So I am looking to buy a horse trailer and quickly found out this is more difficult than I thought!  There are some many options I know I just need to find what I like but I also do not want to sacrifice quality for a lower price.  I have been looking for about 5-7 year old used and have found that in many cases new is not that much more expensive. 

Specifics I am looking for:

• 3/horse Bumper pull
• dividers (is padded necessary?)
• drop down windows
• carpeted tack room
• rubber matts on floor and walls

What is better steel or aluminum?  What about steel frame w/aluminum skin?  (Weight of the trailer is not a factor).  Single wall?  Double wall? 

Is there a company that makes a quality trailer for a good price?  I am going to look at a new Royal T trailer, are they a good company?

Thank-you so much for any advice you have to offer!

Just last summer we bought an aluminum 3H slant BP, moving up from a 2H steel BP. I love my trailer! We bought new, because we got a good deal and used ones were not much cheaper. It seems like aluminum trailers in our area hold their value well.

It has all your 'must haves', but the stall dividers aren't padded. That hasn't been a problem at all.

We had a stud wall divider installed and it keeps stuff in the 3rd stall, not rolling under. We haul two horses and carry hay etc in that third stall. 

I'd advise you to consider getting a trailer with a removable rear tack - all the horse stink stays out of your dressing room that way.

Also, check out the escape doors and rear doors for latches on the inside - my trailer doesn't have them, and I am paranoid of somehow getting stuck inside.

You can't have too many lights inside.

I wish my spare tire was mounted on the outside of my trailer - that would give me lots more space in the DR.

I like that my horse area is shiny metal and painted white - it's very bright and open, and easy to keep clean.

Have fun shopping!

After comparision shopping I've learned that the cheapest trailers are not always the best buy. For example, some cheaper trailers are cheaply made. They are noisier - I found a huge difference when I borrowed a friend's cheap bumper pull - it was so noisy traveling down the road and my horse hated it. The dividers and doors latch poorly and are made weaker. The finishing is poorly done. And most important of all, the size of the stalls can be smaller than ideal.

So I would do a lot of looking at various trailers before settling on the first inexpensive one you find. Take a tape measure and check the size of the stalls, especially if you are have a horse that is slightly long or tall. You do not want a stall that will make your horse uncomfortable, or worse yet, simply not fit. Also, padding might not be essential, but it is nice. If you don't buy one with padding, be aware that it will be somewhat louder inside as the padding not only provides cushioning but some sound insulation. Speaking of insulation, check to see if the trailer is insulated, it will be cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter, and less noisy. Check the floor, check the mats. Also, have a good look at the folding tack room at the back.

Thank-you so much for the advice.

Here is a weird question for you though:  With having the rear tack, how do you load the last horse and not get squished?  Do you just collapse the rear tack for loading?

Also thanks for the tape measure tip, I thought the stalls were all just a standard width.

I have found that most trailers are a standard 7 feet tall but the width varies from about 6'6" to 7'.  Now assuming wider is better for the horses and their comfort, should I ignore any trailers any less the 7' wide?

Agree with Randemtam...  teach you horse to load and unload without you having to get into the trailer.  It is a much safer situation all around.  That said, the back doors should both open up and if you have a swinging saddle rack and a movable partition in the back, you should be able to swing the rack out and open the partition to give your horse a wider opening to load.  After he is comfortable with this situation, you will probably find that you don't have to make this accomodation.  He will get used to stepping up into the stall.

Also would not buy a trailer less than 7 ft wide.

I sent you a PM with some things to look for when trailer shopping.  Happy Shopping!!

Bartley Heath
bartley@DoubleDTrailers.com
Buy Direct and $ave at DoubleDTrailers.com

Make sure you bring a tape measure and measure it for yourself!!  I thought I had finally found the trailer I have been looking for.  It had EVERYTHING I wanted.  I went to look at it and measured it myself.  It was a 2H GN slant - and it was only 5 1/2 feet wide - yes - 66 inches wide!!!!!!!  I didn't know they made them that narrow with LQ!  I guess it's a pony clubber's dream trailer.  I had been told it was for large horses.  Not unless you fold them in half and stack them vertically!

It looked large inside because it was really white and had lots of windows - but the tape measure does not lie.

uniquehorsetrailers.blogspot.com

If you're looking at used trailers, make sure you pull up the matts and check the floor underneath. This is especially important on the trailer's with wood floors, but even aluminum floors can have problems, so have a good look. Scoot under the trailer and look up, too.

