Posted 2016-02-29 10:01 AM (#166272) Subject: Hauling with window bars vs screens
New User
Posts: 1
Location: San Jose, CA
I recently bought a used trailer that has window bars which is great however I wanted to put window screens over them. I can't find one that fits quite right and now I'm debating if I really even need screens. My thought was the screen allows air flow but protection from any debris and also on long hauls I think my own eyes would get dry and drive me crazy. I see tons of people hauling without screens so maybe it really isn't necessary? or just better for long freeway hauls?
Posted 2016-03-03 5:10 PM (#166354 - in reply to #166272) Subject: RE: safty hitch system
Veteran
Posts: 183 Location: riverside ca
I have hauled horses thousands of miles, many of with the horses in the back of an open truck and never seen or heard of first hand experience of a horse getting eye damage.
Posted 2016-03-05 9:50 AM (#166363 - in reply to #166354) Subject: RE: safty hitch system
Expert
Posts: 3802 Location: Rocky Mount N.C.
We haul with drops down, bars up front and rear with no screens. Very little air flow with screens in place. warm months, all of the roof vents open to the front, no screen wire in them either...... Ever seem a horse with a wasp or bee caught under one of those "fly mask"...? It's not a pretty sight being tied in a trailer with other horses, think about it......!!
Posted 2016-03-05 3:33 PM (#166367 - in reply to #166272) Subject: RE: Hauling with window bars vs screens
Expert
Posts: 1989 Location: South Central OK
Having given the fly mask advice above, I gave the poster a quick fix. I personally don't haul with masks, I don't use the plexi in my three stock slats and have never seen a horse with an eye injury myself. My trainer, as a youth, hauled for AQHA high point (end of the year) and had a horse that would lean out and tough semi-trucks as they passed the trailer...back before the jail bars arrived on the scene. That horse had a weepy eye maybe twice in a 15,000 mile summer show season. Cattle are hauled in open sided stock trailers and seem to not get eye injuries, FWIW. About the wasp, I've been inside (yes, it's a REALLY DUMB thing to do) a six horse slant carrying seven horses and had some horse flies get into the trailer. It's one of the only times I though that every horse in the trailer was going to crawl out the drop down windows at the same time. If it were me I'd skip the masks and screens all together, around here it's not uncommon to hear about horses that over heated in a trailer in the summer and nearly die or actually die.
Posted 2016-03-07 8:50 AM (#166387 - in reply to #166354) Subject: RE: safty hitch system
Regular
Posts: 78
Originally written by HOUSE on 2016-03-03 5:10 PM
I have hauled horses thousands of miles, many of with the horses in the back of an open truck and never seen or heard of first hand experience of a horse getting eye damage.
I know of 2 horses that have lost an eye from debris while being hauled--one was a "big name" barrel horse from the southeast. One of mine got a cut nose from being hauled with no screen.
Posted 2016-03-07 8:53 AM (#166388 - in reply to #166387) Subject: RE: safty hitch system
Regular
Posts: 78
Originally written by Three 4 Luck on 2016-03-07 8:50 AM
Originally written by HOUSE on 2016-03-03 5:10 PMI have hauled horses thousands of miles, many of with the horses in the back of an open truck and never seen or heard of first hand experience of a horse getting eye damage.
I know of 2 horses that have lost an eye from debris while being hauled--one was a "big name" barrel horse from the southeast. One of mine got a cut nose from being hauled with no screen.
Btw, where I live, bugs are a major problem at night. They are so thick, they sound like rain on the windshield...that's not a pleasant sensation for those to blow in your eyes or up your nose. I use screens and fly masks, or just close the head windows (I have drop downs on the butt wall too so they can still get air).
Posted 2016-03-12 7:07 PM (#166426 - in reply to #166272) Subject: RE: Hauling with window bars vs screens
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 434 Location: Brooksville, Fl
I haul in a 3H slant with 2 animals, typically. I lower the first window and leave the others up. Two reasons, I damaged a window once with a blown tire and I think it actually keeps them cooler when the sun is beating down on that side of the trailer. The windows are large and tinted. The front window down allows extra air movement front to back and the screens and tint on the windows protect the animals. I hauled all over the East coast in a stock trailer for many years without incident but they can kind of place their eyes at the slat on the side of the trailer. With the drop downs, it's just wide open with no place for them to find a comfortable spot. FWIW.
Hauling with window bars vs screens
