Horse trailers

[near horse]

I’m hunting for a trailer to haul my horses in and am looking for input as to what you all use. I am leaning towards a gooseneck stock trailer but also wonder about how critical height and width are. Is it worth fretting over a trailer that is say 6’6″ tall vs 7′? Or 6′ wide vs 6 1/2 or 7′? My horses are pretty tall – 18 H.

It seems that others I’ve met that are working their horses and haul them often all use stock trailers – have a little storage up front, some can squeeze in a logging arch (w/o tongue attached).

I’d appreciate hearing what you use and how you like it. Including overall length. Sure is a tradeoff there. Longer = more room, less manuverablility in tight spaces …..

[Plowboy]

We have a 7x7x20′ Eby aluminum stock trailer with a center gate. It hauls 4 draft horses comfortably and is a great trailer. It is 11 yrs old and the price has increased dramatically over that time period but it is worth it. 8ft wide trailers allow you to tie horses sideways and get more in if thats important. In New York road salt is terrible on everything so aluminum trailers last far longer than steel. We have some friends with steel corn pro trailers and they work well and the paint jobs are pretty good. The prices on those are reasonable so that may be an option. There may also be local companies that have quality trailers in your area. Look them over good and make sure they are rugged and well made enough for your needs so you can justify the price tag.

[dominiquer60]

If you want a ruggedly built steel trailer look for a Moritz, they are made very well and some fault them at being too heavy, I guess that is what happens when you use real steel instead of flimsy sheet metal. There is a 1986 12 footer that has changed many hands in my neck of the woods, it is always well cared for and has had the floor replaced and a couple paint jobs and someone always gets $2,000 for it when it gets passed on. My point is that even in the Northeast you can get some mileage from a well built, well cared for steel trailer. If you end up going with Aluminum, check for sharp edges on the insides, some companies do a poor job finishing the little details. Good luck with your search.

Erika

[Rick Alger]

I use a 12′ bumper-pull stock trailer. It’s about twenty years old. I have to patch something on it every year. I generally leave my horses on site for the duration of the job, so the old trailer is adequate for my needs.

[Howie]

I have a 6×6 and a half by 16 Moritz. It has had good care. It is 12 years old
and I put new tires and brakes on it a year ago. It is a standard duty bumper pull. The only thing I would change if I had it to do over is it would be a 7x7x20. I think extra space would be worth it.
A fifth wheel handles better but you lose the use of the back of your truck.
I could sell it today for what I paid for it 12 years ago.:)

[Pete]

I also have a 7x7x20′ Eby aluminum trailer & like it very much. A friend of mine’s trailer is 6’6″ high his gelding’s are 18/2HH he can’t load them with the harness on but can on mine.

[Plowboy]

We had a Moritz and it was a rugged well built trailer. The paint job sucked and we had holes rotted in it before it was 5 years old. We kept it clean and it didn’t get used only occasionally in the winter. Maybe we just got a bad one but it turned us off. By the time it was seven years old we sold it and got a new EBY. A good friend of ours hauls livestock for hire and has an EBY 7x8x24′. He figured it out by the mileage of all his trucks he had underneath it that the trailer lasted over 1,200,000 miles on it and still looks pretty good. He had to have hinges and bushings replaced in the doors and a few cracked welds but thats not bad for 20+ yrs of service. Initial cost is more but longevity far outweighs the price difference.

[HeeHawHaven]

Circle J trailers in Caldwell is going out of business….another recession death!

They make good quality trailers. I used to chat with a guy who consulted for them on another forum. He believed in them….

Here’s a link to the auction company. It looks like they show the inventory. You should be able to get a good price unless people are just bidding crazily.

https://www.musickauction.com/servlet/SelectAuction.do?auctionId=129

I have a 16 ft. bumper pull – 7 ft. high. I would definitely get 7 ft. and as wide as you can afford. I like the bumper pull so I can put my pop up truck camper in the bed.

Good Luck!

Dave

[near horse]

Thanks for all the rapid responses. The challenge now is finding something I can afford that meets the size needs and isn’t an accident waiting to happen. Those of you that use bumper pulls – do you ever wish you had a gooseneck? For stability in tracking or whatever.

Also, there certainly is a fine medium between solidly built and ending up with a “lead sled” (pronounce as in head). We pulled one of those when I worked in Animal science. It was brutal even when empty.

Thanks again for your comments.

[Robert MoonShadow]

Geoff ~ About bumper-pulls tracking: we use a standard stock trailer that’s a bumper-pull… 2 mules in a 16′ or 18′ (never measured it), and we take it literally ‘until the road runs out’ = pulls & tracks just fine. My boss told me when I first went to work for him that you can save major $$ if it’s called a ‘stock’ and not a ‘horse’ trailer… and the horses/mules don’t seem to know the difference. Ellie’s a 16.5 hh Belgian mule & she’s got head clearance in it. (They get pretty picky about their ears rubbing the ceiling).

[OldKat]

@Bret4207 7004 wrote:

For those using these trailers in your farm or busines, if interested I can fill you in on most of the DOT requiremnts. I spent the last 5 or 6 years doing DOT work, but you’d better get the info quick, I’m getting old and the memory fades……..

