I just saw a scene from reality show on TV. Cowboys on horses and a pickup pulling a bumper-pull trailer across a field. Double-axle long stock trailer. The front of the trailer was riding nearly a foot higher than the rear, so the floor sloped down.
I’ve never seen a trailer slant like that before, but I don’t really have any experience with bumper-pull stock trailers so I’m just curious. The only long trailers I’m familiar with are goose-neck slant-loads and a side-load head-to-head.
They’re not supposed to, but if the truck sits higher than the trailer and you don’t have the right amount of drop on the ball mount they will. http://www.reesebrands.com/reese-towpower/ball-mounts-and-hitch-balls/Ball-mounts (This inserts into the truck on one end and the ball screws into the hole on the other end so the ball can be significantly lower than the truck’s receiver.) This is true of any BP trailer. Gooseneck trailers can also ride at an angle if things aren’t adjusted correctly.
Any trailer, either gooseneck or bumper pull, should ride level. If the trailer doesn’t ride level, it can put added stress on the rear axle and tires.
Many people have issues with trailers not being level due to the fact trucks are taller than ever these day. Older goosenecks have problems with not enough clearance between the bed rails and neck on the trailer.
Bumper pulls are easier to level because it just requires a drop hitch. With a gooseneck, it can be fixed by blocking the trailer axles or going to a flatbed on the truck.
The trailer should ALWAYS be level. Good info from the posters above. I have a drop hitch on my BP as my truck is too tall to haul my trailer level. It weighs a TON but makes for a much better ride for the horses (safer too). Hate seeing trailers riding on the rear axle - horrible for the trailer and a miserable trip for the horses. Not hard to fix the problem.
The real issue is torsion axles. Old style trailers had a link between the two axle springs called an equalizer. It balanced the trailer weight between the two axles. Newer trailers use a torsion bar suspension. Each axle is independently sprung. Smoother ride but if the trailer is NOT level… the axles don’t share the load equally. Leads to tire wear/blowouts and other bad things.
My trailer would ride slightly uphill when empty, but drop to level when loaded with horses compressing truck springs. Horses rode in a level trailer going down the road.
The man setting up my trailer hitch to the BP trailer, is the one who taught me to look for this when putting a trailer on a truck. Setting the hitch and trailer level while empty, will have trailer nose down with weight of horses loaded.
Gooseneck trailers should ride level when loaded. Again, trailer nose might be slightly high when empty, springs on truck are not compressed yet.
Our gooseneck rides slightly nose high. I mean maybe an inch or two. That way any spills inside the trailer go out and don’t just sit and “puddle” on the floor. We don’t put enough miles on the trailer for this to be much of an issue. If it were I’d think period tire rotation would take care of any tire issues.
G.
Extremely unsafe to pull an un-level trailer. Although not uncommon for an unloaded trailer to ride slightly high. This allows it to drop to level when loaded. If your trailer rides high when loaded, try a different size drop/lift hitch to get it level.
Each axle of a trailer has a maximum capacity. For example, a gooseneck I just looked at with a friend had 3500 lb. axles, and a max weight of 8,000. If you fill it to capacity, and then fail to level it, you will have a single 3500 lb. axle holding almost all of that weight (especially if it is tipping backwards, removing the weight from the hitch as well as the front axle). At best, you end up with a blown rear tire; at worst, structural failure.
This ignores how much harder it is for your horse to balance.
I’ll also add that you can create this problem, to a lesser degree, by pulling a trailer with a tire that isn’t inflated to full spec. A tire that is lower than the others can still look fine to the eye, but doesn’t carry its share of the load when you trailer. That’s why I never load a horse without checking the pressure in all four tires and fixing anything that is low with a portable compressor.
Thanks, everybody. 
This trailer looked like an older one to me, and the truck did look higher than the trailer (maybe newer too). Maybe a 4x4. Maybe the trailer was empty, too; it was accompanying two cowboys and horses across the field.
I think what happens is lots of people do not know any better. They do not think about the fact that it matters. If it is the right sized ball then they are good to go (or so they think).
A friend who was going to use my trailer with her truck was confused when I suggested she come over a little earlier than planned so we can make sure we have the right height ball mount for her truck. Her response was something like ‘oh, I have the right sized ball’. I explained that the trailer needed to ride level and she had never heard that before.
When I bought my new trailer I had to buy a new Reese Hitch so the ball would be low enough for the trailer to ride level.
Yea, other than a slight slope toward the rear to help, um…wet…move in that direction…level is the proper way to haul any trailer and is essential when there is more than one trailer axil so weight and braking is properly distributed. There are a lot of folks who do tow with the improper drop, especially when they have lifted vehicles.
I want trailer level, not draining. Riding uphill is hard on the horse and trailer. Put in some sawdust to absorb things, clean the trailer when you get done using it instead of expecting it to self drain.
goodhors, I don’t disagree with you. To clarify, by “slight slope”, I mean something like 1/4"-1/2" over the length of the trailer toward the rear. That’s not really perceptible. What you don’t want is the opposite for sure… 
Since it’s pretty much impossible to get a trailer “perfectly” level, err toward sloping toward the rear.
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