Horse trailer questions?

[eightpondfarm]

My old bumper pull trailer had the front part of the roof blow off!!! and. yes, WITH my mare inside. Somewhere along I-70. I got to NEC, checked in, got my stall assignment and imagine my horror when i opened the back door and found my mare and this big skylight! She was fine and we had a nice ride and an uneventful drive home.

Manufacturer is putting on a new top piece tomorrow. It’s a 6hr drive each way.

I’ve decided to get a new trailer. So will be shopPING tomorrow in Waterville, KS. :-).
I’ve narrowed it down to

1. either a 16 or 18 gooseneck? Will be getting a tack compartment-in front not back.

   
   I normally haul 2. horses together every week. I will have them loose, ie not engage slant or door compartment. Normally speaking.

2. What color??? White or silver (my truck is white. I’ll have it there and make sure the whites are not too different). I actually think silver is cooler looking…but is white actually cooler temp-wise?

3. Heat is more an issue than cold. So which style of window allows more air? (pics attached)

(tack room will be in front)

[eightpondfarm]

I left home with a horsetrailer and arrived there with a giraffe trailer (ala Hangover II )

[NaturallyHappy]

I think white shows up better on the road.

[endlessclimb]

What is the roof material of the new trailers you’re considering?

White can show really nasty and hard to remove black streaks if the top rail is aluminum. Steel or fiberglass roofs should not have this problem (but will, kind of, at the rivets).

I personally like the windows with the screens, to exclude stuff from flying into the trailer while driving (thinking: cigarette butts). But open slatted sides are so often used and you don’t hear of issues often that they’re probably fine, and likely have the better air circulation.

Maybe I just can’t see them, but where are the roof vents on the other two trailers? I only see them on the “Primo” labeled one.

[eightpondfarm]

So you both think the running long openings allow more airflow? That’s the main thing for me.
Heat is way more of a problem than cold. When it’s really cold i don’t have lessons. When it’s really hot (heat index over 95) i also don’t go. But there are a lot more hot and humid days than cold ones as my coach is more of warm-weather person than someone who tolerates cold.

i think i can have just about anything put on or removed as i’m building it from scratch. I’ll make sure there are roof vents, thanks

I’m going to have a rear gate…just bars, that i can swing and keep a horse enclosed while parked.

and one modification i’m going to make is i’ll have one swinging stud gate in the center, going straight across, (there will not be slant gates inside).

So…white or silver/16 or 18/running slats or windows… my biggest questions remain.
are trailers like barns…that you never think “oh, i wish i’d not gotten this big of a barn”??? so bigger is better?

[clanter]

on our trailer the head side has drop down windows, the butt side has slats. The slats have a channels for plexiglass panels to side in to block air flow (if desired)

[kaya842]

I’d do white, 18’, with slats with the option to put in plexiglass as needed. The matching the truck will look nice and I’ve always felt that silver / aluminum colored trailers held heat more/ got hotter. The slats let in more air without a doubt. They can also let in road hazard/ crap, but you may be able to get screens on them to cut that down.

[endlessclimb]

There absolutely is such a thing as too big on a trailer. But you should be OK with an 18.

Is your truck full size (4 door, 8’ bed)? That adds to the overall “length feel” of the rig.

Eta: if you get the white, keep it waxed and wash a few times a year to avoid the black streaks.

[OTTBs]

Bonus to stock sides is it won’t be stuffy at the start of a trailer trip like a closed-up-while-parked enclosed trailer will. I like my stock sides, and with a fiberglass roof it’s never super hot inside.

[Jarpur]

I agree about the stock sides – I’ve had both types, and went back to the slats. On a past trailer, I had solar screens installed over the slats, currently, I just put fly masks on the horses.

I’ve had both silver and white vehicles, and silver (aluminum) and white trailers. IMO, white seems coolor – really notice it with the truck (and I hadn’t even wanted a white truck, bought it because it had what I wanted on it at a decent price).

Yikes on the roof flying off! Fortunate that your mare was uninjured.

[candyappy]

@eightpondfarm

Somewhere along I-70.

