From the research I have done on trailers resently, when your lucky enough to find a very educated dealer most trailers in the industry use an aluminum skin on their roof that is between .032 and .040.  I tend to agree with hosspuller in that this form of "dealer bashing" sounds like extorsion.  With that being said, I was driving to get breakfast this morning and a bug hit the windsheild of the truck and the windsheild cracked so I am going to see if Ford will warranty it. 

Ma'am do you own the trailer?  When you spoke to Exiss, I hope you didn't start off with the bashing and threats.  Cause that could be one reason your having difficulty, most people or companies do not like being thrown in a corner.

Just my 2 cents worth.  Hope all ends well for you.

How many people do you know who know trailer specs and  understand them? I freely admit to being anal about horse trailers, crawl under them with a measuring tape etc but I am in the minority. Most people "Trust" the salesperson at the dealership help them purchase the best trailer for their needs. How many of those salepeople know the specs for the various trailers they sell?  At the QH Congress several years ago where there are literally hundreds if not thousands of trailers for sale, I talked to very few salesperson who knew their product well. Customer Service is fast becoming passe in our world and the customer suffers and not just buying horse trailers.

A customer purchases a product in good faith, based on their needs, based on what the salesperson tells them about the product. So if the product is made poorly - that is not the customer's fault, nor the salesperson - it is the mfg. JMHO

Thibodeaux

If you are responding to my post - no I don't own the Exiss - wouldn't have one if they gave it to me and that was before I heard about this mess. I borrowed a friends one weekend and was horrified at how badly it pulled loaded and empty. It had a tin can feel to it.  And I agree with you, finding an educated trailer dealer is a rare find. Most I've talked to interestingly enough have been women.

I'm sorry but anyone who thinks that being told by a dealer that using your Exiss trailer to haul a horse is misuse and thinks that is fine ---- well, that is just beyond my understanding. I don't care if the horse reared up violently or as she said " put his head over the divider" -- that should not happen. A huge dent - yes - but a jagged hole - NO!!

We have a 2002 Duramax that is just not a good truck - short version. GM has refused from the get go to admit there was a problem, yet a year later extended the warranty on the injectors, improved the filter. So we painted LEMON OF THE YEAR on the truck in bright yellow. It has been seen coast to coast across North America and we have probably cost GM more than if they had simply fixed the truck.  So I am in full agreement with this lady, if Exiss refuses to honor their warranty - tell two friends who hopefully will tell two friends and the bonus is hopefully some one else's horse will not put it's head thru an Exiss trailer roof.

Liz

Just like to say that I haven't seen an aluminum roof that I'd feel comfortable walking on and I'm just shy of 200#'s. Jasondt2001,I would love to have a roof made like your's,thats for sure!
Maybe one of the honeycomb style fiberglass roofs or one of the MUCH OLDER steel roofs from years gone by but not ANY of the present day aluminum skinned roofs that I'm familiar with. In my opinion they are not designed as such to handle heavy loads on top nor extreme pressures from below.Certainly not with roof supports spaced @ 2+ feet apart and skin thicknesses of .032 to  .040. Our horses have on a few occasions raised there heads abrubtly while in the trailer and luckily the only damage done was a few small dimple's in the skin. I have to agree that it appears as though that the horse hit one of the weakest points in this roof . It really shouldn't come as to much of a surprise as to the outcome considering where the horses head impacted the roof adjacent to the roof vent.Glad that he's ok knowing that it wouldn't have taken much more for the outcome to have been consideribly different.jmho,   Ardly

Edited

I have been selling Exiss trailers now for about 5 years. We have a huge service dept that works on all trailers and I have not seen this in all the years I have worked here or been involved in trailers. It IS NOT A PROBLEM with Exiss or ANYBODY ELSE!! It was a freak accident and if Exiss gives in to you to be nice and fix something that IS NOT under warranty than I would imagine other people would get wind of this and wonder why Exiss did not fix there non-warrantied problems! I would imagine there could be law suits that would follow!!!

I too had something hit my windshield last week and it did crack so I will be seeing Ford this week also to see if they will warranty it!

Also, if I saw a truck with a LEMON LAW sign on it for advertising it would not stop me at all at buying that manufacturer. I make my own decisions (good or bad).

Mark M in sunny California

Thibodeaux ... The trailer owner posts on the first page of this thread.  Her screen name is HDCAPPS.

This tells a little about you, most people I see that have done something this extreme I don't give any thought to at all. I doubt you have even cost GM 1 new truck with your antics.

No problem, I've been wearing my purple hat for years and could care less what any one thinks of my actions. My truck,my money and I do know of 3 people who decided not to buy a Duramax after talking to my husband.When people wait in parking lots for you to come out so they can talk to you, they too must have problems with GM.

I am a strong believer in customer service - GM is not - so this is my way of expressing my thoughts - I  have never said you or anyone else had to either like it or agree with it.

Have a nice day!

Very well said Covert Cowboy.

Mark M

Tx Vaquero

Sherlock Holmes are you now???  SCAM???  Yes, you've got me dead to rights - after watching the Pepsi can thin roof split and peel with the force of my horse's head, I climbed right up on that ever so sturdy trailer roof and peeled back the sharp aluminum edges with my hands to make it look so much better.  Give me a break!  What is your position with Exiss?????

