Horse, Cattle or Livestock Trailer? What is the difference?

[EddieWalker]

I'm reading everything over again and rethinking what I need. Thank you for all your replies and suggestions. The time is getting closer to make a decision on what to get, or to just rent and hope I don't need it for an emergency.

I got to thinking that I would go for a stock trailer that is 6ft 6in tall, but having looked at a few of them, I just don't think I'm comfortable putting a horse in there. My fear is that they might panic and hurt themselves. I can see this happening easily in a stock trailer.

I had also talked myself into a bumper pull, but this is something that is going to be long term, and if I have to spend more for a gooseneck, I think it will be something I will appreciate instead of regretting. Good advice is hard to hear, but always appreciated.

Thank you,
Eddie

 

[WM75Guy]

If all you plan on doing is short hauls the bumper pull will be fine. If you and Karen decide to show or go trail riding in some of the state parks you will appreciate the smoother ride and the extra room in the front tack over the tongue if you buy an enclosed GN horse trailer. We have found horses usually load up better in a slant load rather than a straight load, less of a confined space for them to walk into even with a swinging divider. We have had several of both and now stick to the slant load.

My wife's new Hanoverian gelding is coming in tonight on the transport from North Carolina. That's the easy way to get one cross country. If you and Karen want to come over and look at our trailer and barn just let me know.

 

[EddieWalker]

Hi Randy!! Thanks for the invite, Karen said she met you at the hospital. Do you haul horses in a trailer that is 6ft 6in tall? We don't plan on going anywhere with them, but it seems silly to buy a trailer and spend all the money on something that might limit what we can do with it when it's expected to last us decades.

Eddie

 

[EddieWalker]

What do you think of this one?

Triple M Trailers - Lakota Horse Trailers For Sale, Living Quarter Trailers For Sale, Stock Trailers For Sale - Sundowner of Texas

Eddie

 

[rmk700]

Look for an aluminum trailer similar the one in your link. They look new for many years, light, and surprisingly strong.

Around here, everybody is going with aluminum now days.

 

[WM75Guy]

Not too bad. Looks like good ventilation which is important here. The dropdown windows on the head side have grills to keep the head in. A bug at 60 mph will blind a horse. If you notice that S&H has a fixed rear tack with 60/40 rear doors so the one for the horse is a little wider than one with 50/50 rear doors. Might have to do a little wiring work on the living quarters.

We cannot have a 6'6" trailer, our horses will not fit without having to duck their heads all the time. Rebecca rides warmbloods. Our mare is 17H and 1350 pounds. New guy coming in tonight that I have not seen is 16.3H, not sure of his weight but it's probably 1300-1400 pounds. Our trailer is a custom ordered 7'6" tall and 8' wide GN 3H slant load Sundowner from Triple M Trailers. Normally on a 8' wide trailer you have fixed feed mangers on the head side that take a foot or more of width off the inside. We deleted the feed mangers so ours is completely 8' wide. Our stalls are 42" wide instead of the normal 36" or 39". We can turn the horse around in the trailer and lead it out. On a Sundowner there is no center post on the rear doors so you can collapse the rear tack and have an unobstructed opening to get the horse in and out. Nice if your horse is skittish about getting in the trailer.

Tell Karen I said "Hi". Our monthly meeting where I see her was cancelled Tuesday.

 

[EddieWalker]

Randy,

Your trailer sounds like it is really well thought out. The horse we are getting are 16 1/2 hands and 16 hands tall. I was hoping to run out to Triple M today, but it looks like the weather is going to be pretty bad all day. Do you have a ramp on the back of your trailer?

She said hi and we are both looking forward to coming out and seeing your place sometime soon. We're talking to everyone we know and asking tons of questions, but seeing a place and how things are done is what gives us the most insight!!!

Eddie

 

[Jisgren]

Definitely go with a gooseneck. We had a 14' bumper pull and even with just one 1300 lb heifer in it, she could rock the truck pretty good. Switched to the gooseneck and it is like driving on rails!

 

[WM75Guy]

Yes, mine is ramp load.

 

[EddieWalker]

Just wanted to thank everyone for your advice and update you on where I'm at with buying a trailer. I found out that I can rent a 7 ft tall bumper pull two horse trailer for $87 a day in town. I decided to go that route because I have no experience with horses and don't know what I'm looking at with trailers, and I don't want to spend $6,000 to $7,000 on something I don't know anything about, plust $500 for a hitch to haul a gooseneck at this time.

It was definitely a learning experience. Of the four horses I picked up, one loaded easily. The others where a battle. The step up was a problem, so we built ramps. That really didn't help a lot, but it was better by a small degree. Seems like whatever way we wanted them to go, they went the opposite. Two of them have never been in a trailer before, one used to be all the time, but it's been ten years.

Getting them out was even harder.

Now that they are here, I do not see any reason to ever want to move them again. For what a trailer costs, it seems that having the vet come out here is still going to be cheaper then buying a trailer. Spending hours and hours training them to get into the trailer also seems like a waste of time since we will never take them anywhere in a trailer. We have enough land to ride them on, and our neighbor has a lot more land that we can ride on. Not that I'm going to ride them, my wife and our soon to be daughter in law want to do that.

The truck did fine with the trailer and the weight of two horses, but I could feel it and my mileage dropped from 18 to 16 mpg.






Eddie