Horse Trailering – Trailer Types

There are so many different types of trailers made with different materials and configured in many ways.  It is a personal preference which type you use as there are advantages and disadvantages to each.  If money were no object I would get the longest trailer attached with a fifth wheel to a truck, the most powerful engine, the most number of axles (and their brakes) and the most comfortable cab.  If money were no object…

Steel, aluminum, wood and fiberglass are materials used.  Some are attached to trucks with a bumper hitch, a chassis hitch, a pick up bed hitch or a fifth wheel attached to the truck frame.  There are also integrated vehicles with stalls and no separation between the truck and trailer.

The size ranges from 1 horse up to 15 or more horses.  Some are split with horse stalls and living quarters that include all the comforts of home.  Others have sealed tack and equipment areas.

Some ship horses all facing forward, some split them both forwards and backwards, some only face backwards, some stand at an angle to the trailer (slant load) and some are shipped in a square box stall.

Some only have loading doors in the back, some only on the side and some have both.  Some have ramps built in that fold or slide under the belly of the trailer.  Some have no ramp where the horse “Steps up” into the trailer.

The bottom line is that you have choices.  If it were up to me I would buy a tractor semitrailer combination as seen in these images with heating and air conditioning and running water throughout the trailer.  The guy driving said the trailer cost $350,000 without the truck.  We all can dream.

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