Kat Heart

Trying to do research but having a hard time.

 I’m having my steel horse trailers roof repainted and don’t know if I should have it done white like the rest of the trailer or have it in silver. I’m assuming it is a silver spray with the metal reinforced paint to help with the durability, but I have read about that cracking and flaking after a few years (which I don’t want). Hopefully this will be the only time I get this thing repainted so I’m trying to go for longevity. It can get pretty hot in the summers (75-95F) and below freezing in the winters with snow and ice, and the trailer stays outside. I’m kind of leaning towards white paint but should I consider silver more? My main concern is heat control for the horses and durability. I’ve tried asking the body shops around here but they all are pretty noncommittal with any questions without seeing the trailer first. Thanks. 

Trying to get my horse I’ve been working on to get used to trailering. He has a naturally queasy stomach when he gets nervous. Before I got him he wouldn’t trailer and was scared of traffic. Now he does well with traffic, and he will trailer but still stresses. While I start working on trailering is there anything, I can do to help ease his stomach and digestion? 

I had the vet check him out before and he’s 'normal' but has normally wet poop. which isn’t ideal but he’s healthy so... okay.

I can’t give him something daily and he is on pasture grass (and does well on it) and he’s got a creek for water (I don't have stalls, so I can't keep track of his intake, but I'm thinking about maybe blocking out a section in the barn with panels), but if there’s something that anyone would recommend that I can give him leading up to trailering or after. He’s never had issues but I would rather be cautious.  

I'm going to talk to my vet too, but I wanted to get others ideas too. I was thinking, apple juice in water, or electrolytes, or ProBio paste (I honestly don’t have a clue)? would something like that be helpful?

All my other horses trailer great and have strong stomachs so I’m in new territory here.

It's to pull a steel gooseneck horse trailer with the gross weight of 10,000 lb

I need a hitch for my gooseneck trailer. I didn’t know there were so many kinds of hitches, but I know for sure that I want a permanent gooseneck. I'm sure the removable ones are perfectly safe, but they still freak me out.

The only thing my truck is used for is to pull my 18 foot steal horse trailer with the GVWR of 7,000.

I want safe and I want reliable. I don't want to worry about what I am putting my horses on so if it’s going to cost a extra then I don't mind.

Any recommendations?

I'm learning as I go. I am fixing up a 2003 Ford f250 Super Duty and am going to replace the diff cover because of rust.

I am just going to use the truck to haul a horse trailer on the weekends and it probably won’t be going anywhere that my horse trailer can't go. So, it will primarily be on interstate, serviced, gravel, and dirt roads, and I'll have my horse behind it so I'm not planning on doing anything crazier then hitting a couple potholes.

I'll need a 10.5 cover. I've mostly been looking at Rancho and Dynatrac but they are both over $170, and I have no idea which is better. Is a brand like that over kill for what I will be doing? Or can I get a Droman for $50 and seal it well and not have to worry about any problems?

I'm hoping to not completely break the bank, but I don't want to worry about having trouble while I've got my horses in the back.

I've got a leak, and I am going to just go ahead and replace the pinion seal and rear differential gasket in my 2003 F-250 Super Duty Diesel.

For the diff I've been told a million different ways to go about it, and at this point I don't know which is best. 

Some have told me to use a RTV silicone gasket maker 

Some say to just use a bought diff gasket that is the right size

My dad told me to use both and put the RTV on top of the bought diff gasket. 

Any recommendations? 

Burnt potato plants with to much sulfur. I put to much on them then it rained for a spell and not they are starting to turn yellow. Is their anything I can do or has the damage already been done? 

It’s going to be hot and sunny for the next three days with no rain. Then it’s going to rain for four or five days here. Don’t know if that helps with any ideas?Ever heard any old wives tails or anything that might help? Thanks 

I am looking to buy a truck to pull a horse trailer on the weekends. 

I need at least a 2500 4x4. I don’t mind a gas truck, but I would want it to have low mileage if it is gas. All of the trucks I can find that I like the looks of are used snow plow trucks. They are nice looking truck and are cheep with low mileage. 

What’s wrong with them that causes them to be up for sale at a low cost?

I don’t want to buy something that has been damaged or is going to break down when I’ve got my horses in the trailer. But none of them seem destroyed. I’ve emailed sales lots for the vehicle reports, but I don’t think they have ever sent me one but they will want to send me videos or something else (which makes me think they have bad reports), but sometimes the trucks have already been sold? Am I missing out on a good deal or are these trucks usually a rip off? 

Thanks

I live in the country. I’m still working (on a farm so I see almost no one anyways). Still pretty much only hang out with my dog and ride my horses and go on trail rides and fish. 

Only thing that is different for me is that the interstate is empty most of the time, theirs not really any plane tracks in the sky and I don’t go to Walmart anymore or see my friends on the weekends. Everything’s really different, but as far as what my life looked like before social distancing, nothings really changed. How’s life everywhere else? I feel like the more populated areas with less outdoor centered people are feeling all of this more? 

It was something about a custodian that works in a whore house.

I know that’s not a lot to go off of, but it was in reference to a person not have it any commonsense. I wasn’t sure if that was a common saying from an older generation or if it was just a rule area family saying. 

It was said by a lady I know that is in her 70’s. We’re in the back county so it might have just been one of those sayings that only get said around here, but I wanted to know it and didn’t want to ask. Any ideas?? Hell, I don’t care. Make one up, maybe it’ll sound familiar to me. Thanks a bunch!!

I’m sure most horse clinics are on hold while everything is shut down for COVID. 