Horse tied from tie ring (which is high in this trailer - where roof meets ceiling) Tie did not break (plenty of play in the rope when going up since the ring is high) Horse didn't "fight" anything or he would have been cut nose to ears (see photos)  I can't imagine what he would have looked like at the end of this if he had been pitching a holy fit.  Horse is wide, 15.3 and has not a heck of a lot of wiggle room in a slant load trailer so not a chance to gain any kind of momentum.  Bottom line.....trailer is flimsy and ill equipped to haul ANY horse in.  And I did not buy this trailer - I just happened to be the lucky one to be hauling with it and expose its lousy construction. 

Incidentally, this is but one of a gazillion forums this incident is on - this is the ONLY one where folks think its perfectly fine for a trailer to be so flimsy that a horse can put a body part THROUGH an outside wall/roof etc.  Coincidence or a forum full of folks who make their living selling trailers???   The HUNDREDS of letters in my Inbox from people with similar horror stories about Exiss support the latter.  On this forum I have been accused of being an extortionist, a liar, an owner of an idiot horse, and a person out to make a name from this.  The repairs are paid for courtesy of comprehensive insurance and I'm not suing Exiss so there goes the extortion theory.  I don't lie but if you don't know me, you have no reason to believe that.  My horse did not pitch a fit and that is a fact as I was standing right there - the small scrape he came out of this with supports this fact.  A horse pitching a holy fit resulting in that kind of damage would have required a multitude of sutures at best.  As for making a name, well I've got a good one already and that comes from hard work, good horses and dealing with my customers fairly so they come back.  I would much rather have photos of my 2007 World Show contenders on my homepage but I believe the safety of every horse that may have the misfortune of being hauled in one of these tin cans is a bit more important.  This happened weeks ago - I tried dealing with Exiss directly (and no, I didn't call and threaten/scream/bash)  I deal with people every day and am well aware that customers who behave badly don't get far.  Nothing else has worked and so I turn to this.  If the Exiss Sport is made cheaply to be more affordable, perhaps it needs to be discontinued.  The bottom line is that any trailer made to haul a horse should be designed to withstand common equine behaviors.  If they can't hold up, they have no business being sold.  And I am quite certain that a few thousand more folks now have a heightened awareness of trailer construction which I don't think should be considered a bad thing.

I am sorry that your trailer got damaged but your story just does not add up. 

hdcapps:   I'd like to address some of your points of your last posting.  Plainly, you seem to have your feathers a bit ruffled. 

This forum is unique as it's directed toward the horse trailer and its user.  Most of the other forums are directed toward the horse and its rider.  I am primarily a gearhead,  one that rides and likes horses.  My vocation (nothing with horse trailers) and avocation is machinery, metal working, equipment, etc.  I am not alone in this area.  There are many posters with like interests.  On the field of horse trailer construction and use, this forum is far and away the most knowledgeable I've found.  Any comment in this field will be subjected to very critical examination.  Of the "Gazillion" other forums that accept your story uncritically, like Global Warming, a consensus of the Gazillion does not make fact.  The best reception you'll get here is to counter critical questions with fact and photos.  Not respond with innuendo.

The horse trailer industry posters on this forum are a uniquely powerful resource for information and coincidently for getting help from the industry.  It also has made this site a target for extortionists that want something from the trailer builders. 

You say "Nothing else has worked and so I turn to this"...   Your trailer is covered by insurance and is being repaired.  So, what is it you want? 

Do you want Exiss to stop building Sport models?   I would say that is not for you to decide.  Although by your postings that's is what you're trying to do.  You've put your judgement that it's constructed "Lousy", "flimsy" and "should be discontinued"  I submit that a higher road would be to inform the horse trailer community of your experience.  Although it won't help you, perhaps your experience will prompt some design change in the Exiss trailers.  I think that would be better than an indiscriminate bashing.

IMO when you buy anything, a house, a car, a pair of shoes, do your research, don't depend on anyone but yourself.  Take the responsibility to know your product. All the salesman cares about is making the sale. Remember the old adage "Buyer Beware"? As in the case of a horse trailer, where a living animal is being transported, the price of the trailer is your least expensive worry. As so many have said, "you only get what your pay for". Exiss Sport is a very cheaply made trailer, surely there were other makes & models where this Sport was purchased & one look at the quality & workmanship (or lack of) is readily apparent, especially standing side by side with the Exiss Event or Sooner or any other trailer on the market.  Yes hind sight is 20/20, but if someone only has X amount of $$ to spend, buy a good used trailer that was made to last, not a newer flimsy model just because it was new. Quality is the first choice in any purchase, or should be.

Howdy! Ya All

Okay enough enough read, I have something to say. I have seen 4 Star, Sundowner, Sooner, Featherlite, Kiefer Built and Lakota, all with dents or holes in thier roofs from the same kind of thing. I have not seen  anyone else ever put up such a fuss about it. Most folks folks would say damn horse have it fixed and move on. We should not be here perhaps knocking one bad trailer in the thousands that universal has built.

This is my 2 cents for all its worth. If this was a place that employed a member of your family, would you have started this post?

Happy Trails