Eclipse

Right after the walk today Rhoda and I left for a long trip down to Southern Illinois to buy a 2 horse trailer. We have considered buying a 2 horse for all those times Rhoda or Emily are delivering just 1 foal or picking up just 1 horse.  Or when they go to a show and just take 2 horses.  It is a shame to drive those big honking 4 horse trailers when only taking 1 foal. Yesterday Rhoda found exactly what we were looking for on Craigslist, a tall, all aluminum 2 horse. Besides being all aluminum and  strong, this two horse is 7ft6in tall, 7 ft wide and 16 feet long including the hitch and has a small dressing room with a spare tire and saddle racks. The unusual thing about this trailer is the wall to the dressing room can be moved and latched against the wall opening the trailer up to a stock that will easily accommodate 3 horses. This trailer is a 2008 model and comes with just a few problems as we found out later. Well actually we may have caused the problem but nether-the-less it is good to know for the future.

The back door has a slider on one side but is attached to the main door so when the door is open it is all the way open. Once the horse is inside with a handler and the door shut, the slider is opened for the person to get out. Rhoda tried out the slider and it slid very easily with just one hand. We bought the trailer, hooked it up to the truck and started that long 300 mile trip home. We stopped just once for gas as we had been gone all day. When we arrived back at the farm, I jumped out to direct Rhoda who was backing the trailer, looked at the back of the trailer and groaned. We were missing a door. I exclaimed, "the back door is missing!" Rhoda thought I was crazy, got out of the truck looked at the trailer and sure enough the slider door was gone. Thankfully it had fallen INTO the trailer instead of out on one of the interstates. We were both horrified. Why what if this would have happened while hauling horses? We will have to figure out what happened in the morning, it is just too dark tonight but we are thinking when Rhoda tried the slider it did not click back in place.  We will have to make sure this can NEVER happen when a horse is inside so have to figure out how to install a safety feature to lock or clip the slider in place. 

Other than that the trailer pulled like it wasn't even there. It is short enough to easily fit into gas stations and back into small areas. As it is all aluminum it will keep it's value. The lights all worked well, it has a brand new spare and the seller made sure all the tires were full and ready for the trip. Rhoda drove 700 miles today while I only rode along for 600 of those. Mark had supper waiting when we arrived home and did that ever taste good. 

Thankful to be home and really thankful we brought home a trailer with all the parts. Now to just put them together.