Oh, and another thing no one has mentioned is - what type of shocks does it have? The cheaper trailers still can have springs, the better quality trailers all come with rubber torsion shocks (hope I said that right, my husband isn't here to correct me!) This makes a huge difference in the comfort your horse will have to ride in, and the trailer's resale value in the future. Have a good look at what size tires the trailer has, some of the small cheap ones will have a smaller than average tire, also a problem. Make sure there is a spare, and that its in good shape. A trailer that is a few hundred dollars cheaper but that doesn't have decent tires isn't any savings.

The dressing room is important to me, so have a good look at its set up. Does it have adjustable saddle rack? Lots of bridle hooks? Is the spare tire stored inside,or out? (I prefer stored outside so you have more space inside). Some of the trailers have a few extras which are nice such as a boot box, hat rack, blanket bars and even a water storage area, and that's got to be worth something. On the other hand, you can always add this stuff yourself, so make sure that your first concern is a good, solid trailer that isn't too noisy, has adequate size stalls, is sound and secure and in good shape.

As for loading your horse in the back stall, I too find that tricky. To me one of the biggest aids is to totally drop the window open, my horses then walk right in and stick their heads outside to look at everything. I would practice in the front stall first so you both know the drill before working on the back stall, and things will probably go smoothly.

I personally prefer goosenecks over bumper pulls, that front space on a gooseneck is so useful i would be hard pressed without it!

Thanks for all the advice once again, this has been a major help!

Sounds like loading is easier than I thought, we should have no problem with a little practice.

Has anyone ever heard of the trailer company Canadian Spirit?  I know they are out of business now but did they make a good quality trailer?

Just a question on the trailer width. I have been looking at a Lakota 2 horse BP with living quarters. The trailer is 6'9" wide. Is the 3" going to be a big deal?

docgj

Palo-Appy  I've seen the Royal-T at the horse expos.  They seem to be reasonbily made. The fellow who owns the company spun off his parents company that makes big rig trailers. So they supposedly know a lot about building trailers that hold up. I found their list of standard features & designs to be very close to those of both the Classic and Circle J manufactures. Both of these trailers were built in the same general Boise area as Royal T. Both of these small time manufactures have gone out of business in this economy. I had two Classics and they held up very well.

As far as the structure of the trailer.  A single wall is cheaper to build and is usually what trailer companies offer as their low priced model. A double wall, uses more materials, has more welds or rivets or fastners to attach the second wall. So companues offer it as their  second tier or move up trailer. All Aluminum or Aluminum skin over steel is a personal preferance on your part. The top quailty trailers are usually all aluminum. But their are a lot of mid range trailers  that are steel-aluminum. There is not a lot of weight difference between an all aluminum vs a Steel frame aluminum skin trailer.  The numbers I've seen have only been around 600lbs difference. So buy the trailer you like, it won't make that much difference to most trucks.

Padded dividers are not neccessary, I try to not drive so that my horses are being thrown around and needing any padding. I find my horses arrive with out a big silver smear  from the aluminum panels if I don't  have a padded divider. They lean their hip on the dividers for balance and the soft aluminum rubs off on them.  If you are showing, one less thing to have to clean up before your class. If you are trail riding or working cows, who cares?

As far as rear tack. Again that is a personal preference depending on what and how you will use your trailer. A rear tack will give you more storage, something we never seem to have enough of in a trailer. But it takes space from the horses. A rear tack pretty much forces you to back each horse out. No turning around in the trailer. And there are pro's and cons to allowing a horse to turn around or forcing him to back out. I like my trailers to be set a little higher off the ground because of the forest service roads I travel to trail heads.  I don't hang out at fairgrounds or horse shows. And some times when I find a place to park at the end of the forest service road, because of the uneven ground, It can be a big step down from the trailer lip. Being about to turn and walk out is easier for the horse than backing out and trying to reach down with their back foot and find the ground when it's an extra 5" away. Also rear tacks limit you using the trailer for some other none horse activities. With no rear tack, you can fold the panels tight to the wall and drive in an ATV or golf cart etc.  I also occassionally squeeze in an extra horse. A mare with a foal fits very well in the last stall if there is no rear tack.

I much prefer drop down windows, and I like them on both sides.  Here in Utah it is not uncommon to have a 100* day in the summer. I don't think I can have too much ventilation going through the trailer on those days. In January when it's  0* I like to be able to close up the windows and just  adjust the ventilation with the windows and roof top vents. And I think the trailers just look cleaner with drop windows all around. If I keep the windows shut when it's parked, I don't get paper wasp making nest inside the trailer. If it storms my bedding inside the trailer doesn't get wet etc.

