How Short Can A Trailer Be for 3 Horses?

[looneybird]

Hi everyone,

We are moving to a property that will mean pulling a trailer up and down a very steep and very curvy road. We will mostly be hauling 2 horses but will occasionally take 3. I’m brand new to trailering and quite honestly, the shorter the trailer the better for me at this point (because of the road and because I’m a bit intimidated by long trailers).

I’m planning to get a slant load gooseneck, with a small (2 ft on the short wall) dressing room. If I remove the dividers, how short could I go to fit 3 horses (none over 16 hands)? The trips would be less than 2 hours one way. I was wondering if I could get by with a 2 horse slant, then remove the dividers and fit 3 horses for the occasional trip?

Thank you!

[GotMyPony]

I’m sorry but if you know that your trailer trips are going to involve steep and curvy roads, which can be a challenge to any horses’ balance, you should really get a trailer made for 3 horses.

And remember, the challenge with bigger horses in a slant isn’t just the horse’s height, it’s the horse’s length vis a vis the trailer stall length.

Sorry that’s not good news but an accident on curvy steep road with 3 horses packed into a trailer made for 2 just wouldn’t be worth the risk to me.

[enjoytheride]

I agree, you aren’t going to be able to cram three horses into a two horse slant unless it’s an oversized slant made for big long horses and that kind of defeats the purpose.

You can do a 3 horse slant with a zero foot short wall.

[candyappy]

You run the risk of injury cramming them in like sardines. I can guarantee you that you may get them all in once, but probably not twice. I first hauled a 2 horse and then we bought a 16 foot stock trailer. Made no difference hauling it.

[normandy_shores]

I have a 2h slant GN and couldn’t imagine putting three in there. Learn how to drive the extra few feet, it really isn’t that bad.

[Ambitious_Kate]

What some people think up amazes me.

[poltroon]

The extra few feet of trailer won’t matter that much assuming it’s a public road, even if it is quite steep and curvy. More important that the horses be comfortable with plenty of room to stretch their legs out to balance.

If it’s a private gravel road and really outside normal parameters, you’ll have to figure out if there’s a limitation there. There probably isn’t as much as you think, but if there is, I recommend that you really think about the limitations that brings you not just for horses but for things like fire protection and getting hay delivered, and other things that may be fairly mundane.

Either you’ll get comfortable with this road, or you simply won’t haul out. IME.

What may be more important is to get plenty of truck to pull the load, and to get a lighter weight trailer. If the road is really difficult, you may prefer a narrower trailer to a shorter trailer - shorter slant loads are typically wider.

[looneybird]

Thank you all for your responses. I wasn’t sure if my idea would have worked but now I see that it won’t.

I am practically brand-new to horses, other than having taken some riding lessons some years ago, and know next-to-nothing about them. However, we have just made a surprise purchase on a property fixed up for horses, so I’m trying to learn quickly. Thank you all for being kind in your answers to what I’m sure you thought was a ridiculous question!

[NoSuchPerson]

[QUOTE=looneybird;8323207]
I am practically brand-new to horses, other than having taken some riding lessons some years ago, and know next-to-nothing about them. However, we have just made a surprise purchase on a property fixed up for horses, so I’m trying to learn quickly. [/QUOTE]

This is a recipe for disaster.

I hope you have a trusted mentor who is going to be very involved in your horse activities.

[GotMyPony]

Before you actually buy horses I would recommend taking some lessons again - and your husband, too - just to get yourself back into the horse world at a less committed level before you actually buy any horses, trailer, etc. And I would look for some kind of program, ideally, that would cover basics of horse care and management; when I lived in East Texas the local junior college had a “Horse Ownership 101” class that covered all kinds of things like basic care, feed, farriery, dental needs, etc. If nothing like that exists near you, find some of Cherry Hill’s books about horse-keeping and designing/managing a small farm.

There would be nothing worse, in my opinion, than jumping the gun and ending up with unsuitable horses, trailer, or farm layout because you didn’t take the time to think it all out first. Not meant to be critical, just reminding that research and planning would be a huge benefit when making the kind of investment(s) - and life changes, really - that you’re talking about. Good luck and I hope your adventure with horses ends up being everything you’d like it to be.