That must have been exciting for the drivers behind you as well…

[2DogsFarm]

@eightpondfarm

and one modification i’m going to make is i’ll have one swinging stud gate in the center, going straight across, (there will not be slant gates inside).

I think this gives you a more flexible trailer.
But, I’ve never liked slants (had 3)
I have a 16’ stock BP (also don’t love GNs), so the openings along the sides give me enough ventilation & have Plexiglas panels that can slide to cut down on wind coming in.
Only problem they ever gave me was when I used pelleted bedding where I had the horse.
Even wetted, it blew all over the entire interior

Full center gate let’s me use the front as tack/feed & storage hauling & it’s where my cart goes. Mini - or anyone I’m hauling - goes in back.
In an emergency I want to get horse(s) off ASAP.
I wouldn’t want to try getting the 16h horse out the escape door.
If I had to, all 3 of mine could ride with the gate shut.

No preference on color, mine is aluminum on a steel frame.

ETA:
HolyShmoly!
Glad mare arrived w/o trauma.
I can only imagine…
No other driver tried to alert you?
I once got honked down on a highway because my back door wasn’t latched
It now has a ringpin to assure it’s shut tight.

[pony_grandma]

ROOF VENTS! That’s your air flow. Make dealer install them for the deal! Minimum 3.

[eightpondfarm]

@2DogsFarm

HolyShmoly!
Glad mare arrived w/o trauma.
I can only imagine…
No other driver tried to alert you?

I called highway patrol as soon as i got my mare into a stall. They said no accidents on that stretch. I gave them my contact info and license plate. Haven’t heard a word.

[Jarpur]

The only thing about relying on roof vents is that it’s possible to peel the usual type of vent, that opens up, off under an overhanging tree. Requires only a very minor tree branch – one level up from a twig.

Ask me how I know.

Also, this may not be everyone’s concern, but I wasn’t tall enough to reach the vents to open and close them. For closing, I sometimes managed to leap up high enough to snag it, and let gravity help me pull the vent down as I landed, but for opening, I required a one-step stool that I kept in the tack/dressing room.

[eightpondfarm]

oh gosh, that’s an important consideration… I too am small. I closed the door with me inside of it last week. Me and my mare…the day the roof blew off a couple hours later. (bad day!). I’ve locked myself inside before and without anything to step on i cannot reach out to the latch and open the dang gate! I need to ask about escape door and see how it’s constructed. I ended up getting out by taking off her halter and reaching it through the slat on the escape door and lifting up the bar.

I think, aesthetically speaking…after having looked at the manufacturer’s holding lot yesterday, (13hr round trip, but worth it. Got a new front piece put on my trailer and went shopping!) I like the looks of the drop down windows when the nose of the gooseneck has ‘bus windows’.
I’m going to have two bus windows put in the rear gate and that will help a lot with airflow.

And i’ll think about those vents! I’ll ask how many times they have to get replaced, if it’s an easy repair, and cost of. We have a lonnnnnnng woodsy driveway and i’m not the worlds greatest at keeping branches cut. Thanks for telling me that!

[Jarpur]

I’ve pulled off a vent right down the street after leaving my place for a long weekend trail ride. Great, an open hole in the trailer roof.

Wasn’t a particularly difficult or expensive repair when I returned home after the trip (but everything costs much more now), but certainly aggravating and inconvenient.

Yes, make sure you can’t be trapped! If you get drop downs, get grates and screens, too.

[eightpondfarm]

screens…hmmm. I didn’t see that as an option.

After a few years do those vents start leaking?

[Jarpur]

It’s either screens or put fly masks on the horses.

If they don’t offer screens, there are retro-fit ones available. ETA an example:

https://www.ridingwarehouse.com/Professionals_Choice_Horse_Trailer_Window_Screen/descpage-PCHTWS.html

different link

[eightpondfarm]

awesome! either of my mules would have any screen down and chewed to bits in about two seconds. As would two of my young geldings. Others would probably go well with them. Oh gosh…so on second thought ‘bus windows’ (come-with screens) are a no-go. I’ll have to have drop down windows on the rear gate. (because mules lol)