I'm trying desperately to find something to fit my 5'10" wide by 10'5" long wagon, a team of drafts and my daughter's saddle horse. So - I've been looking at mainly stock trailers, but I'm not having much luck finding one that's over 6' wide and more than 20' long.... I think I'd be most comfortable in at least a 24' - but longer would be better. I don't want to just jump into a smaller trailer and not be able to carry my wagon. While a tack room in the front would be nice - it is not a necessity for me, at this point. I have an older F350 dually, long bed with the big turbo diesel, so I think I have enough truck to pull/stop a longer trailer.
Thinking about weight distribution - I'm thinking that I would roll the wagon into the trailer first and put the horses over the axle. Is that correct?
When something is listed as "slant load" how do you figure how many feet long it is? Like a 6 horse slant load - what's the typical length of the floor in the horse part? And are slant loads usually 6'8" wide or wider? I'm trying to figure out if I can put the wagon up front, use the empty corner for misc storage and load the horses straight in, in the back.
And, "head to head" means the two in the front face backwards and the two in the back face front? And they are loaded from the middle, but the middle loading area could be used as a box stall? I've seen a few Turnbow trailers advertised like this. Do they typically come with a back door, or is the only door(s) on the side? Thoughts on that? I was wondering about taking the dividers out of the front to put my wagon up there.
How many feet do you typically assign to each horse, both for slant loading, and for straight loading? I realize there's a difference in slant size depending on manufacturer - but a rough ball park would be great.
Posted 2011-06-16 5:51 PM (#134907 - in reply to #134904) Subject: RE: rookie trailer sizing questions
Regular
Posts: 96 Location: Grapeland, Texas
Don't know the laws in other states, but down here a lot of people put a hitch on their living quarter trailers and hook a flat bed bumper pull to the back of it and load their wagons on it. Don't know how legal it is here but everyone seems to do it. I do know there is suppose to be a length limit but I think a lot of them go over that, don't know for sure on that but they sure look long!
Posted 2011-06-16 7:21 PM (#134908 - in reply to #134904) Subject: RE: rookie trailer sizing questions
Expert
Posts: 3853 Location: Vermont
Originally written by dionnegioia on 2011-06-16 2:52 PM
I have a few odd/ignorant questions on trailers. I'm trying desperately to find something to fit my 5'10" wide by 10'5" long wagon, a team of drafts and my daughter's saddle horse. So - I've been looking at mainly stock trailers, but I'm not having much luck finding one that's over 6' wide and more than 20' long.... I think I'd be most comfortable in at least a 24' - but longer would be better. I don't want to just jump into a smaller trailer and not be able to carry my wagon. While a tack room in the front would be nice - it is not a necessity for me, at this point. I have an older F350 dually, long bed with the big turbo diesel, so I think I have enough truck to pull/stop a longer trailer.Thinking about weight distribution - I'm thinking that I would roll the wagon into the trailer first and put the horses over the axle. Is that correct?When something is listed as "slant load" how do you figure how many feet long it is? Like a 6 horse slant load - what's the typical length of the floor in the horse part? And are slant loads usually 6'8" wide or wider? I'm trying to figure out if I can put the wagon up front, use the empty corner for misc storage and load the horses straight in, in the back.And, "head to head" means the two in the front face backwards and the two in the back face front? And they are loaded from the middle, but the middle loading area could be used as a box stall? I've seen a few Turnbow trailers advertised like this. Do they typically come with a back door, or is the only door(s) on the side? Thoughts on that? I was wondering about taking the dividers out of the front to put my wagon up there.How many feet do you typically assign to each horse, both for slant loading, and for straight loading? I realize there's a difference in slant size depending on manufacturer - but a rough ball park would be great.Thanks so much for your help!
Actually...many have their Wagon over the axles and the horses in front via a sideload...The Harmons have one of these custom trailer operations, so you can talk to them direct... http://www.harmonscarriages.com/
Posted 2011-06-16 8:57 PM (#134910 - in reply to #134904) Subject: RE: rookie trailer sizing questions
New User
Posts: 4
Location: Nebraska
Thanks for the suggestions! I have seen a shorter trailer with a flatbed on the back - but that's difficult to maneuver. He only does that when he brings two teams to events. We do have a length limit, but I don't know it offhand.
I also sent an inquiry e-mail to Harmon's Carriages - thanks for that suggestion, as well.
