Horse Trailering Tips with Trisha Killion - #4 in the Series [VIDEO]

CowboySpirit.TV - Cowboy Spirit TV wants to help you and your horse stay safe in your journeys. So we’ve teamed with Trisha Killion and the folks at Transwest Trailers to put together a series of trailering safety videos.  

Trisha grew up in New Mexico where she showed & judged horses in 4-H and was also an active member of FFA showing replacement heifers. She obtained her Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Economics at Eastern New Mexico University in 2004 and then lunged at the chance to work for Transwest when the opportunity became available.  She has been taking care of the horse trailer department at the Kansas City location for over 2 years. It is her goal to help educate customers about safety, structure & general trailer maintenance. She is a self defined “Trailer Snob”; only carrying the best of the best brands within the trailer industry.  She resides in Liberty MO with her 2 little boys Roy & Kade who are 3 ½ & 1 ½. Trisha owns 2 quarter horses that are currently earning their keep at a feedlot in Granada, CO.

Trailer Tips with Trisha Killion #4: Inspection

 

Hi, all. It's Trisha with Transwest Trailers. And today we're going do a safety walk around on your goose-neck horse trailer before you take it out on a trip.

So we're going to start at the front of the trailer. First thing first, we're going to look at your coupler. You want this to at least be free moving, so that way the pin will latch all the way down in there whenever you get it attached to the ball in your chuck.

Also, I want to make sure you check this pin, that it's tight in here, and you have your safety latch on there. You also want to check the nuts on this for the proper torque. You want it to be torqued at about 115 to 125 pounds of pressure. So check all that. Make sure it's good.

Make sure you do have a breakaway battery cable. This, once it gets jerked out, will actually lock up your brakes for about five minutes on your trailer, so that way it doesn't pass you going down the road.

Make sure you've got your safety chains, that they are attached in usable order.

I want to make sure that you've got your seven-pin or six-pin plug. I want to make sure that this doesn't have a lot of dirt and crud in it. Be sure you clean it out good because this is your power connection for your trailer. This is for lights. This is for brakes. This is for charging your breakaway battery. So you want to make sure you've got a good, clean connection on both the track and on the trailer. Extremely important.

Next thing you want to inspect is going to be your spare. Want to make sure you've got air in this tire. And you want to make sure that there's no weather rot on this. Even though you've got plenty of tread, if you've got weather rot, it doesn't mean it's an actual viable tire. Typically anything that's actually over five years old you want to replace anyways.

Next thing you're going to want to inspect is going to be the tires on your trailer. Make sure you've got proper inflation on these. You want to check your tread. Make sure that they're not wearing unevenly. If these tires are wearing unevenly, it can mean several different things. I mean we could be talking bent axle, improper inflation of the tire, even just uneven wear from road trash. So be sure you check that.

Also, always want to check your lugs before any trip. I mean, shoot, if you lose one lug off of there, it doesn't take long, and you'll lose the rest of them just like that. Be sure to get a guide from your tire and wheel guy because it'll show you what the proper torque should be. It could be anywhere from 90 to 120 pounds on these.

Also just general safety features, look to make sure your fender isn't all dinged up because you go to tire your horse to that. They can get into a little bit of trouble if they go to pawing and take a little bit of hide off.

OK, so at the back of the trailer-- this particular Cimarron trailer is equipped with a ramp. You're going to want to check springs. Also, I want you to go back here and check welds as you're looking at this trailer.

And that's something I should have mentioned to you before, too. Do a general walk around on your trailer. Check for any broken welds, bolts coming out, rivets popping out-- just a general walk around to make sure the trailer is safe in overall condition.

So we check that. Springs look good. Welds look good.

Drop our ramp down. This one is spring loaded. Come back here. Go ahead and check all your hinges. Again, don't want these to have any cracks in them. If they're bolt-on hinges, go in there. Check and make sure that they're on there properly.

This particular trailer has can latches, which I absolutely love. Make sure that they're all in working order and that there aren't any cracks and that everything latches in just right. These look good.

One of the next things that you're going to want to check are going to be the lights on this trailer. This particular trailer has LEDs. So once you get it plugged in, you're going to make sure you've got left blinker working, right blinker working. Turn on your running lights. Make sure that all your marker lights are working.

And then turn on your stall lights. Make sure that they're working. If for some reason all the lights are working except for the stall lights, check the fuse in your pick-up. You've probably blown a 30-amp fuse.

So the next safety check we're going to do is going to check the floor. This is extremely important. Even on new trailers, this is stuff that we need to check.

You're going to come underneath here. You want to lift your mat. And now, granted, this one does have foam cell cushions, so that's what this secondary mat is. You're going to come in here. Pull mats. If you have a wood floor, I want you to check and make sure you don't have any sagging in that wood, any rot, any cracks, or pieces actually coming unbolted from the floor joints there.

Now this aluminum floor, this is a brand new trailer, so we're good to go. On your other aluminum floors, though, you want to check for pitting, for holes. Another reason why you really want to keep those floors clean because that urine will actually go in there and start eating away at that floor. So check your floors before you take off. You don't want some crazy accident.

Next thing you want to check is just going to be the dividers. This is just for general stall safety. You want to make sure that they will latch in here nice and tight and proper and that you don't have anything coming out here that's going to catch or cut or hurt your horse.

And that's just our general walk around safety tips for you guys when you're getting ready to hit the road. If you need more information or more help, be sure to check out my other videos. Again, it's Trisha with Transwest. Thank you very much. And have fun with your trailer.

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