A Guide to Ventilating Your Horse Trailer

As a responsible horse owner, you know that a healthy horse is a happy horse. When you want to go riding and you put your horse in his trailer, it’s important that your horse trailer gets sufficient fresh air. A horse that is stuck in a trailer without proper ventilation may grow stressed and anxious, making him hard to handle once you arrive at your destination. Horses can also suffer from heat exhaustion in hot temperatures, just like humans, or they can get an illness called “shipping fever,” which is a dangerous lung infection.

Here are some ways you can increase ventilation in your horse trailer to ensure that your horse remains healthy and content for the duration of transit.

1. Make Sure There Are Windows

When shopping for a horse trailer, you’ll want to check the window placement on the trailer. It’s essential that any windows are oriented to ensure sufficient airflow from the front to the rear of the trailer. If the trailer has an additional room for tack or dressing, you’ll need to make sure that the door or partition within the trailer also has a window.

2. Add Fans

To help improve inadequate airflow, you should position some fans in the trailer, but don’t point them directly at your horse! While that makes sense based on how people like to sit in front of a cooling fan on a hot day, it’s not going to be as helpful for a horse in a trailer. Fans placed at the rear of the trailer should point outwards towards oncoming traffic, while the fans at the front are aimed at the horse and towards the back of the trailer.

3. Get Another Battery

If you’re relying on your towing vehicle’s battery to power your fans, you may find that it dies, especially if you leave the fans running while the trailer is parked to keep your horse cool when you’re shopping, getting gas or eating lunch. The best solution is to not use the vehicle battery at all, but to invest in a secondary battery that is solely used to power the fans.

4. No Windows?

Not sure what to do because your current model of horse trailer has few or no windows? You can still implement fans as a means of ventilating the trailer to some degree. Point the fans towards the rear of the trailer out at the road to draw out stale air. If you can’t afford a new trailer, you may want to consider having windows added to the trailer walls or replacing the back doors with doors that have windows in them to increase ventilation.

Come on down to our Hobe Sound, FL, dealership to check out our fine selection of new and used horse trailers for sale. Our sales team can answer any questions you have and assist you with trailer financing options, as well as offering price quotes and trade-in values. Glenn's Trailer Sales serves our Florida customers in Jupiter and West Palm Beach.