OH BOY this is definitely one of my favorite subjects. I am hoping to be in the market for a new trailer soon, as the Area IV events make it difficult to find a hotel (and afford one... my poor budget!) and driving back and forth is less than ideal, as is camping because I seriously LOVE to be clean. Solution? Trailer with living quarters.
I'm caught between wanting something fancy and something functional that can be pulled with a smaller truck, like our current F150.
So, my list of priorities:
- Warmblood stalls and ceiling heights
- Amazing ventilation for the horses
- Soft mangers for easy clean up and prep to get on the road. (Bailey rarely touches hay on the trailer anyways)
- A ramp for Foxie, especially, but would also be great for loading things like wheel barrows and trunks.
- A shower. I'm not too picky here- if I could pull off an Insta-Hot type creature in the horse area, I could deal with that, or a real shower in a trailer. As long as I can get clean and get a bit of hot water on my muscles after XC, I am a happy woman.
- AC. I hate to say it, but horse shows here are miserable - either it's hailing and hardly above freezing (IN AUGUST!) or it's 114 degree heat index and the ground jury is still debating on if they should waive coats. AC would make life 10,000 times better.
- Amenities like load lights inside and out, latches for the back doors, etc are kind of expected with the type of trailer I am looking at, as are well padded stalls and non-slip flooring, but they are all important to me, as well. We've done a lot of refurb and amenities work with my current trailer, and I value that every time I have to look for something in the dark or think about loading a horse for a late night vet call. We've had a lot of crappy experiences loading horses in the dark or dealing with tack rooms that are just not functional, so I've been doing my best to fix that wrong with my own trailer.
Yep, I think about this far to much.
I'm caught between wanting something fancy and something functional that can be pulled with a smaller truck, like our current F150.
I like my straight load trailer and LOVE the newer models with soft mangers. I find that they give the horses a lot of space and also allow them to really have ample head and neck space to make snorting, coughing and balancing easier. I don't mind slants, and will probably end up with one, but I love the straights and the flexibility they offer. I do get a little nervous about the slants being long enough, but I wouldn't worry too much with Hawk brand trailers, just because I know that they are extremely well thought out and high quality trailers. My DREAM trailer is a 2+1 design with living quarters, but I am definitely NOT made of that much money. Or any money, who are we kidding. A 2+1, however would be ideal because even if I'm ever lucky enough to be showing two horses at once, my living quarters would be unlivable because of all of their stuff in a regular trailer, or one with a small dressing room with the goose neck as shown above.
So, my list of priorities:
- Warmblood stalls and ceiling heights
- Amazing ventilation for the horses
- Soft mangers for easy clean up and prep to get on the road. (Bailey rarely touches hay on the trailer anyways)
- A ramp for Foxie, especially, but would also be great for loading things like wheel barrows and trunks.
- A shower. I'm not too picky here- if I could pull off an Insta-Hot type creature in the horse area, I could deal with that, or a real shower in a trailer. As long as I can get clean and get a bit of hot water on my muscles after XC, I am a happy woman.
- AC. I hate to say it, but horse shows here are miserable - either it's hailing and hardly above freezing (IN AUGUST!) or it's 114 degree heat index and the ground jury is still debating on if they should waive coats. AC would make life 10,000 times better.
- Amenities like load lights inside and out, latches for the back doors, etc are kind of expected with the type of trailer I am looking at, as are well padded stalls and non-slip flooring, but they are all important to me, as well. We've done a lot of refurb and amenities work with my current trailer, and I value that every time I have to look for something in the dark or think about loading a horse for a late night vet call. We've had a lot of crappy experiences loading horses in the dark or dealing with tack rooms that are just not functional, so I've been doing my best to fix that wrong with my own trailer.
Yep, I think about this far to much.
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