[gottatrot]

For those of you with horse trailers...

Are there any features you wish you would have added when you bought yours?

Anything that really bothers or annoys you?

I think I know what I want, but am looking for advice on small things I may be missing.

 

[egrogan]

I really wanted both a side and rear ramp, but in this market was not willing to pay for the side ramp new, and finding used wasn't possible.

I mentioned this in my journal, but the way the butt bars attach to the center divide in my trailer bother me. They stick out way too far into the path the horse has to travel in and out.

Having a claustrophobic, hesitant loader, I would never want a rear tack.

 

[gottatrot]

That butt bar divider you mentioned is why I started this thread. That's the kind of thing I could easily miss.

 

[Elessar]

We recently bought an aluminum two horse slant load to replace our steel stock trailer. The new trailer is in very good condition but it doesn't have a front door that we refer to as an emergency exit. Means you have to walk out the back behind a loaded horse. I wish we had the front emergency exit door. I sometimes wonder if the front section of the trailer were open if it would feel less confining to a horse. However, the nose/front section is where we keep our tack and that might leave it vulnerable to an inquisitive horse, so, maybe not a good idea.

 

[whisperbaby22]

My trailer works for me, but I only use it for short local trips, this would not work for the freeway. I had a front exit put on a 2 horse slant, and use a portable ramp.

 

[horselovinguy]

I've had several trailers over my lifetime so learned some good, bad, awful and fantastic things to search for or could be deal breakers if missing....
Now living in the south with hot, hot temperatures and high humidity my list has changed...
If I were in the market for a different trailer....

A insulated roof no matter what the trailer material it is made from...deal-breaker for me if it isn't from the factory or can't be installed.
Ample window and cross ventilation far more than many trailers provide, for this reason my semi-stock is great. If fully open driver side, then a slide in clear barrier for inclement weather to keep the horses dry when hauling...drivers side horses get wet from road spray.

A must and non-negotiable for me is full size emergency exit door at the trailer front.
I would want a bar that drops down if the horse is standing right their when you open the side/emergency door so they not walk out...
That emergency door is wide enough to walk a horse out, yes they would need to jump down but...if the back is jammed or damaged say in a accident you can get your horses out of the trailer in emergent situations.

I don't like slants, period. For many reasons, my opinion but no thanks, won't even consider let alone look at them for my ownership.
I've loaded many a horse on those slants and so many horses hesitate going past that rear tack room and the dark cavern it creates and claustrophobic feeling many animals get for the split second..

I would like to see on any trailer a butt bar or full cross-member placed so when you open any trailer rear door you not get run over and seriously injured....
To many not think butt bars are needed or you can just remove, not use and that is a huge wrong. A top national rider in H/J got her femur{thigh bone} shattered when a ramp slammed down on her and trapped her underneath that ramp weight and 1300 more pounds of horse exploding backward off a trailer...
Please, please... if your trailer have butt bars use them for your safety....
Butt bars are also designed into the stability and frame rigidness of your trailer... part of the frame design. Whether had bar or chain, it is designed to be used and part of the trailer integrity and strength.

All trailers should come with a spare tire mounted and where it is mounted not have the bolts of the tire carrier inside the horse area where torn shoulder, barrel, hip and flank can happen in close confines scooting past.

Today with LED lighting, a well lit interior so safer loading in dim lighting conditions.
Reverse lights on a trailer able to be turned on to give rear lighting areas for the approach to load whether ramp or step-up trailer.

A designed strong point where a stalled or kept horse can have a hanging bucket of water offered....
Depending upon trailer layout this could be several locations, 1 for each animal but when not in use it fold down and flat out of the way.

For those of us who travel distances and must leave our rigs to use bathrooms and get food to eat...
Doors that can be locked shut without much hassle....
We carry vinyl covered cable and padlocks and use them at rest stops so no one can get in the trailer to disturb the horses... If traveling alone I am also very selective in where I park and what is around in the parking lots...but you can bet my trailer is secured before I take care of my needs, my animals are taken care of and safe first!

Those would be some things based on design would be must have or really like to see for me...
There are many more, but....practicality and cost must be part of the cost afforded too.
🐴...

