It's always a dilemma for me when hauling. How much distance should I leave between me and the vehicle in front of me? Leave too little and I'll have to brake hard possibly throwing the livestock to the front of the trailer. Leave too much and idiots will cut into that space even as traffic is coming to a stop; decreasing my braking distance to less than planned. I see truckers having to deal with this (cars cutting into braking distance) every day on my commute and they are not hauling unsecured live animals that can be injured by hard braking. Around here (DC metro area), 1-2 car lengths is enough space for some to pull into.
Deb, every time I reach down to activate the trailer brakes manually I worry about the air bag blowing up in my face in the event of an accident.
It can be unnerving to feel the load in your trailer shifting around while you're hauling it.