As a dressage rider I’m posting this here. I have the opportunity to purchase an 8’ wide living quarter 3 horse slant load trailer. Since many dressage people have warmbloods and tend to be very particular (I am one of them) I’m interested in who here trailers their dressage horses in a slant load and how they fair? What do you have and how do you accommodate your horses? I want a living quarters and a straight load living quarters is far too long for me. I currently have a 2 + 1 with a 4’ dressing room that I love and my horse loves but I can’t camp and it. I should add that I have a 16’2 hand dutch warmblood and more lightly built. Thanks in advance
I’ve had slant load trailers for about 25 years and have hauled multiple sizes and breeds in them (I primarily ride and show dressage). Prior to that I owned solely straight load trailers. While I prefer straight load, I too needed/wanted to limit the length of my rigs. I have had very few problems with my horses in slant loads (absolutely no injuries) and have hauled 28 hours one way with just brief rest stops. I will say, though, that my larger trailers were all stock combo’s so for those really long hauls which never involved more than 2 horses I could make box stalls and let the horses ride more comfortably. I would use bedding in my trailers when hauls were more than 90 minutes. I’ve had my trailers on the rode at least once a week if not twice a week for all of those years and my hauls usually are an hour or less - in those cases I do not use bedding. My horses are well traveled, load willingly and haul well too. I have had far fewer loading resistances with my slant load trailers as well including and especially with our training rides with the mares and their foals.
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The length of your horse’s back and neck are actually more important than his height, so long as the ceiling height is sufficient.
My horse was only 16.3, but wore a 84" blanket. He was crazy tight and uncomfortable in a slant load trailer for any length of time. I did exactly one show that required a 6 hour drive in a slant load trailer and vowed to never do it again. My horse was so tight for, literally, days that it was a miserable show. I also don’t really like them for longer drives as I spend hundreds of hours getting him straight and even, then have him offset weight balancing for hours in a moving trailer just doesn’t make sense to me. I also want to be able to let him put his head down during rest stops - difficult to do in a slant, also difficult to offer water mid-trip.
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So 2 conflicting views. I guess the best thing to do is to try her in one. She’s written short distances in a slant lewd stock tip trailer with a Western saddle on next to 3 other horses and survived. I don’t see me going cross country and I can always give her a bigger stall. My cowboy friend says that if you put a horse in loose by the time you get where you’re going and they’re always riding backwards had a slant so maybe they know something we don’t. His point was if you’re standing on something that’s moving what do you do you usually stand sideways and spread your legs apart instead of standing facing the front. That if you yourself are writing in a trailer in standing there you’re not going to stand there facing street. You’re going to stand there at a bit of a slant and widen your stance. I imagine this holds true with horses too.
So 2 conflicting views. I guess the best thing to do is to try her in one. She’s written short distances in a slant lewd stock tip trailer with a Western saddle on next to 3 other horses and survived. I don’t see me going cross country and I can always give her a bigger stall. My cowboy friend says that if you put a horse in loose by the time you get where you’re going and they’re always riding backwards had a slant so maybe they know something we don’t. His point was if you’re standing on something that’s moving what do you do you usually stand sideways and spread your legs apart instead of standing facing the front. That if you yourself are writing in a trailer in standing there you’re not going to stand there facing street. You’re going to stand there at a bit of a slant and widen your stance. I imagine this holds true with horses too.
I have had a slant load for 15 years, straight load before that. I like my slant load a lot, which is why I have kept it for so long, but I am not sure that I would buy one next time. But, if I were buying a three-horse with living quarters, I would not hesitate to get one to make the length more manageable. The things I do not love are that it would be nice to have more room for their head and necks. There is no bar in the front that they then put their head/neck over. They are right up against the wall and a hay bag just takes room away from them. The other issue is that if you want to pull the front horse out for any reason, the rear horse has to come out first. Not dealbreakers – if your horse fits.
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I had a good-sized 2H Logan slant load, though it wasn’t as wide as the LQ you are looking at. It was super cramped for my 17H gelding. However, it had two dividers, so I would just put him in the first stall and tie the first divider back to the second divider to give him a nice roomy stall whenever he hauled alone.
I’m out west in the land of slant loads, and many people haul larger WBs with them, but I really prefer a straight load instead. I would think you could find a 2H straight load LQ unless you really need a 3H.
Same here. My taller horse (he’s huge) goes ok in a slant but seems to do better in my straight load. My shorter but still big other horse rubs the hair off of one butt cheek every time he goes in a slant, so I don’t share trailering anymore unless the other person also has a straight load.