Carpet on the walls of the tack room is again a personal preference.  Usually that implys that they also insulated the walls before they covered them.  I find the carpeted walls ( and insulation) make the DR warmer if you are using it in colder climates.  Painted walls show more dust. A carpeted wall will be smooth, so you can just run a vacuum over it.  Non carpeted walls usually still have all the struts exposed leaving lots of places for dust to collect. Carpeted walls also make the trailer a little quieter. Not that anybody will be riding in the DR, but the horses do have to listen to the noise.

Rubber mats are a neccessity for wood or metal floored trailers. I really like the Rumber floors.  See if they are an option. Rumber doesn't need the mats, so nothing to pull out when you want to clean the trailer out.

Many 7' wide trailers end up with an inside width of 6'9", because of the walls' thickness of about 1 1/2". That is the better ones. The less well built ones, will have a wider interior width.

Actually their specs are showing the exterior width to be 6'9".

docgj

In a nutshell, what PH said!

Loading in the last stall, we drop the window and then send em in. Easy deal.  The rear tack in ours has a collapsable wall, if needed.  Our trailer is an 8' wide, so we can load an ATV without taking out the tack, which is handy. 

I know of two vet clinics that have a rise, or sort of ramp, of dirt that one can back up to to aid  in loading or unloading in a higher trailer.  Sometimes getting the trailer wheels in a bit of a dip can help as well. 

If needed, we back up to the raised round pad of dirt around our hot walker to get an easy entry for something needing it (elderly, injured, green, or baby) and that works well.  Using your imagination can get you through some of the areas you might have some concern with, altho, with adequate HEAD room, most horses deal well enough with the step up or down within reasonable heights.

FYI, The width in between the arms on the 6k torsion axle are approximately 80", so any interior width wider than about 6'8" will have an interior fender.

Bartley Heath
bartley@DoubleDTrailers.com
Buy Direct and $ave at DoubleDTrailers.com 

This is what was sent to me...very helpful!

Everyone has been very helpful and I am so glad I joined this forum!  Thank-you again everybody for all the knowledge!

Below are some things that you should look for when trailer shopping.

Double D manufacturers a super nice 3H BP that comes standard with

1. oversized drop downs (30x24) with bars (Don't let your horse hang his head out of the window, haha)

2. full length plush pads 12"x85" (rather than cheap 8"x60") on all dividers.

3. fully insulated walls and ceiling (roof is an fabricated insulated panel made with high density foam, much stronger than typical insulated roof and cooler/stronger than fiberglass)

4. rubber floor mats and SAFEKICK wall liner are standards

5. double-walled horse area (floor to ceiling) is standard

6. Double D patented rear TackAround offers the best option to load/unload horses, opening the entire rear of the trailer in 2 seconds, TackAround is made entirely of aluminum to save weight, easier to use.

7. dimensions of a trailer...USE YOUR TAPE MEASURE!! Some manufacturers fudge their measurements. Our standard dimensions are 6'7" inside width, 7' inside height (from top of mat to bottom of roof. 6'7" interior width is widest you can make it without having partial fender inside trailer (as regulated by Federal width restriction of axles at 102").
NOTE: some manufacturers call a trailer 7' but really it is only 6'9" outside or 6'7" inside.

8. Stall width: 40" on wall to center of divider. Our offset is more angled than most manufacturers and can comfortably accomodate 16.2 horse. If you have a larger horse 16.5+, we can easily add 12" to stall width. Sundowner has the least angle, smallest stalls.

Other things to consider when trailer shopping for 3H Slant BP:
(These are standard for the Double D)
1. LED lights
2. 'E rated 235' tires rather than smaller 'D rated 225' tires
3. Standard spare tire
4. Popup vents and barred head dividers for max airflow
5. large butt side windows (2 - 20x51)
6. Standard walkthru door in center wall
7. Aluminum dividers with slam latch
8. Diamond rock guard on front
9. Running board under DR door
10. One Key system fits all locks on door latches, drop down, and bar latches
11. Window in DR door
12. Mat in DR floor
13. All interior lights are wired to remote switches
14. All horse area windows have bars
15. Adjustable saddle racks in exclusive rear TackAround

This trailer will be quieter and cooler than your typical trailer.

Double D manufactures this trailer in both all aluminum and all galvanized (NO regular steel, it rusts). 90% of our customers prefer the all galvanized for the durability and non-corrosion of zinc structure.

Send me your email and I will send you pictures and floorplans of the 3H Slant BP.

Bartley Heath
bartley@DoubleDTrailers.com
Buy Factory Direct and $ave at DoubleDTrailers.com