We bought an open stock trailer in 1990 and used it to haul everything you can imagine: furniture, lawn mowers, cattle panels etc. We never replaced the floor and the floor was still solid when I sold it last year. The metal framing of the side walls was rusting out so I decided I needed a newer trailer.
We always washed our trailer out after using it. Normally we carried a shovel in the from dressing room/storage area and we always shovel all manure out as soon as we stopped somewhere. For two years we used this trailer for a commercial business visiting farms. On our way home we would stop at a car wash and sanitize the entire inside of the rig and power wash all the equipment that was loaded in the trailer.
My new trailer is 95% aluminum because I wanted a trailer with windows that closed for trailering during the cold weather. I find it much harder to load a horse into an enclosed trailer so I'm still working on that aspect of moving/loading. I can make my gelding get in but he doesn't like it. We are improving his acceptance and I'm able to get in to walk in three or four times so we're working on keeping him calm and just standing inside now.
I've pulled both gooseneck and bumper-pull trailers and I find that gooseneck rigs are more stable at higher speeds but bumper-pulls are easier to hook up and back up although less stable at freeway speeds. If I were traveling any great distance, I'd choose a gooseneck. However, all my hauling is very close distances so I bought a bumper-pull and I'm looking forward to getting off the farm more this year.
We always washed our trailer out after using it. Normally we carried a shovel in the from dressing room/storage area and we always shovel all manure out as soon as we stopped somewhere. For two years we used this trailer for a commercial business visiting farms. On our way home we would stop at a car wash and sanitize the entire inside of the rig and power wash all the equipment that was loaded in the trailer.
My new trailer is 95% aluminum because I wanted a trailer with windows that closed for trailering during the cold weather. I find it much harder to load a horse into an enclosed trailer so I'm still working on that aspect of moving/loading. I can make my gelding get in but he doesn't like it. We are improving his acceptance and I'm able to get in to walk in three or four times so we're working on keeping him calm and just standing inside now.
I've pulled both gooseneck and bumper-pull trailers and I find that gooseneck rigs are more stable at higher speeds but bumper-pulls are easier to hook up and back up although less stable at freeway speeds. If I were traveling any great distance, I'd choose a gooseneck. However, all my hauling is very close distances so I bought a bumper-pull and I'm looking forward to getting off the farm more this year.