I don’t haul far, but I much prefer my straight load (WB size).
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I’m going to suggest looking at Stock LQ trailers.
No dividers to restrict horse sizes, center gate allows plenty room for a horse (or 2) either side.
I have owned straightload & slant & never thought I’d want a stock.
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But it has solved a multitude of issues for me.
17h+ big-boned (84 blanket) WB barely fit in the rear of my 2H slant.
Like @outerbanks77, if I was taking him solo, he got the whole space.
My other horse at the time was a 13h pony & he fit in the front slot, but not a lot of room for him.
My 1st slant had full LQ - 6’ short wall.
2nd had DR that I was comfortable camping in.
Both were GN.
When I started Driving I knew the trailer I had was not going to work.
16’ stock fills the bill perfectly.
In a pinch all 3 can be loaded - 16H horse, 13H pony & 35" mini.
When Driving, cart goes in front, mini behind the center gate.
Also:
Switched back from GN to BP.
Aging knees are much happier not having to get in & out of truck bed to hitch.
The width of the trailer is what determines how big it is inside and the length of the stalls determine how long of a horse will fit . We’ve always had slant loads. We went from a 7’ wide to a 7’6" to an 8’ wide slant load. I believe they’ve all been 7’-7’6" tall. In my experience the width makes all the difference in the world. You can eyeball one to get an idea of the width by looking at the fenders. If the wheel well and tires sit completely outside the trailer it’s most likey 7’ wide. If the fender only sits outside a few inches, it’s most likely 7’6" wide. If there is basically no fender showing but the wheel well sits inside the trailer it’s probably 8’ wide. It doesn’t obstruct the horse’s space inside. It gives room for mangers and makes a huge diff when you’re inside the living quarters. Usually there will be an escape door in the first stall. There are also reverse-loads where there is a ramp on both sides and the horses face rear slanted. I have an almost 17 hh appendix qh who has no problems in our 8’.
Another option is to use two slant spaces to accommodate your larger horse. You can remove the divider between the two slants nearest to the rear of the trailer for more room. I guess this works only if you are hauling two horses or less and don’t want the first stall behind the LQ for storage.
But, again, it matters how long your horse’s back & neck is. Especially with some of the bigger dressage horses, they have super long necks and backs. All 17h horses are not built the same.
I tell people I think the best bet to really envision the stall space is measure how much space head to tail your horse takes up while standing relaxed in the cross ties. Then take that measurement to the trailer you are considering. If you’ve got a standard (not reverse) slant you really need to measure from where the right hind will be, since most horses are not crooked in the back. You need to consider if the wheel well is in the horse compartment - it takes away standing space for purposes of measurement. Also remember that if you travel with a hay net - that takes away head room from the horse. Think about how happy you would be with your forehead plastered against the wall in front of you for a road trip when you can’t see where you are going. My large horse never touched a hay net in a slant trailer - but would eat in a straight load.
For the OP - another consideration is how many horses you haul. 3 vs 2 is a big difference in length when it comes to straight vs slant. I don’t know that a 2 horse straight load is substantially longer than a 2 horse slant. The big thing is in a slant you may get a bit of storage space in the back corner. Also how elaborate a LQ you want. Weekender, full LQ, or something really done up. Each is going to take a different amount of floor space to make it work. Were it me, I’d probably opt for a 2+1 with a weekender. You can do that well without all the hassle of a water system. Cowboy shower if I’m someplace without a shower - and I never rough camp so I always have a bathroom option, even if it is a porta-potty. I’ve dealt with a gray water tank with a motor home and really don’t want to ever do that again. I’d only do a full bath if I knew I had good dumping options everywhere I was going.
I have a Sundowner slant load, and my horses fit easily. my big guy has been known to squish himself into nearly pony sized spaces, but someone at the track just handled him well so he’s fabulous for almost everything on the ground. My 16.1 hand mare is so long we can almost fit two saddles on her back. She rides in the front slot only because no matter trailer type she backs her butt up to the wall. I had to change how I hooked my trailer tie to make it long enough for her to reach the back, as she panics if she can’t. So very long, and still lots of room. The rear slot is way too long for her to be able to reach the back- there are probably about 4’ of extra space when my big guy is there, and he is happy with the room. My youngster hasn’t been in my trailer yet, but my trainer has a warmblood sized slant load (I think a Logan?) where everyone, including the long 18 hander, fits comfortably .
