Went to pick up a 2 y.o. haflinger. I had a straight load,2 horse trailer, commercially made.

The hafie led up to the trailer with no problems, and after a little hesitation and a bit of coaxing, went into the trailer. No real problems,YET. Closed the door, and went around to the truck, but I became aware of some thumping and banging comming from the trailer. Discovered the mare had gotten both front feet up in the manger--this is a 53" pony, and the manger is 41" tall. Got her back out of the manger and on the floor like she should be. She was calm and not panicked. Went back to the barn to get some hay to keep her busy on the ride home, and came back to find she had done it again! Again, not panicked or fearfull, she just acted like this this was the way she was supposed to ride! She got left at the barn.

I have never seen this before--heard of some horses going off the deep end and causing problems in a trailer, but this horse was CALM!

Anyone out there with an idea on how to correct this problem without risking the destruction of a good trailer?

I had a 14 hand horse would do this several years ago .what I did was tie him pulling back so he he could not reach .

Maybe she hasn't been in the trailer much before and needs to get used to it.If it is possible feed her on the trailer twice a day for a weak or two.

tie a rpoe over the wherthers so it cannot jump up use to have to do this with my pickup rack with new horses

I used to have a two horse trailer with a bunk. Girlfriends mare got her front feet in the bunk, we thought she may have gotten stung by a bee. Another time it was a mule, no clue what happened there, took the front window out. The other time was a bull, he had just been collected and I was hauling him home. I was by myself and he was a pita to get out of the bunk.
Your hafie was pretty small, I would do like the others and tie her back so she can't reach the bunk. Pretty certain the stall length was large enough, she really didn't need to be tied in the bunk.

Be carefull with extra ropes and methods of tieing. Had a pony hang herself in the trailer and she was tied properly. Does your trailer have a manger or just a chest bar. You can try taking the center partition out and try it as a stock trailer until the pony gets use to being in thr trailer. Hope this helps.

My morgan did that once, and he was 14.2. Got his feet up on the shelf and his head turned all the way around against the divider at the top. There was no way I was getting in the middle of that tangled mess; he was on his own but he never did it again. He never caused any problems riding in the back of a pickup with cattle racks, which is how we used to do it in the old days. Something about being closed up by himself he didn't like.

If you have the room to put them on (partial partition in the trailer instead of a full partition)Sideline hobbles should solve the problem. Same goes for a 2 horse inline trailer if you have room to get them on.

Its common, it happened to me a time or two, once real bad as the horse was large and had a hell of a time getting it out.

My parents bought an Angus bull from Mi. State Uni. . W/in miles he had gotten his front feet up on the manger. Smashed fiberglass cone, put his head up through to look around. We got him back out, tied him back further and shorter....lasted about a mile. He rode to N.Y. looking around at the scenery!
We put a partition up he couldn't get over.

Stock Trailers are the answer. Good for alot of other things.
Besides stock type animals balance at an angle, and must be able to see the horizon.
Straight on trailers are a mistake and a few pay the price for owning one. Been there done that and have changed a long time ago to a stock trailer, well worth the extra investment.

I would not tie her up in funky ways. You can run the risk of having some real problmes. My opinion is to first try and block the manger. Stack square bales up there to keep her from getting her feet up on the ledge. I would also recommend getting on the road quickly after getting her loaded. Maybe after a trip or two of scussefully blocking her (even if you have to use a piece of plywood), it may stop her trying to do that.