I'm affraid of heights so I did tread lightly; that and weighing 300 lbs I was wondering if I was going to the hospital over a 'movie stunt' like performance of falling through... LOL Although I have to say; it did hold me, I could tell when i walked between the metal joists but, at least in my trailer's instance there was no fatigue.

Oh it is a learning experience, I really was shocked! I'm thinking of going and getting some metal sheets, cutting the about 1'x1' and cutting holes in the middle then riveting them to the top side of the trailer to reinforce the vent areas.

I must apologize to you; I was incorrect on something. I said that being properly tied the horse wouldn't be able to hit the ceiling in my trailer.
I was wrong. After thinking back I'm 6'4 and tying them i have to stretch to reach the tie. It's pretty far up there. If they had 1' of lead and were properly tied they could in fact hit the ceiling.

There's someone on this forum named Mr.Truck and as a last resort maybe you could PM him or he could even chime in on this post. I beleive that he is part of Universal Trailer and has helped some others out on here.

Bridget:  If you click on the quote button you'll get a message box.  If you type your message after the last bracketed quote it'll show up like this.

When you wrote that... It sounded like you've asked Exiss to repair the damage.  Exiss refused saying it was "horse abuse"  lol ... and now you're "Going Public"

  That sounded very much like what other people have tried to use this forum for.  To publicly bash a trailer builder into submission.  I call that extortion.  If I mis- read your post, I apologize.

HWbar's posting on the vent reinforces my opinion on the proximate cause of the severe roof damage.

Stephen,  "the hosspuller for the camping trips"

Hi Stephen

Ok - I'll have to get the hang of this quote thing (I fear you may have bitten off more than you can chew trying to explain it to me - I am computer illiterate!)  lol

Anyway, I do understand what you are saying and how this appears to you.  I did want Exiss to fix it, that is correct.  The repairs are covered under trailer insurance so I have that avenue and that's what we're doing.  But, I still firmly believe that the trailer is flawed and the problem was Exiss' to fix.  Such a thing should not happen.  Please remember, I did not post it to this forum - I stumbled on this forum today by  accident looking for trailer reviews.  I saw that the story had made its way here and responded.  I do not believe that a horse should be able to do this in any trailer, vent or no vent.  I don't think expecting a company to back a product and calling them on it publicly when they refuse is extortion.

Horses,  they are the biggest walking goofballs around. Looks to me like it's just part of having horses.  If you get in an accident with a trailer and it lands on the roof it's not going to hold up anyway.  How is the trailer manufacturer going to make a trailer horsey proof? No way to be done in my book. There would still be one horse that would manage a way to do something. No matter what brand trailer you have. Good thing your horse wasn't hurt.

I wouldn't expect Exiss to pay for my repair if my horse acted like a goofball and put it's head through the roof. The calmest horse in the world will sometimes act stupid.  That's just their nature. Posting it all over the internet I wouldn't do. I wouldn't want everyone to know my idiot horse reared in the trailer and put it's head through the roof.

Bridget .. We'll just agree to disagree on Exiss' responsibility.  I'm glad you have insurance on your trailer.  I don't have any on my trailer so I am reluctant to haul horses other than mine for this very reason. 

On a related topic... I would ask that you keep us informed on how the roof is repaired.  I'd like to know what are the methods used.  A whole new roof or patch. If a patch, maybe some pics and a description of the repair.  Someone,  sometime is going to have a hole in their roof that needs a repair.  That would add greatly to this site's wealth of information and utility.  (and satisfy my curiosity)

Warranties come in two varieties... the kind where they spell out everything that is covered and they won't cover anything else or they will leave everything out and just say "its covered" (the "common sense " approach).

I was wondering when somebody was going to mention that.  You get what you pay for. 

 ... I just looked at your pictures again.  Every place where the roof sheet is torn, starts at a rivet in the flange of the vent.  That would suggest, the weakness is the vent location.  Without the vent, I believe you would merely have a dented roof.  Like I said before: a series of unfortunate events.

I said that 5 hours ago.

You are correct in your statement..not all manufacturers use the same thickness aluminum in their roofs.  Maybe we, as horse owners, can't expect these guys to build armored tanks out there for our horses, but I tell you what, I sure do pay alot more attention to construction than ever before.

I met someone at a horse expo last weekend who told me that her horse kicked a whole in her tire and blew it out.....and guess what, it was from the inside of her trailer. Went right through the wheel well. Geesh. Horses kick. Manuf's know this and some of them build reinforcements right into their trailers.

Another gentlemen was telling us about his horse getting nervous backing out of his trailer and got his head all cut up in the roof vent. These are pretty "common" behaviors in horses...why shouldn't we expect manufacturers to "plan" for this?? I'm willing to pay a little more for it...as safety is my absolute 1st priority.

The Sport trailer by Exiss was put out in the market to provide a lower cost alternative to horse owners. I guess sometimes we get what we pay for?

Sara

I agree.  The company and/or the dealership which sold you the 2006 trailer could have made the repair and kept you as a happy customer.  Instead, we are looking at photos of a less than a year old product with a defect or weakness and striking that product off our shopping list. 

Good luck with the repair or selling the trailer, though I'd do the latter. 

Its also unfortunate that warranty coverage will be the first thing to make or break your long term opinion of a trailer.

This is why I keep a binder of every major trailer manufacturer's warranty terms. You would not believe how poorly most trailers are covered. Sure, a company might have a 2/6 warranty but it doesn't mean squat if there is a lot of fine print. Take a look sometime... I've seen everything from having to take the trailer back to the manufacturer, to voided warranties if you pull it with anything bigger than a one ton, to hitch to bumper warranties that don't cover anything important... and much more.

If this thread does nothing else, I bet more people will look at the warranty terms when they go to buy a trailer now.

Edited by Covert Cowboy 2007-03-31 9:01 AM