I've seen a few older trailers with this on the front of it vs the normal stand and winch and never figured it out. now i've got one and will have to figure out how to use it or convert it to the traditional winch stand/bow roller like most trailers have.
Typically the hoop/v bar has a place to connect it to the bow loop on the boat, wouldn't ever be laying down like that. Old jet boat my FIL had used that setup.