 

[QueenofFrance08]

Slant or stock for me. Opposite of some above posters but mine wont get into a straight load but they love their slants.

We have one trailer with a ramp and one without. I originally was against ramps but I do like it. Not a deal breaker for me either way though.

I wish my smaller trailer had an escape door on the first stall. Not so much for escape reasons but I like it so that if I want to use the first stall as a storage room I can access it without going through the back. I would look for that feature next time.

I would have a hard time going back to a steel trailer now that I have 2 aluminum. Less rust and so much easier to crank up and down.

I like the snap locks on my Lakota door latches so I don't need to hassle with carabiners. My Exiss has carabiners and we always lose them!

 

[Zimalia22]

Really, the 6 horse we had was just about the perfect trailer. If I was to get another trailer, it would be a duplicate to that trailer.
It was a 6 horse reverse slant. LOVED that. Insulated roof, drop down window on the left side, sliding windows on the right. Drop down tailgate for easy rear loading, as well as a drop down ramp on the right side up at the front. Of course it was a gooseneck.

What is so nice about a reverse slant is horses, given their own choice, will choose to ride with their rumps ahead of their heads. This does that. Even horses that are not fond of trailers loved that trailer.

We made a full center divider so that when we were only hauling a couple horses, we had our own stalls at shows. Both "stalls" had their own door. It just worked out really slick.

Sadly, this trailer was destroyed in a horrific wreck. But I still would not change a thing on it. It was, in my opinion, the perfect trailer. I should add, the mare my husband was hauling was knocked down in the trailer at the time of the wreck, but she was not hurt. Our dually one ton was destroyed, everything set on fire, it was nasty. The lady that hit him was killed instantly. But I'm way off topic, my appologies to the OP.

 

[COWCHICK77]

I'm pretty simple, I prefer a stock or slant. In the past if I had a trailer with slant dividers, my horses preferred ones with bars so they can see each other. They are used to being hauled together in a stock and stopped wanting to load in trailers with a solid divider and I ended up pulling them out.

If I had drop down feed windows, I like the ones with a additional drop grate rather than having to hang the screens.

I despise a rear tack. Will not own one. I prefer a big single back door. No ramp.
Front tack and I prefer the door on the driver's side. I have been looking at the ones with doors on each side with swing out saddles racks on each side. That's more of a wish list item though.

 

[JCnGrace]

We have a 4 horse slant load with LQ. What I would change about the horse section is...60/40 rear door instead of 50/50 with a collapsible tack and while I've never wanted a ramp in the past it sure would come in handy now that I have several in the above 20 years old range and stepping up is a little harder for them. And now that we're old an electric or preferably hydraulic jack would be so much easier than the manual we have. In the LQ there would be a slide out with a cafe style dining table and a sofa instead of a just the sofa with a tiny, narrow table that you have to set up and take down if you want to use it (this also requires a requires a hole in the floor to set the post in and that hole is quite the dirt collector) and a bigger fridge instead of the little half one with the freezer inside the fridge section.

We also have a 2 horse stock trailer for hauling one to the vet or day trips. There's a lot I'd change about that one. No divider so it's just about impossible to actually load 2 horses into it unless they'll walk in at the same time. Again, a ramp for the oldies. Last but certainly not least, it would be a bit bigger than it is. If I loaded 2 of my behemoths I'm not sure they'd have room to breathe. LOL

 

[ACinATX]

I know it's not exactly what you asked, but I'll tell you what I'm glad I got.

Side ramp. It cost a LOT more, but after the incident (which I won't bore everyone with all the details again) where Pony got stuck in the trailer that was shipping him because it slid down a hill and hit a tree, making it impossible to open the back doors, I swore that was one feature I would get. I never want to have only one exit from a trailer.

I got the open (barred) head dividers and body dividers. I like them for the air flow, but Pony and Moonshine were fighting in the trailer. I bought a solid head divider to replace the open one, and it seems to have solved the problem. I kept the open one and hope to be able to go back to it one day. So I don't necessarily regret getting the open style, but it didn't work out for us.

I paid extra for more external ties and I'm glad I did. If anything I wish I had gotten even more.

I paid extra for WD hitch receivers and I'm super glad I did.

I bought oscillating fans, but I'm not sure they really make any difference.