Posted 2011-06-17 12:04 PM (#134922 - in reply to #134904) Subject: RE: rookie trailer sizing questions
Regular
Posts: 95 Location: Nashville, TN
Search for Stock Combo Trailers...typically a 4ft tack room with a straight wall, then an open stock compartment that usually has a cut gate in trailers over 20ft in length....just a matter of getting one long enough to get your carriage in. They are typically 7 tall and 7 wide. Some have what is called a floating cut gate that can be positioned at various positions in the stock compartment as is slides on rails inside the compartment. Most of these type trailers have an escape door at the front of the stock compartment. Slant load trailers aren't going to be efficient for what you need since you need to fit a rectangular object(carriage) into the space.
Posted 2011-06-17 12:31 PM (#134923 - in reply to #134904) Subject: RE: rookie trailer sizing questions
Member
Posts: 10
Location: Indiana
You should call Jim Hilgendorf or Susan Keil; they do a lot with draft horses, draft horse trailers, and the loading of wagons, carriages, and horses. Ph # 260-768-7707.
Posted 2011-06-18 6:28 PM (#134947 - in reply to #134904) Subject: RE: rookie trailer sizing questions
Expert
Posts: 2689
A few round numbers;
6 horse trailers are typically about 30 ft "on the floor", which comes out to a little under 39 ft overall for most gooses ("Geese" ?).
Head to head trailers are about the same.
I think anything over 34 ft on the floor exceeds the combined length restrictions in a lot of places - and is VERY awkward to maneuver.
The biggest difference between 6 horse head to head and 4 horse head to head is that the axles are farther back on the 6 horse version, so that the intruding wheel wells are in front of the hooves of those two outside horses in the back facing forwards.
The DOWN side to this is tail drag in pasture parking or some driveway entrances.
There is typically 10 ft between chest bars in head to head trailers.
A "fair fit" in a 4 horse head to head trailer is two or three horses in front facing backwards and a Meadowbrook cart in the back.
I know, that is a very small cart, nowhere near a carriage, but with shafts it protrudes well into the center area.
Slant load trailers can be very difficult to figure the size of.
There are variations in stall width and stall angle, which affects the effective stall length.
Draft horses, being kinda LARGE, are even more difficult to figure for slant load trailers.
The one big advantage (which I DIS-like) is horse density, i.e. minimum length for maximum number of horses.
I don't like the horses to free air ratio.
Sure, you can leave one or two out to reduce the overcrowding, but then what was the point ?(rhetorical).
One possibility that hasn't been mentioned so far is TWO trailers.
Other than having to use two tow vehicles, with associated fuel and other running costs, are there other reasons to haul one HUGE trailer vs two smaller ones ?
Posted 2011-06-18 6:52 PM (#134948 - in reply to #134904) Subject: RE: rookie trailer sizing questions
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Posts: 2689
PS to last message;
You can figure stalls as being 7ft from butt bar to chest bar.
With a 10 ft middle section it seems your wagon would protrude about 3 ft 5 inches into this space.
I don't know what size your drafts are, but would guess they would fit easily into two stalls in the front facing back and have plenty of "face space" to the wagon.
You would HAVE TO HAVE detachable shafts for this to work.
If they are "light drafts" you might be able to get 3 stalls across and include your daughter's saddle horse in there.
My own 4-Star head to head trailer is "full width", i.e. the wheel wells are inside the trailer.
I have used an 8ft pipe gate (regular farm gate) as a divider across the trailer to improvise box stalls (covered to prevent climbing) - it is THAT wide.
My guess is 30/32 inch stalls if 3 across, 46/48 if two across.
I had missed one of your questions;
7ft for the "body" and 4ft in front of that for the "neck and head".
So 11 ft., possibly slightly less for smaller horses, which we aren't considering here.
This works for 17.2 horses, even "necky" ones and they CAN get their heads down to clear their airway passages.
Let me know if you want more details, I can take some measurements.
The reason that I know SOME of this is that I lined and insulated the roof on my H2H a few years ago, also my 2 horse bumper pull trailer's roof.
Horses in first, out last.
Reverse of usual hauling, where the horses go in last then we roll, come off first then we unpack (-:
Posted 2011-06-23 10:12 AM (#135074 - in reply to #134948) Subject: RE: rookie trailer sizing questions
New User
Posts: 4
Location: Nebraska
Wow! That is awesome information. Thank you so much. Trailer shopping is almost as frustrating as horse shopping. I have taken some more measurements and have done some more calculations - so, put that with all the information you all have provided... I think I'm ready.
Posted 2011-06-23 10:57 AM (#135076 - in reply to #134904) Subject: RE: rookie trailer sizing questions
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Posts: 2689
Sorry, I missed a couple of your questions on head to head trailers.
Yes, many/most also have rear doors.
I generally load and unload on the right side, but can use the back or left side if I have to.
I try to make it a smooth transition from leading them on to aligning them and backing into a stall.