Bret,

I’d like to know what the current requirements are; is this something you can post?

Geoff,

Someone else stole my thunder, “stock trailers” are much cheaper in my area than “horse trailers” even if they look exactly the same! I am glad you opened this thread, because my horses have outgrown my horse trailer. I looked at several options and the heavy haulers in this area say stay away from the lighter weight aluminum trailers due to a tendency for welds to crack. No one has mentioned this on the heavier weight trailers so I presume it is not an issue.

If you are handy with a grinder, a torch & a welding machine you might fix one up the way you like it & save some $$$$ while you are at it. For instance, I have an old 6.5′ W X 6′ 3″ H x 20′ (not counting the neck) gooseneck cattle trailer that I built in 1976, in a college ag mech class, that was just sitting around doing nothing. Fortunately, I had pulled the flooring out when I quit using it probably 15 or 20 years ago so it has practically no deep rust on it even though it sits outside. I am going to cut the very top (pipe top) off and raise it to at least 7′ inside height, but am thinking more like 7’3 or 4″. Around my area an old trailer like that would only bring about $1,200 to $1,400 or so. That means you can get out of this deal with your skin.

It has a cattle nose (pipe basket front, app, 2 foot deep) that I intend to cut off and replace with a sloped metal front that I can use for storage. I also found some tool boxes that I think will fit under the fenders for additonal storage. I think I can do the whole job for less than 2K, but even if I had to buy the trailer I’d still be at well under $4,000. That ain’t cheap, but it still is way cheaper than going to a dealer somewhere and buying one to fit my needs. Maybe you can do something similar. Good luck with whatever you choose to do.

[CharlyBonifaz]

😉 …… and here I thought we were the only ones able to complicate things…..
elke

[Carl Russell]

We have a Valley 6x7x16 steel gooseneck stock trailer. I can get my small log cart in the front, with the team in, with harnesses on, standing on either side of the pole. I haul as many as 125 square bales in it, and also use it to haul round bales. I can get all four cows in there as well.

I went with the steel stock, for cash flow. I realize that aluminum will not rust, but for the back roads the welds, and door hinges, take a wicked beating. I also liked the narrower version for maneuvering the woods roads, landings, and barnyards.

I don’t make a lot of money, and really insist that equipment be supported by the operation that they facilitate. The aluminum trailer was 3x the cost of this one, and knowing that I wasn’t going to be using it 6-7 days a week to support an on-going logging operation, I just could not justify the outlay of cash. We own the trailer outright now, which is a big plus looking at the logging market, and although it is showings signs of rust forming, it is entirely within my skill level to address that. I will be “closing” it in though this summer, to help keep the weather out better.

Carl

[jen judkins]

Carl makes a very good point about the aluminum trailers and their ability to tolerate rough terrain. I have an aluminum Hawk 3 horse slant gooseneck with very small LQ. Its nice and I love it, but the frame is warping abit from driving over frost heaves and rough roads. I don’t know if there is something that can be done to prevent that…still looking into it, but it is something to consider.

[Dubba]

First off – Bret This is not aimed at you. Just trying to start a reasonable discussion. I am not using any quotes from your message for this reason.

I don’t want to start a rule war on DOT regs as they are different from state to state AND inspector to inspector… But :rolleyes:

A commercial motor vehicle requiring a Class B license is a vehicle registered or rated for over 26001 pounds.

A commercial motor vehicle requiring a Class A license is ANY vehicle with a trailer that is registered OR rated over 10,000 pounds.

It is possible to have a commercial motor vehicle requiring a Class C license but that is a rare occurence.

A commercial motor vehicle power unit must be registered for the complete weight of the unit.

This is important because if you haul a 12K pound registered truck plus a loaded trailer weight of 16k pounds, the truck must be registered for 28K pounds. Now the everyday driver MUST have at least a CDL class B because the truck is registered for 28K pounds. That’s right, Momma must have a CDL B to go to the store for milk.

The federal DOT does not address the issues of compensation for any activities. The federal DOT is interested if you are involved in “interstate commerce” Basically crossing state lines for business.

The local State DOT department is concerned with “intrastate commerce” Doing business within the state in question. If you cross a state line, no AG exemption is gonna save you in the next state unless the have reciprocity.

You can be considered an “interstate carrier” EVEN IF You never cross state lines. If the product that you are transporting will cross state lines, the Federal DOT considers you a “interstate carrier”

Any person with a CDL class A,B,or C license must have a medical card & must participate in random drug testing.

Any person driving a CMV must have a log book if more than 100 air miles from the “home” location. If the person driving the CMV stays within the air mile exemption, they must punch in & out on a time clock at the home location each day. If the person is punched in for more than 12 hours, they must fill out a log for the day in question even if they did not drive that day.

Don’t forget those fuses have to be the proper sizes. You cannot just pick up a spare box of 30 amp fuses & call it good.

Also do not forget to check the weight ratings of your truck & trailer tires. The weight ratings on each axle must be more than the weight applied. A lot of the cheap discount tires are the minimum weight rating for the vehicle in question..

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