I bought extra length but that's one thing I'm still not sure about. It means I can store hay bales inside the main part of the trailer (I also paid extra for bulkhead hooks), but it also makes the trailer a little more difficult to maneuver. But a main part of why I bought it was to make it more airy for Teddy, my bad loader (who is no longer a bad loader). Same thing with the extra height and the side ramp. I don't know which of them helped, but like I said he's no longer a bad loader. And my trailer now has a reputation at the barn for helping horses who are bad loaders.

 

[jaydee]

We had a two horse side by side with a rear load ramp and a side unload ramp in the UK and it was by far the most user friendly trailer I've ever owned

We bought a 3 horse slant, rear load/unload, step up, here and I hate it - it gets used for collecting hay now
We then got a two horse side by side, rear load/unload, ramp which is better and we do use it if we're just taking two horses locally, but its not as good as a front unload
We've got a 6 horse with a rear load, ramp and a mid section unload ramp, and it just makes trailering so much easier.

I need a portaloo!

 

[Chevaux]

I just recently went from a two horse slant to a three horse slant (no rear tack). I wrestled with the idea of a front stall exit door and a ramp for the new purchase. Aside from the fact the one (and only one) the dealer had on the lot was ready to take right away, I decided against those two elements.

With regard to the ramp, I had a ramp put on my first trailer (a straight load) as the horses loaded better with the ramp. It got heavier with each day as I got older and I knew at some point it would be too much of a strain on me. The next trailer (two horse slant) came rampless but the horses seemed quite content to step up as there is more room for settling in which made me happy. I had thought on making some sort of portable, detached ramp to use if I ever had a horse that struggled with stepping in (I believe one of the other forum members had done something like that also but I’m not remembering the name).

With regard to the front exit door, I had thought it would be great for emergency horse exit but realized the construction of the dividers is such that the hinged part won’t let that happen on the middle and end stalls so that one fizzled out for me. Plus, if I only haul one horse, she goes in the middle stall (best load balance) so there again the emergency door won’t be useful.

The one thing I could have added on the new trailer which I didn’t was an outside light at the back. My rationale for that was I never planned on doing anything that would have me loading/unloading at night plus the interior lights illuminate the bumper area reasonably enough that would be sufficient if required.

Also, I added extra tie rings so there are now three on each side of the trailer. The trailer came with three in total (no extra charge as the dealer agreed to doing it). I felt this which would be useful for sheltering the horses from sun and wind at a location if required.

 

[RMH]

I started with a steel stock trailer and once they start rusting it's near impossible to stop the rust I now have an all aluminum stock trailer which will never rust and is much lighter than the same size steel trailer. We also have one and two horse ultra light Brenderup trailers in the family. If I'm only hauling one or two horses I'll use one of the Brenderups as they are so much easier to pull and get around with. Big is great but there are also advantages to small.

 

[Chevaux]

I should say I also went from steel to aluminum as did RMH. It was a good decision on my part. It weighs only a couple of hundred pounds more than the old one and pulls just as easy plus I’m not worrying about rust now.

 

[Zimalia22]

I'm pretty simple, I prefer a stock or slant. In the past if I had a trailer with slant dividers, my horses preferred ones with bars so they can see each other. They are used to being hauled together in a stock and stopped wanting to load in trailers with a solid divider and I ended up pulling them out.

If I had drop down feed windows, I like the ones with a additional drop grate rather than having to hang the screens.

I despise a rear tack. Will not own one. I prefer a big single back door. No ramp.
Front tack and I prefer the door on the driver's side. I have been looking at the ones with doors on each side with swing out saddles racks on each side. That's more of a wish list item though.

I totally agree with you on rear tacks, not happening here.

Our trailer had the front tack, door on the driver's side. Loved that.

 

[ACinATX]

My trailer has an aluminum exterior but steel interior. With insulation between the layers. The place I bought it from said they don't like all aluminum trailers as they can shred and seriously injure your horse. So in this case the idea is that the exterior is rust-free and the interior is horse-safe. Best of both worlds.

Also my trailer has a rear ramp plus to full rear doors, which is supposed to help in case I am rear-ended. It's also nice to be able to load one horse, close that door, then load the other horse and close that door.

