My husband and I bought a Ponderosa trailer for our first trailer. Rust was a big problem. We sold it real quick to insure we got our money back out of it. I still see the trailer every now and then(5 years later) and it is pretty rusty but not as bad as I would have expected. I know the lady who bought it had to have a new roof put on it but I can't honestly tell you the reason. Could have been from rust but not sure. It was the only 4 horse trailer we could afford at the time and we loved it for that reason. Also had a guy show up to help us transport some neighbors horses that were shot to the vet and he had a Ponderosa, It seemed to be in fair condition for its age.

Problably the best thing to do is look at some older Ponderosa's and see how they are holding up in your opinion, because everyones idea of too much rust is different.

Thank you all so much for your input on this trailer brand!  I will also check into the Delta brand & see what their trailers are like as well.  I did look at a '99 Ponderosa about two weeks ago & it did have quite a bit of rust on it---my husband climbed up the side of the trailer to check out the top & they have caulked the seams more than once he said.  When I asked the salesperson about this her response to me was "if proper care is taken, rust shouldn't be a problem" & said that they would send a booklet telling us what we need to do. My husband & I already decided that IF we do get this trailer, we will have a friend of ours who works painting autos, put a clear coat on it right after we get it.  Maybe that will help a little.  The first trailer that we bought, was a nightmare---you could see daylight through the axles, the wheels were "split rims" which are illeagal now & so those had to go....in other words, we spent all this money on getting this trailer road ready & safe & it STILL isn't done...hope I never run into the guy I bought it from again  --he is a scam artist---If my dad hadn't been a mechanic, I could have had a real tradgedy on my hands---those axles would NOT have held the weight of horses.  Anyway, thank you all again---I appreciate all the help & if anyone else wants to chime in, I will continue to check for advise or thoughts!  Have a great day

We have one! My advice is,  DON'T  BUY A PONDEROSA. I have nothing good to say about the Ponderosa trailers so I won't say anything other than that.

NO, Nothing happened to the horses. However, you'll read alot about the paint issues on these trailers. Here are some of the issues that we have had with ours. Every time we use it my husband spends an hour or two fixing the lights, we custom ordered ours with a 4 ft short wall it came with a two foot. We had all ready paid cash before it arrived. Now, they may have done something about that but we were so excited to get it we couldn't wait to use it so we did. Also when it arrived my husband had to add 2 pieces of wood to the floor. That's just how much gap was in the floor. The trailer is a 1999 and it looks to be about 10-15 years old all ready. The paint is indeed horrible. We live in SC. The trailer is rusted so bad it's just an embarassment for us to haul.  After it arrived my husband added some insulation and paneling to it. It's made so inexpensivley that it's hard to do anything to theinside of it. The tail lights fell of the trailer before to long. The trailer came with car tires. Since then we have changed that. But why would you put a radial car tire on a horse trailer? This was our first trailer. We just didn't know any better. BE CAREFUL. Do some research on some other brands of steel trailers before you buy it.

I have one and, for the money, I love it.  Haven't had the first problem with it.  Although I should add a disclaimer here - my horse loves to eat anything shiny.  So I have had to repaint it and have made sure it got a good paint job.  That's the only thing I was not impressed with when I got mine.

It hauls great and is very sturdy.  So, like I said, for the money, I love it.

We have a Delta dealer down this way and they look real comparable to the Ponderosa.  From what I looked at, the paint and the welds help up real nice.  The school system I work for was getting ready to purchase a stock trailer for us and I looked at the Delta.  I was real impressed with the quality of the workmanship.  In the end we ended up going with a Gooseneck brand since we haul more cattle than horses.    I would not be hesitant in buying a Delta from what I saw.  As with any trailer, each one has their own problems and favorable parts.  I would check the trailer all over before I bought it.  One person's Delta trailer might be completely different than another individual.  I have no expericence with the Circle J.  Best of luck.

Not always true---You don't ALWAYS get what you pay for---sorry, have to disagree there---I have seen some very HIGH DOLLAR trailers at training clinics that were just thrown together very sloppily....not all of us can afford all the bells & whistles, but that doesn't mean that we don't love our horses & want their safety to be a priority. All I asked was for help & advise from other horse people who have been in this longer than I--don't need the sarcasim thanks...

 I think you are being too hard on people who are on this site to learn. I came on here myself to get information from a variety of people on horse trailer subjects. You may be familiar with all of this but many of us are new and we are listening. I am true to my brand of horse trailer but I did a lot of research and asked questions before I made a decision. Yes, maybe someone on the line had a bad day but when you hear from many others that they had problems with the same type trailer; that is not a bad day for 1 worker. It is a flaw coming from the company for whatever reason.

  I research my cars the same way and I didn't buy a Rambler or a Yugo. Please be patient with those of us trying to learn. You chose to read this thread.

I know someone with a ponderosa trailer, it works great for her, she didn't want an expensive trailer as it she doesn't use her trailer that much. Her trailer seemed to be built good and the paint was good.

I went out and bought a ranch king 2 horse slant. They arnt expensive trailers either, mine costed $4750 with the options i wanted. Yeah its not the best, but the trailer is built good for the money. The paint is good on it. I got it in july. The only rust i have on it was where the latches rub and where the divider rubbed on my trailer when my sister hauled it with the divider open. I have a can of touch up paint to fix rust spots. I also plan on washing and waxing it a few times a year also. The reason i went with this trailer was because i dont use my trailer that much yet, and i didn't want to buy an expensive trailer to have sit like 355 days of the year. In the future i plan on buying an aluminum trailer for when i get into rodeos. But until then my little trailer works great for me.

arlene21,

Thank you I couldn't have said it better myself. At the time we purchased our trailer we did not know about this forum. As I mentioned in my previous post we just didn't know any better. Had we known what we were buying we may have taken our 5700.00 cash money and purchased a nicer trailer with a small payment and no regrets. I have been riding horses since I was 4 and I am 45 this year. I don't know it all but I do know a lot about horses. However, it was my first trailer and I didn't know anything about horse trailers. It's just been a  disapointment for us. And yes I do agree to some degree that you get what you pay for.