Even though I’ve had the new trailer for over a month now, we just now got around to installing some of the stuff I bought for it. And when I say “we” I mostly mean the SO because if you hand me a power tool, something will probably be broken within 5 minutes. I’m really good at breaking things. It was literally my job for the first part of my career.
The most important new toy for the trailer is the camera system. I just assumed that this would be a huge pain in the ass to install and get working, because that’s my general experience with electronics and technology, but it was actually the easiest thing of all. We wired it up (ok I watched and held things), mounted the camera, turned it on, and voila. The receiver in the truck found it immediately and the picture quality was quite a bit better than I expected. Deciding exactly where to mount it took longer than any of the other steps.
I played with the camera both in the daylight and in the dark, but the first maiden voyage with the boys in the trailer will be tomorrow. Fingers crossed that it continues to perform well, because I’m pretty pumped about having “eyes” in the trailer.
The next major thing was installing the saddle racks. I wanted the fancy Saddle Boss ones, and of course the brackets didn’t really fit anywhere on the walls. We had to get a little creative and mount the brackets to wood, then mount the wood to the trailer. More laborious, and required 3 trips to Home Depot (don’t even get me started), but they’re in now and they’re really good at… holding saddles.
I also added a fire extinguisher, a whip holder, and still need to figure out where to put the TrailerAid bracket. I also had to buy a new roof vent dome for the big vent over the tack room because the whole thing just broke in half and blew off when I was taking Presto to that little hunter show a couple weeks ago. No, I wasn’t driving with it up! The sun had baked it to the point where it just couldn’t take anymore. Luckily the new dome was cheap, and relatively easy to install. While we were up there we oiled all the vent mechanisms to make them easier to open and close.
Assuming everything stays functional (please let me just go a while without breaking anything) I think we’re pretty much set. I still have a few things I want to put inside the tack room, or re-arrange, but the cameras and saddle racks were the two things I really needed in there ASAP. The rest isn’t nearly as important.
Funny story – we got a nasty, threatening notice on our door the other day from the neighborhood association (no, it’s not an HOA) about the trailer being parked in our driveway. Apparently it’s ok for the people down the street to have a swingset and above ground pool in their front yard, but it’s not ok for me to park my horse trailer (which is nicer than half the cars on the street) in our driveway for a few days while we install things. Asshats.
I’m loading both boys up bright and early tomorrow morning to head out for XC schooling. Well, Henry is XC schooling. Presto is riding along and then we’re going to work with my trainer on tweaking his in-hand trot. That kind of stuff is hard to work on by yourself. I feel so much better having the cameras installed in the trailer, so I can keep an eye on both of them while we’re en route. Between the fans and the cameras, I think those boys have a fancier ride than I do!
breedrideevent.com 
What camera system did you get?
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having seen (and ridden) in your truck and seen your trailer. YES the boys have the better ride 🙂 HA all they need is music back there 🙂 Yay for cc schooling and Presto outing too. 🙂
Your SO is pretty handy. Mark and I would still be working on the saddle racks. LOL Notfast is our motto. 🙂
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Are those shavings in your trailer? I’ve been wanting to ask for awhile (not to hijack your post, though) is what the general consensus is about using shavings when trailering? I don’t (yet) but I know a lot of people do. Seems to me they would blow around a lot, but I also see them helping keep the floor clean. I also got a trailer camera for my birthday, but mine is the model that has to be hard-wired to the trailer for power, and the image accessed through a free app I loaded my tablet. Mine is mounted about the same place yours is. I also got a portable tablet bracket that sits in a cup holder, how is your monitor mounted?
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I’ve never had issues with them blowing around at all. There’s no airflow across the floor. Some people don’t like hauling with shavings because there is more dust, but I always slightly wet mine down before I load the horses (I do the same thing with their hay). I think the horses prefer having shavings. There’s more grip, it’s a bit of a softer ride, and Henry in particular WILL NOT PEE in the trailer unless there are shavings.
The monitor for the camera is on a bracket that is suction-cupped to my windshield. The monitor ends up sitting a bit below the rear view mirror.
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I would say it depends on the trailer. I would prefer to haul with shavings, but since my trailer (a very old 2 horse straight load) only has the ramp covering the back and the top portion is open, the shavings just swirl around and end up all over the horses. I’ve only hauled with shavings once and I won’t do it again unless I get a new trailer.
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I used shavings in my old trailer too (which was open on the sides and the back, with no way to close it up) and never had issues with the shavings going airborne. But like I said, I wet them down first, so that might be part of why. My biggest concern in the trailer is dust, so I’m big into wetting things down lol.
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Yes, tell us about the camera. Good idea on the fire extinguisher, you hear tales about tires, etc. catching fire. Keep the trailer updates coming-lots of good ideas.
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Good point – I do not currently have a fire extinguisher in either my trailer or my truck, but I will be getting one for the trailer this weekend. Not something I normally would have thought about. Until something caught on fire, that is.
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Hope you have a fun field trip with the boys! I think I want to get a camera for the trailer too. What sort of wiring was involved? I was half thinking about just getting battery operated baby monitor, but I haven’t yet researched if it needs wifi to connect. Honestly, I’ve done no research yet. Still in the thinking about it stage….
Also good call on the extinguisher. Do you keep it in the horse part or the tack room? And why has that never even crossed my mind?
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Mine’s in the tack room. There’s not really anywhere safe in the horse part to hang it.
For the camera we just had to tap into the existing wiring – the ground wire and the power wire. We went in through the light that’s inside the tack room, since it’s very easy to access the wires behind that light. Took maybe 5 minutes.
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So, something an electrician could probably do? I don’t play with wires.
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Yes, very easily.
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Let me know about the trailer camera! I really want to get one for my trailer, but everytime I start to do research (because I’m type A like that) I end up shutting my computer down and rocking in the corner like a crazy person.
FWIW, we parked my trailer in front of the house for a day while I loaded everything up for its maiden horse show camping voyage and got complaints also because it took up part of the road. Even though I have to dodge all the lawn care trailers parked at practically every other house because the people in our neighborhood can’t be bothered to do their own lawns. Ugh.
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Mine fits very easily in our driveway, with enough room left over for my truck and SO’s Jeep to still fit. So like, really? My horse trailer is junking up the neighborhood? Not the swingset and the above ground pool in the front yard down the street? Dumb. Kinda makes me want to leave my trailer there longer just because. Jerks.
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I knew I liked you, this is exactly my level of petty. I read that and was like, “Well if it’s not an HOA, I would just leave it there to show them HAH.”
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