I’ve been riding western for 18 years. I have a five year old quarter horse that is my main horse right now. He’s mostly for for pleasure and trail ridding. I haven’t had him for to long and I’ve been mostly focusing on fixing some holes in his foundation training since I got him. He’s really smart and somewhat sensitive, but he has a good head about him. I think he would do well being exposed to more things and was think that maybe some clinics would be good?He isn’t neck rained, but I’m hoping to change that, and I’ve got him to the point where he moves off of leg pressure really well. Anyone have any ideas of a fun clinic that would be good for a youngish horse that’s sill learning? Or a specific trainer to check out their clinic lists? It wouldn’t be till after the main part of summer that I could go to any (if they are running by then).I don’t plan on using him for any serious events, but for fun and for my work I would like to try getting him into sorting cows or maybe team roping eventually. He’s good around cows, and he will let me rope the dummy off him, but we’re not working with cows yet, and I wanted to get him neck rained first. I’m on the west side of Va. and I’m hoping to not break the bank on this. I was think maybe between $200 and maybe $700 if it a the right clinic. I also wouldn’t mind going and just observing if it’s pricy but a good clinicAny ideas for fun western clinics?

It's a 2004 steel Adam straight load gooseneck with a tack room.

I recently bought a steel trailer it's got about a 14' length (excluding the goose neck) and there is surface rust starting that I want to get ahead of. It’s literally the only place that has rust. It is only on the bottom, but it does cover a large portion of the underside.

I'm having it inspected in a few weeks, but I was wondering how to go about having the rust removed and what kind of sealant to put on it. It'll take some time but it's not bad enough to hire someone to fix it, I just don’t want to let it set.

How much do you think it would cost to have it professionally done?

What cleaning materials would you recommend for the exterior? My previous trailer was aluminum. I’m assuming a steel one will need a different type of polish and wax?

I often ride in national forest by myself. I'm not really into guns and honestly, they can make me somewhat nervous, but I have been thinking about getting my cc license.

My brother will normally carry his when ridding incase anything were to happen and now that I'm riding and camping on my own more often, I would feel better if I had one on me for emergencies.

Of course, I would want it to be powerful enough to take care of my needs without question, but I would prefer if it was a reasonable size for storage in my saddle bags in case of weather.

** I want one in case any horrible freak accident might happen while riding, and I might need it to scare off or kill an aggressive animal, but mainly I want one for peace of mind of my horse’s needs. I can’t fathom the idea of using one on my horse, but if I'm in the middle of the national forest and something happens and there is no way to get the horse out or a vet there quickly, then I would do anything to have one. Be prepared for everything, hope for nothing.**

I am thinking about getting a generator for my horse trailer. I would just use it to power the TV and a small cheap DVD/blu ray player occasionally (good for rainy days camping) maybe two or three single bulb lights for convenience and a heating pad or small fan during the appropriate seasons.

The TV would be a 120v, 1.1A, 60 Hz, LCD color TV that I already own and one of the cheap players from Walmart.

I don’t know anything about generators, the thought of getting one has been bouncing around in my head for a while now. I take my horse camping a lot by myself and it can get creepy at night when the weather picks up. Having some dependable lighting or background noise would be nice. I would want it as quiet as possible so to not disturb any neighbors and to keep the noise level down for my horse. He's still green when it comes to being solo, but other campsite generators don't bother him too much.

*If it is cheaper then I can just get good battery powered lights and just use the heating pad/fan with the TV and DVD/blu ray player? No idea if that makes a difference.

I'm not looking to use it all the time. It would just be nice to have when the rain traps me in my small living quarters or when it gets creepy at night.

Would a hot plate rack up the wattages? If it means that the generator would need to be bumped up a size, then I would just scrap the idea. It would just be cool to be able to have in an emergency, to avoid cooking outside if its bad weather.

My question is what is your honest opinion on your horse(s)? And why? I'm just curious, not judging I swear. I love hearing about other peoples horses and experiences!

I think some people will always look at horses as only athletes that are meant to be perfect, and while I follow the rule of ‘fault of the rider before fault of the horse’ as if its written in the bible, I think everyone on here knows horses have individual personalities, and you can’t have a personality without flaws. Sometimes the unfixable flaws in my horses are what I love about them the most.

I got to talking about this the other day with my friend. She mentioned a flaw with her horse that has always been there and really isn’t something that can be helped. While it is a flaw that even I will admit that I could not handle in one of my horses, she loves everything about the horse despite that flaw and will overlook it and never consider getting rid of the horse even though the best of us would. It got me thinking. Horse people are crazy (myself included), I was thinking this in retrospect to her horse, but she doesn’t see it as a detrimental flaw.

I guess we are horse people because we are lucky enough to not have the good sense to look at a 1000+ lb animal with a personality of its own and think 'wow, even if I do everything right, that thing could kill me on accident.'

What about them is perfect, what is flawed, what made you fall in love with that specific horse and what drives you up the wall?

Buying treats is expensive, and I prefer fruit or home made treats over store bought anyways. I have apple trees and tones of apples that mostly go to wast. I normally dry several batches for myself, and I have been considering drying several batches for the winter for my horses. It’ll be handier then keeping fruit stocked in case of the off chance that I want to give them a treat. Two of mine are relatively pushy so I don’t need a tone of treats.

I was going to do my leftover apples and some bananas and try bananas pills. What else is a good treat that is okay to dry? 

Has anyone ever had issues? 

Can you dry carrots?

I would like to have some verity that I can just leave in the tack room. 

Thanks!!