It's a two-horse straight-load trailer and it weighs 4k pounds, so it's not light. But it's solid. I feel like my horses are safe and comfortable in there. And I got the truck I needed to haul it, so no issues there.

Oh, and my trailer also has screens in the windows. So highway junk can't get in while I'm driving, and probably more importantly wasps can't built nests in there. I did find a nest in the back ramp two weeks ago, though. 😳

Sorry, I just keep thinking of things. I got extra roof vents, too. So I have two per horse, one in front and one in back. Typically I have the front ones facing forward and the back ones facing back, trying to optimize airflow (obviously I have windows also, but I feel like the extra vents add something).

Sorry again. My chest and butt bars are adjustable in height and in length. So I can make the stall length shorter and I can position them better for their height.

When I bought my trailer (it was a custom make), I told the guy "Upsell me on everything, especially safety and comfort features." Because I was already spending a lot of money on it, and I hope it will be the only trailer I will ever have. I didn't want to have regrets afterwards.

 

[Woodhaven]

HLG mentioned butt bars and that they SHOULD be used, I second that, I would like to have it so they can be adjusted up and down for different sized horses. One trailer I had did have three options for the butt bar. Too high for a small horse or too low for a big horse can lead to problems.
I bought and older trailer, big size for 17 H + horses so I had an extra butt bar installed for our 15H horses. If you don't use the butt bar and open the back door and the horse rushes out = very bad scene for the person at the back if they are not quick on their feet. I might add here if a person is letting down a ramp with no butt bar always stand off to the side as you lower it, if a horse backs up or kicks out they can force the ramp right down on top of you if you are standing right behind it.
This year I had the ramp converted to a swing door and am working on self loading for my guy so I can trailer alone.

I have looked at European Bockman trailers and found one that I really like. It has a convertible ramp or swing back door; has small tack compartment also a front ramp for unloading. This is the trailer that I would like but expensive.
They can be drawn with a 6 cylinder SUV and I have talked to people who have them and they just love them better than other trailers they have owned. This way I wouldn't have to have two vehicles and as I don't travel far and no hills to worry about it would do for an old lady.
My old truck only does about 3000 Km a year that's less than 2000 M

Some of the outside ties on trailers are a little too low for my liking. Also I would like a tie ring at the front of the trailer and also one at the side by the horse's head even if I don't use them both.
A person door at the front is important to me. A tack compartment is always nice, I don't have one on this trailer

 

[lb27312]

Sorry I wish I could give you what I wish my trailer has but it has all I want/need..... this is my third trailer in my grown up horsey lifetime. When I was young it was in the back of a pickup to the local rodeo or ride to where you want to camp with the tent on the back and hope the horses were there when you got up! Most of the time if they got loose they headed back home. lol

I have a 3 horse slant w/lq, I do have a rear tack and love it. I camp quite a bit and most of the campgrounds have the corals/stalls in the back of the campsite so it's just easier. I also have a stud wall in the first stall of my trailer as I put a LOT of stuff in that stall and glad if I have to do a hard stop or when going up a mountain it doesn't topple. I LOVE having storage underneath the mangers! That is a huge plus for me.... and what I was looking for when I went looking for this trailer. A hydraulic jack was a must too... getting to old to crank the heavy trailers up!

Mine has ties on each side... don't get why that wouldn't come with it... and it's 3 on each side for the 3 stalls... I could tie 6 horses! lol

Oops I do have drop downs on each side that I love so if we stop for a bite I can drop front and back. I do have the bars on the front but not on the back... it gives lots of airflow.

My thought is to make a list of what you want and need and take that. That's what I did... lots of trailer shopping I even went to a place that had just come back from Congress...

 

[Zimalia22]

Just a thought,
After our trailer was destroyed in that wreck, I went to the local fair where there was an exhibit of a well known brand of trailers. Oh they were sure pretty!
But when I asked if the dividers were removable because every year, I needed to haul calves to the sale. I was told that their trailers were only rated for horses, that they did not have what it takes under the trailer to handle the weight of cattle. I told him if I can't haul a cow in it, I sure as heck did not want to haul a horse in it!

I see this make of trailer on the road quite often, but it's a complete NO SALE for me.