[Simkie]

[QUOTE=GotMyPony;8323575]
Before you actually buy horses I would recommend taking some lessons again - and your husband, too - just to get yourself back into the horse world at a less committed level before you actually buy any horses, trailer, etc. And I would look for some kind of program, ideally, that would cover basics of horse care and management; when I lived in East Texas the local junior college had a “Horse Ownership 101” class that covered all kinds of things like basic care, feed, farriery, dental needs, etc. If nothing like that exists near you, find some of Cherry Hill’s books about horse-keeping and designing/managing a small farm.

There would be nothing worse, in my opinion, than jumping the gun and ending up with unsuitable horses, trailer, or farm layout because you didn’t take the time to think it all out first. Not meant to be critical, just reminding that research and planning would be a huge benefit when making the kind of investment(s) - and life changes, really - that you’re talking about. Good luck and I hope your adventure with horses ends up being everything you’d like it to be.[/QUOTE]

Very well put, GMP.

This may not be what you want to hear, looneybird, but it’s really good advice. There’s just so much that goes into having horses at home…why would you want to jump to buying three when you’ve not even taken lessons recently, and still consider yourself brand new to them? There’s a LOT that can go SO wrong.

Take some more lessons, find a mentor, read up, give it a couple years. Then decide if you really want to find some suitable horses for your place, or if you just want to enjoy having the room for yourselves.

[AKB]

Try to find a few nearby mentors. It is easy to make serious and expensive mistakes with horses while you are learning the basics. I am fortunate to live in a neighborhood where horse owners make an effort to help each other and to look out for each others’ horses. For example, when a horse down the street had a fever, I got emails from two neighbors about the illness, how he was being treated, and the risk to other horses in the neighborhood.

Read all of the pony club manuals and the pony club suggested books for the A,B, and C ratings. Go to any local classes that local vets or the vet school put on. Join a local trail group. Volunteer at the local pony club and 4h. You will be experienced and ready to buy horses in a short time.

[Laurierace]

Horses spend their entire lives thinking up new ways to commit suicide. They are not easy to care for and a lot can go really wrong for no apparent reason. Buy a horse if you must but board it somewhere for a couple of years while you learn how to take care of him with the safety net of a trainer or barn manager calling the shots. Go ahead and ask the whys and hows of all the shots they call though.

[Gamma]

Yes yes, learn more before buying a horse. Remember a horse is easily a 20-30 year commitment!

But–if you will mostly be hauling two, not three, have you considered just hiring someone to haul for you when you need the third one moved? It’s surprisingly cost effective (well, not really, it is more that trailers and a truck capable of stopping three horses are surprisingly expensive!). If you can already haul two, you can hire a small local hauler to haul the third.

[poltroon]

We’ve all been beginners once!

I’ll pile on and add to the advice that the way to start out is to find a local horse professional in your area, and take lessons again for a while, then have that person help you buy horses and choose a truck and trailer. Your professional will be able to actually look at your road and your setup and make the assessment that we cannot from our keyboards as to whether your private road is merely difficult or truly daunting (I have seen some humdingers here in the west, no question!).

The previous owner’s idea of ‘set up for horses’ may not be yours once you refamiliarize yourself with horsekeeping, so it’s good to be open to the idea you may want to make some changes. Key to this from my perspective is that you want to have everything up to be as easy as possible, so that for example if you have to hire a horsesitter that they can feed and water without opening any gates and with minimal effort. You’ll be glad for that yourself on cold, dark mornings or late nights!

And finally, even though fencing is expensive, it’s pretty much always cheaper than the matching vet bill.

[ArabDiva]

Honestly, it may seem intimidating at first but generally a longer trailer is easier to drive than a shorter trailer. There is much more room and time to react when turning and backing with a longer trailer. You do have to turn slightly wider around corners, but it’s really no biggie. The trailer I hated most was not my horse trailer, but a stupid little 8’ garden trailer. I couldn’t back that thing if you paid me a million bucks. But I can put my horse trailer in the tiniest of spots.