Straight haul vs slant trailer for one horse

[eponacelt]

You’ll be fine hauling one horse in a 2H straight load.

I’ll never, never understand why people thing slants are better. They’re tight for bigger horses, always, and the weight of the horse is ALWAYS carried on the right front. How is that comfortable? I understand a lot of horses will naturally orient themselves on a slant in a trailer - but facing backwards. So I’ve just never been able to wrap my brain around why anyone would think slants are more comfortable. I’ll admit, I had one horse who was a nightmare in a slant load. He’d bang bang bang with his front legs all the way to wherever we were going. Never a peep from him in the straight load.

[tabula_rashah]

I have three trailers- a straight load 2H bumper pull with ramp, a 3 horse stock combo/slant GN, and a LQ 3H GN slant. I only ever use the straight load because it’s the easiest to hook up, otherwise I’d never touch it. I hate straightloads - horses don’t seem to like them, they’re difficult when you are by yourself esp with multiple horses and ugh ramps. I don’t understand why people complain that their horses don’t fit in slants- um if you get the right size slant, your horse will fit LMAO. It’s like if I bought an Arab sized straightload and then whined that my draft horse didn’t fit.

[endlessclimb]

Think about it… if you make the slant big enough for a big horse, the wall is so slanted it might as well be a…

straight load.

That’s why those of us with big horses buy them.

Why do people think a straight load needs a ramp? My little zoom around trailer doesn’t have one and my horses are fine.

[Texarkana]

I’m not that old, but even in my lifetime trailers have changed quite a bit.

I still remember when a 7ft trailer was considered “extra tall” or “thoroughbred height.”

I remember when many straight load trailers were ridiculously narrow with flimsy fixed posts and chains for dividers.

I remember when there were no windows or escape doors.

Padding was non-existent, or just thin naugahyde awkwardly placed on the walls.

I remember when plywood dividers to the floor were the norm.

Everything was steel and frequently painted a dark color (hides the rust better).

Mangers were common.

Ramps were rare, or they seemed like they weighed a metric ton.

Then slant loads came on the market. Around the same time, we also saw the rise of aluminum and fiberglass construction. And improved suspension, improved matting, improved padding, improved ventilation, etc.

I think all of that, combined with data that horses often stand on a slant, led many to believe slant loads are superior.

But the thing is, many newly manufactured straight loads are nothing like their counterparts from the past. Tall, wide, sturdy yet moveable and well-padded dividers, no fixed posts, large windows and escape doors, user-friendly ramps, etc.

If you try to load my horses into the average 70s/80s 2H bumper pull, they are probably going to lose their marbles after a few trips. But they practically beg to hop on a modern, warmblood-sized, cushy straight load with all the bells and whistles.

But bottom line, I think people’s preferences are solidified by their early experiences-- both positive and negative.

[FatCatFarm]

My 2+1 has been the best of both worlds in most ways. While not as zippy as my friend’s 2horse straight load Featherlight, it does allow for an awful lot of versatility. I do have big draft crosses - 2 that are 17hds and 1 that is 16.3. I tried custom ordering a 3 horse slant with longer, wider stalls, but one horse was always getting butt rubs unless I tied back one gate and basically gave him a box stall. That and I rarely trailer 3 horses. Most of the time it’s just one horse, but fairly often I trailer two of mine, or one of mine and a frien’d’s horse. The plus one compartment has been awesome for hauling all of our extra gear such as feed and hay, etc when we travel away to trail ride at the beach or in the mountains. When I was eventing, it was perfect for my tack box, feed, hay, scooter, muck bucket. I’ve used it numerous times to haul a mini, a young horse or a llama. I could easily primitive camp from it if I chose.

At 22ft on the floor, getting in an out of some gas stations can be a challenge, is the worse thing about it. But otherwise, it’s awesome. I have two ramps; at the back and on the side and that has been a huge convenience too. Unless I wind up with much smaller horses, eventually, I don’t see going back to a slant load. Shadow now makes a nice 2 horse straight load with living quarters. I wouldn’t mind having a LQ trailer eventually to head out West with. It’s LQ trailers where the slants really save you in economy of space/length of trailer.

I like the way the goosenecks pull better than a bumper pull, so if I ever downsize back to a regular two horse, it would be a two horse goose straight load walk through with a small dressing room. I say that, but some of the newer light weight innovative trailers you can pull with a moderate sized SUV are pretty impressive as well. Particularly when my F250 gets a pitiful 10 MPG!

[stb]

Six years ago, when I got back into horse ownership after a very long hiatus, I bought a 2H BP slant Featherlite trailer. Most of my friends at the time were Western riders and were big fans of the slant trailers. I pretty much hated it and so did my horse. It was a step up (turns out I prefer a ramp) and it had no escape doors. After about 18 months I decided I was going to bail. I bought a 2H BP straight load Hawk. It has a ramp, escape doors, is light and bright and very well ventilated. The fiberglass roof keeps the trailer cool. I love it and my horses love it.

I would never go back to a slant. I really hated the fact that you couldn’t access the front horse without unloading the back horse. That just doesn’t seem safe to me.

[Shagyas_Rock]

I agree with eponacelt - a horse in a slant has to balance most weight on one side and can get sore doing that if the trip is long. Tabula-Rasha seemed to ignore the points she made,
If horses are allowed to choose they seem to want to travel backwards - not slanted. I’d probably be
interested in straight load trailers designed for horse to travel facing the rear. . . does anyone make something like that?
But slants - nah. And I really don’t like the fact that you can’t get to the first horse without unloading the others.

[Bluey]

@Shagyas_Rock

I agree with eponacelt - a horse in a slant has to balance most weight on one side and can get sore doing that if the trip is long. Tabula-Rasha seemed to ignore the points she made,
If horses are allowed to choose they seem to want to travel backwards - not slanted. I’d probably be
interested in straight load trailers designed for horse to travel facing the rear. . . does anyone make something like that?
But slants - nah. And I really don’t like the fact that you can’t get to the first horse without unloading the others.

Our horses when loose in the stock trailer have a choice where and how to ride.
All prefer to ride at a slant, head to the crown, higher left side, tail to the right, slightly lower side of the roads.
Decades of that tells us that maybe horses do prefer to ride like that?
Why? Who knows, habituation, or maybe it feels best for balance?

Those two are loose in there, just open the gate and they step in there, will ride like that, at a slant, when asked to, back on command.
Notice they placed themselves over the axle, not further forward, another interesting trait.
That was out neighbor’s single axle pasture trailer.
We prefer and so seem our horses the standard double axle stock trailer, ours are that and we think ride smoother for the horses:

[wsmoak]

I had Exiss put the 2-horse straight load setup in a 16’ stock combo trailer. 4’ dressing room (if I did it over I’d get the 18’ trailer and a 6’ dressing room) and extra room in front of the breast bar for storage, as soon as I figure out how to secure it.

It has double back doors and a ramp (which I had to add later – it’s just too far off the ground to step down backwards.) That means I can open one side and unload that horse while the other is completely confined with a door and shoulder divider, not just a butt bar. I can swing the divider over to give one horse more room, or remove it. Or all of that can come out and it’s a 12’ box. It’s wide (these narrow country roads!!) It’s extra tall. I can’t reach the roof vents without a step, but I can sit cross-legged on the bed in the gooseneck.