heaters?  LOL,  P.S.  I LOVE your new LQ's, very plush. P.S.S. Does your new trailer have grease or oil-bath hubs??

Mr. Bit,

Thanks for asking about the hubs.  I'm not too sure about this trailer.  You know we've only had it a few days.

On previous trailers I have tried the oil bath hubs because everyone told me they were really special.  I found that the oil bath was an even bigger mess than packing bearings with grease by hand . . . can you imagine what it was like taking a bath in that stuff?   I had that oil in places I didn't know I had!  I gave that up pretty quick.

I'll check into the hubs on the next stop and let you know whats down there.

I do know that the bearing retard pully is made of carbon fiber and isn't supposed to rust or leak.  I'm not sure if it is 20 amp or 30 amp.

Back to the door between the LQ and the rear of the trailer: Ours are defanitely made for walking through.  Here is a pic of them

Happy trails

PS - Interesting to see the "ya'll" in your post.  Didn't know you used that word in northern Indiana.  Did you know that the plural of "ya'll" is "all ya'll" ? Just another helpful bit of info for you.

Silly me, I thought you'd have those fancy "star trek" doors that open automatically as you walk up to them.  All the Blue Moon trailers have them......

 Has wifey taken a shower yet?  

From Hay2ride:

"LOL! Anyone want to take a guess at who Rollin really is?"

I still think it's a jessejames alias!!!

http://www.snapfish.com/slideshow/AlbumID=38489795/PictureID=1119907066/a=45649362_45649362/t_=45649362

I think this would be the way to go for many horse owners who just don't want to buy that gas-guzzling truck and fancy horse trailer. This set-up would suit just about any family. I especially like the feed bag on the horse!

RollinPonies,

  I forgot to ask ya, why did y'all settle on a two horse, didn't you want the extra stall of a three horse so you could haul your prtable corral panels?  Ya know the resale value will be much greater when you get your new BlueMoon trailer and go to sell this one.  At least, that's what I read.   Oh yeah, one more thing... I'm not from N. Indiana, that's just where I'm stuck for now. Y'all know what I mean?!?  You and wifey be careful and remember, take any hills that you are concerned about in 4 low, better safe than sorry.  Now, If I may quote Tigger..."T T F N"

Mr. Bit,

We are still here in Bountiful, Utah.  Really enjoying it too. A truly beautiful place.  Even the horses love it.

Since were are taking a little time to relax I checked out the trailer bearings as I promised earlier.  These are really something. Self lubricating, maintenace free.  Take a look:

I really like these new passive radial bearings.  I expect all trailers will have them before long.  Almost sure that the Blue Moon trailers have had them for years. Rest easy.  We are rolling on terrific bearings.

There is one thing that has been troubling me a lot lately. Its not the national debt, the global ecology or the global economy.  I have really been concerned about the issue of tire rotation patterns.  Many of you probably have been too.  Wifey did some research and the more we read the more disturbing it all appeared to us.  Take a look at this and see what you think.

Just imagine!  See why Wifey and I are so concerned with the issue of tire rotation?

The problem is compounded by rust and acid washing.

Just my 2 cents.

PS: Brillo I PM'd you with more detail but they are now only one to a customer here in Utah. 

M.F.B., What a great rig. VERY efficient use of space. Also must tell you that is one very well trained horse. Obviously he doesn't need a ramp. Thanks for sharing the pic! Here it is for those of you that didn't see it before . . .

http://www.snapfish.com/viewsharedphoto/p=312101142031775200/l=85753254/otsc=SYE/otsi=SPIC;jsessionid=063FF61C4F781B44A685D8EFEAD703B3

Cloud,

The ice pick method was sure but slow. Had to give it up. The cracked glass worked well and I have a huge supply of it from the rear window(s) Thanks for the hint. If I keep this trailer I will probably have the floor redone with gunnite because of all its obvious benefits.

Thanks for asking about it here in Bountiful.  Here's a pic of some of the activity going on.

RE: the bearings 

Revolutions are usually a good thing with bearings, sometimes good/sometimes bad when its the masses (ask the Romanoffs.)  I am not too concerned about the trailer bearings.  Although the horses and trailer are pretty heavy, they are not a weighty matter in the big scheme of things.

Here's my philosopy about that: "Every day the wheels turn, the trailer rolls, Wifey and I stay happy, the horses are spoiled and life goes on, albeit sometimes with a broken rear window and a dented cab."

roll on

We arrived here in Flat River Nevada around mid-afternoon today.  Wow! What a place!

This town is PACKED with people and ponies due to the Irish Draft Pony Conference (IDPANA)  This is one BIG, BIG conference. Here is a picture inside the Conference Hall late this afternoon >>>

 It looks like the vendor show is huge and people are flocking in here.  