Using the same side just helps me with orientation. i.e. I don't have to suddenly switch from a right to a left handedness in what I am doing (-:
I probably started using that side as the curb side - and BTW this is another HUGE benefit of a side load trailer.
If access is limited to the point where I have to load/unload on the road I can generally pull in very tight and drop a side ramp right onto a driveway - e.g. for a "back yard barn" in a suburban neighborhood.
This is VERY different from being able to use only a rear entrance, where I have seen horses refuse and side step right into the other lane of traffic.
SOME horses are just goofy about backing into a stall once they get in at the side, though GENERALLY horses will load more easily at the side.
I think going in at the side is more like going through an opening in a wall vs into a blocked tunnel at the rear.
I can USUALLY get a horse to back into a stall by letting them look around for a while, then turning them 180 degrees to try one that they were just facing. The 10ft space in the middle is big enough to spin large horses in.
The other really NICE things about head to head are that all horses walk off forwards and any horse can be taken out without having to take out any other horse(s), which is convenient at shows and could make a difference in an emergency.
The 10 ft measurement between chest bars is for my own 4-Star trailer, that one is 30 ft on the floor.
From the front; 6ft tack room, 7ft rear facing stalls, 10 ft middle space, 7ft front facing stalls - - add it up = 30 ft., 24 ft of which is "horse area".
A lot of them have a 4ft tack/DR, but the extra couple of feet make a BIG difference - you can actually DRESS in there.
Posted 2011-06-24 7:46 AM (#135097 - in reply to #134904) Subject: RE: rookie trailer sizing questions
Member
Posts: 10
Location: Indiana
There is a trailer in IN that might work for you; its an Eby stock trailer 29' long x 8' wide x 8' tall. I can't figure out how to attach it to here, but its listing #314013.
Posted 2011-06-24 8:11 AM (#135099 - in reply to #135097) Subject: RE: rookie trailer sizing questions
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Posts: 2689
Originally written by SparksRFlyin on 2011-06-24 7:46 AM
There is a trailer in IN that might work for you; its an Eby stock trailer 29' long x 8' wide x 8' tall. I can't figure out how to attach it to here, but its listing #314013.
Good find.
a) Looking at the fenders it seems to be just about as wide as you can get, i.e. the wheel wells are mostly inside, so although they intrude for perhaps 6 or 7ft where they are the rest of the trailer box is WIDE.
b) It appears to already have dividers for 3 across in the front section.
Although only "bars" are shown the fittings are there and conversion to full height should be simple.
It isn't clear from the pics whether this converts to 2 across.
c) It appears to have side ramps on EACH side, a bit narrow, probably 4 ft., but certainly better than just escape doors.
I can't comment on the price & age, other than to say that EBY is a very well built trailer and are known to last - and LAST !
Posted 2011-06-24 8:37 AM (#135101 - in reply to #135099) Subject: RE: rookie trailer sizing questions
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Posts: 2689
DANG - I HATE this 3 minute time-out thing, can't it be increased to an hour ?, or 20 minutes at least ?
OK, I took another look at the pics, especially the one showing 3 across.
It appears to have a single full width chest bar with two divider bars attached to that and rubber mats hanging from those divider bars.
I am having trouble thinking through how I would get a second or third horse in once the chest bar is up for the first horse.
Similarly, if taking out one horse requires removing the bar, I don't understand how I would keep the other horse(s) in.
My GUESS is that this is a DIY set up.
It may work, it may work well, but I would be sure to ask the seller HOW it works before considering this trailer.
It could be a 3 piece bar... COULD be, but it LOOKS like a single piece.
If 3 piece it would be "interesting" to know how it is done.
We haul three horses up front, sometimes one or two more in the center. (trailer has two solid dividers to make box stalls.) We haul the show cart, mobility scooters, feed, hay, tack trunks etc. in the rear area. This works the best for us, even taught all the horses to back up the side ramp and into their rear facing stalls when loading.... Next trailer will be just like it except it will have a larger DR..!!
Posted 2011-06-24 10:34 AM (#135107 - in reply to #134904) Subject: RE: rookie trailer sizing questions
Location: Central Arkansas
I had a trailer with a side ramp for the horses and my buggies went into the back. It was a 24 Sooner Aluminum Stock combo. We would leave the buggies in the trailer from show to show and since the horses & mules had their own ramp, we could easily load them first or last. Our choice. It also had a walk thru door from the DR into the horses which made it super easy to access them if we didn't want to drop the side ramp. Last time I was at Select Trailers in TN getting my current LQ trailer serviced, they had one almost identical to the one I had, just different brand.
rookie trailer sizing questions
