I like the look of them, but I’ve only known a couple of people who used them and I didn’t know them well enough to ask a lot of questions at busy shows and clinics.
How do you tell how many horses one will hold? I know regular trailers are designated 2h, 3h, etc., but all I ever see for the stock trailers is the number of feet, and I can’t translate that to the number of horses (surely the size of the horses has something to do with it, but … ?)
Depends on the set up. Most don’t have angled dividers and so are either open or have box stalls. If open, the horses are usually all tied to one wall. This means you can sometimes fit more horses into the same space as a regular angle haul, but you have to trust your horses not to kick/fuss. To estimate, compare the trailer with an angle haul of the same width and length.
If box, it is usually just one horse per box (usually the dividers are fully removable)
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Depends on the set up. Most don’t have angled dividers and so are either open or have box stalls. If open, the horses are usually all tied to one wall. This means you can sometimes fit more horses into the same space as a regular angle haul, but you have to trust your horses not to kick/fuss. To estimate, compare the trailer with an angle haul of the same width and length.
If box, it is usually just one horse per box (usually the dividers are fully removable)[/QUOTE]
Pretty much this exactly. There is a local ranch here that uses a very nice stock trailer for their show drafts. It has the dividers to make box stalls. They will load two in the front, close that divider and load two more in the back. The horses ride straight, not sure if they tie them or not. The horses are Belgians I think, so wide, but not overly tall.
So there are lots of things that make a stock trailer vs. a horse trailer. The slatted sides are classic, but there’s also the option of different suspension, different divider types, etc. If you buy a “stock trailer” that’s made for horses, it may well come with dividers and an upgraded suspension. A used stock trailer may have been made for a species like sheep and may not be so tall or have the same weight carrying capacity.
Many trailers these days with dividers allow them to be fully removed, if that was your goal.
i like the ones with a divider that creates 2 ‘stalls’ in the trailer. i prefer a stock trailer over a slant load or straight load any day. the hard to load horses usually will be more receptive to a stock trailer. good luck
I love my Eby combo stock trailer…which means, it has a dressing room and then a stock part. My dressing room is 4’ on the floor plus a lot of room in the nose. I’ve 20’ in the horse section with a “calf gate” in the center. So I have 2 10’ long stalls when hauling. I don’t tie when I haul my guys, they pick which way they prefer to stand.
Stock trailers are cool, as in lots of airflow. The slat openings usually have grooves in them so you can put Lexan peices in them to make the trailer less breezy during the winter if you wish.
Horses that won’t load in a slant/straight load will often just give a sniff and pop up in a stock trailer. I prefer the step up vs. ramp. You can get a lot of stock trailer for the money, I’d really suggest one with a dressing room.
Also…good luck.
IMO, the only downfall to stock trailers is the difficulty in offering water during fuel stops on the road. I do plan to get a stock combo soon, as my 3H slant is not conducive to hauling the kid’s 4-H goats & steers. But, when I get one, it will have drop windows on the head side, so I can get in there with a bucket of water at each fuel stop. And it will have cut gates NOT slant dividers.
Other than that aspect, I love stock trailers. You can get them just as big an roomy as any horse trailer (i.e. 8’ wide interior and 7’6" tall), but you may have to wait on a custom order…
We have a 18 ft. Barrett stock trailer with a divider, no dressing room since we mostly haul cattle in it.
The divider is movable, so we can adjust the size of the box stalls. I seldom haul more than two horses, so we just put one in front and one in the back with the divider in the middle and leave the horses loose.
When I hauled four horses in it, I pushed the divider all the way to front of the trailer and tied them. Because it’s so open and light inside, I’ve never had even problem loaders refuse to get on.
Another benefit: stock trailers, such as Barretts or Ebys, tend to put together really well because they’re meant to be driven into pastures to load cattle. There was just no comparison between them and other aluminum trailers. We’ve had ours for 10+ years, done a LOT of hauling and had zero issues.
Good luck and happy trailer shopping.
I have a 16’ stock trailer with two 8’ section. The center divider gate has a sliding people-sized door in it and the rear door is the same. Mine also has an escape door in the front compartment closest to the neck of the trailer. This set up makes it easy for me to get to any horse in the trailer to check or water.
In my opinion, it is an extremely safe and practical way to haul horses. I can fit 4 comfortably on my trailer- I just pair them according to who gets along best and load them that way. And I have never had a horse refuse to get on it, probably due to the step up and fully swinging rear door.
Cost-wise, my trailer was a heck of a deal. Mine is a '99 Featherlite all aluminum gooseneck that was in like new condition when I bought it two years ago. The floor looks like it has never been used. I only paid $6500. This trailer will last me the rest of my life. And I have hauled much more than just horses on it- pigs, our tractor, lumber, furniture, plants!
We’ve got a 16-foot stock trailer with a dressing room/tack area up front. It’s really simple and really exactly what we need. We can put four average-sized horses in it. Around here, (ranch country), you line them all up and tie them on the same side.
Sometimes they are very open, with the metal bars or slats going nearly all the way to the floor. Ours is a solid four-or-five-foot panel from the floor, then the bars. It doesn’t get superduper cold here, but cold enough that I don’t want to haul them without some wind break.
Our is step-up, with a swing door. Heavy steel, gooseneck. No center panel to close it off into separate “stalls”; I understand the usefulness - if, for instance, you’re hauling a couple calves with your workhorse or some sheep and a cow. Great, solid trailer.
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