We saw a guy 10 blocks away from the conference standing beside the freeway with a sign that said “looking for living quarters”  This town is horse trailer crazy right now.

I think all of the major horse trailer manufacturers are here.  Of course you know that I only came to see ONE: the Blue Moon Horse Trailer Company, manufacturers of trailers that use only magnesium and krypton, never age, oxidize, rust, flex or get those pesky black streaks.

We are really having mixed feelings about parting with the LQ trailer that we got in Denver.  In just a few days we have become so attached to it. So much space in so little space . . . it really is amazing.  In fact it is much nicer than our house back in Texas.

Wifey was pretty busy this afternoon (getting the horses unloaded, the LQ set up, getting a fire going in the fireplace and cooking dinner) so I sat down to talk to some folks about the conference.  There is a rumor running around here that Mr. Truck will make a personal appearance at one of the big truck exhibits.  Supposedly he will be signing his autograph on truck user manuals.  Eveyone has dug theirs out of the glove box and is carrying it with them just in case.

On Saturday the Conference is having Baxter Black Day.  Instead of thousands of Elvis impersonators like they have down the road in Las Vegas, there will be thousands of Baxter Black impersonators here in Flat River at the Irish Draft Pony Conference.  That ought to be a sight!  The local Wal-mart has sold out of moustache wax.

Sorry about all the off topic stuff.  Back to the reason for this board: horse trailers.

Wifey and I got into a big argument while driving down I-15 this afternoon.  I say that a rear tack is better and she says a mid tack is better. Usually she is a very logical person but I think this time she has just lost it!  Please settle an argument for us. I talked to a guy parked next to us that has his tack on a roof rack.  

Where are your tacks?

I think Bit will agree with me, but as long as you are South of I-80 its standard practice to use ya'll.  At least thats what them Northerners in Chicago tell me.

That's a good question on the tire rotation.  I've wondered that as well.  I've found that when I'm going forward, my tires rotate clockwise, and when I'm backing up, they rotate counter-clockwise.  Is this normal?   If not, what should I do about it?

You sure can learn alot on this site!

Stand on the other side and they will turn clockwise.........

On another thread there is a question about determining the tongue weight. Thought you might like to know that there is a new scale for helping people determine the tongue weight.  They have them for sale here at the conference . . . really cool and simple . . . much easier than that old trick of using the 2X4s and a bathroom scale.  I'll try to find out where they can be bought.   Here is what they look like >>>>

I be back to you soon with more from the big Conference and the Blue Moon Trailer Company.

roll on

We took a trip over the the Blue Moon Trailer Company exhibit this afternoon.

Gee whiz! Am I ever impressed!!!

The trailer that we are most interested in is a 2 horse, goose neck, straight load with living quarters.

Just like I had been led to believe, the construction does not use ANY steel. All of the trailer body and roof is manufactured of magnesium and krypton.  “What about the goose neck itself and the undercarriage?” you are probably asking.  As you all know those components are commonly steel, even on “all aluminum” trailers.  The Blue Moon trailers don’t use any steel there either.  Those critical parts are manufactured out of non-rusting unobtainium.  It makes their trailers the most corrosion free of any horse trailer in the world. Shoot, these trailers will still be around in ten thousand years! (Thats twice as long as a Dodge Ram with a Cummins diesel.)  The Blue Moon uses passive radial bearings, liquid hydrogen cooled brakes. What a package. These trailers are designed by former NASA engineers.  Pretty impressive, huh?  I amost forgot, the Blue Moons don't have ramps.  Instead they lower themselves down to ground level so slowly that the horse doesn't know they are moving.  Then they just walk out at ground level. The horses will love this part . . . they can ride facing forward OR backward.

The craftsmanship is beyond compare: it is hand assembled by sixteen brothers, sisters and cousins in a family owned business that has been building wheeled vehicles in Dewey Oklahoma since 1810. No corporation rip-off here! Each trailer takes seventeen weeks to assemble only from parts made in Indiana and Ohio.  And the best part: they don’t want to make a profit when they complete one. They have big hearts and just want us to keep as much of our hard earned money as possible. The reason that few of us have heard of them is that they don’t advertise . . . they feel that it would be an unwarranted and unfair expense to include in the cost of the trailer.

 It’s the perfect world: best materials, design and construction, American manufactured by a family business,  and they want the market to have them for less than it costs to build them.  That’s what I call fair.

Now comes the hard part: if they want to give us one do we want to part with the LQ that we are pulling now?  We are going to consult the horses before we make a decision.

Do any of ya'll have experience with the Blue Moon trailers?

I’m going to try and get some pics of their 2006 models.

Roll on.