We are finally getting a trailer and it’s a “jungle” out there, you don’t know where to start.
I realize that everybody has different preferences, etc.
Basically we have around 7500 to spend, we want a two-horse trailer (slant or straight) with a dressing room upfront.
We finally found a Miley trailer in our price range, I wonder though if the deal is too good to be true? Has anybody on here have any experience with these trailers? They sure look nice, they are even aluminum…oh well, just getting ideas. This is a lot harder than we thought, any input appreciated.
Thanks 
A very long time ago friends of mine had a Miley steel trailer. They were considered top of the line way back then. They loved it. Don’t really know about the aluminum ones. My suggestion would be to really take a good look at hinges, locks, lights. The little stuff is what drives you crazy when they start to break. The other suggestion is to make sure if you get the slant that stalls will be big enough for your horses. I’m sure that Miley still makes a good trailer.
Look, look and keep looking…
My best advice is to look everywhere…sales ads, horse magazines, websites etc. Even better is to attend one of the Horse Expos. I see you are from Pennsylvania. If you can make it to the Horse Expo in Harrisburg you can see a lot of trailers…and maybe get a wonderful deal on one.
The more you look the more you find out about different options that are available. Ramp, step, aerodynamic, lights, fans, saddle racks, hooks, blanket bars, padding (in the horse stalls), escape doors, flooring options, placement of hooks for haybags or feeders, type of footing on the ramp, height requirements. The list can go on and on.
If I could do it over again I would get a light on the outside above the ramp to help with loading/unloading in the dark. I didn’t think it would be needed but, yep…it sure would be nice. I would also get more padding in the horse stalls (which I can add so I guess I just have to do it). And now I also realize I should have got another option…hooks in the floor to hold my husband’s motorcycle so it could be more of a multi-use trailer.
Hindsight is 20/20 so do as much thinking about whay you want now…and what you can do without.
Hope this helps 
KlawPaws
Sorry…I see you are from Western Pennsylvania. The Harrisburg Horse Expo is quite a distance from you. Maybe there will be one closer one to you?
KlawPaws
I just missed QH congress in Ohio, darn it, maybe the horse expo is worth the drive… does anybody know the date?
Many 2H slants are TINY-meaning the back stall is barely a stall. take a tape measure.
Mileys are now made by Universal Trailer…so they aren’t the trailer they ‘used to be’. I was not blown away by those I’ve seen lately…and I pull an Exiss, which many here loathe with a hot, running passion…but I like mine and have no issues with it, 5 years on down the line…
I’d be thinking 2H straight…and I’m assuming GN or BP?
horsetrailerworld.com has tons to look through…the forums there are good, but Universal runs them. Poster beware 
Horse World Expo
[QUOTE=rodandmicha;3678898]
I just missed QH congress in Ohio, darn it, maybe the horse expo is worth the drive… does anybody know the date?[/QUOTE]
2009 dates are February 26, 27, 28 and March 1. Here’s the website:
http://www.horseworldexpo.com/
KlawPaws
This is the trailer I’m contemplating on buying:
http://www.mileytrailers.com/two-horse.php
I am not familiar at all with dimensions of trailers in general, this is the kind of slant where there is the “big” opening on the back, not with the tack room, etc…I wonder if it will be too “tiny” for the second horse, as some of you have mentioned before?
We are going to haul two average sized QH mares in this, around 15.2 hands tall, but I also have a 16 h Standardbred, a bit on the longer side…any input?
Hay
I have a 2 horse straight load Kingston that I bought brand new. It does not have a dressing/tack room. In hindsight, that would be a nice feature however I only ever haul one horse so I made the second stall into a tack room. We installed a saddle rack and there is a tack trunk secured by the other door.
I really like this trailer, it’s airy and light. I knew nothing about trailers and was worried that I’d get a bad deal buying from a consumer or newspaper ad. We happen to have a great dealer locally.
The only complaint I heard about a slant load is getting the horse in the first stall off…You have to unload all…
Do check out ebay. There are a ton of trailers there and I would think this is a great time to buy as everyone is dumping. You’ll be competing with more buyers in the Spring.
I currently have this trailer, only a 2007 model with stock sides all the way around. I haul it with a 2004 1/2 ton Suburban.
It’s been a good trailer, nice solid steel frame, but aluminum skin to keep the weight down. I stepped down to this trailer from a 3H gooseneck, and was worried about sway. I use an anti sway system, and it’s never been an issue, even in nasty storms which make you drive 20mph on the freeway because your wipers can’t keep up. It’s rated to haul 7000 lbs (two 3500lb axles) and I’ve never come close to that max amount.
It’s easy to haul, easy to park, and just generally a good, all around easy trailer. The dressing room is large enough for tack, gear, and food for two horses for a weekend. The front stall is perfect for short, compact horses but the rear stall will fit a moose. Because the rear horse is standing directly over the axles, I wouldn’t have a problem with the longer, larger horse being hauled in the rear slot, even if it was heavier then the other horse. I’d just make sure the weight of my stuff and the smaller horse were greater then the weight in the rear of the trailer.
I have hauled a 16.2 hand, short backed, 81" blanket, 1400 lb stallion in the front stall with no problem. But my 16.1 hand, long backed, 84" blanket, 1300 lb mare was squished nose to tail in that stall…she fit much better in the rear stall. The rear stall was large enough to haul a yearling sized weanling colt and my arabian gelding together, along with the mare squished in the front, on an emergency trip to the vet one morning.
It measures 6’10" on the interior height, so it’s not something I would ever think about putting a 16+ hand with a high neck set into (think saddlebred high). My large horses fit well only because thier neck were low set.
I really have loved this trailer, it suits my needs very well. I had a problem with one of the wheel bearing units siezing up on one trip due to improper tightening from the factory, which I didn’t notice until the breaks were on fire. That left me on the side of i-10 in 110 degree heat one afternoon.
The only other negative thing I’ll say about it is the steel has already rusted, which doesn’t suprise me in the slightest. I live 5 miles from the Gulf of Mexico…the salty humid air rusts everything quickly.
Hope this helps,
Get Tom and Neva Scheeve’s book on Trailier Maintenance and you will learn all the pros and cons of trailer features and be able to judge for yourself if you think the Miley is a good deal. The book has a wealth of information of what to look for.
jan
AMEN! Then check the list of speakers at the Expo to see if they’ll be there. We attended their Trailering 101 seminar at Equine Extravaganza in '07. Worth the gas to Richmond VA alone for that.
Because of their seminar and our own personal research (including going over every trailer on display at EE…some with a magnifying glass), we’re saving up for an EquiSpirit, 2 horse, gooseneck.
And a side note: Stay AWAY from Lakota Trailers. Oversized tin cans on wheels – with welding that was obviously done by semi-trained chimpanzees! Oy vey :rolleyes:
Hu? 
I have a 2H slant and the back stall is where I put big horses. It’s basically 1 1/2 stalls. My 1200 pound bulldog rides back there because the front stall is tight for her. Toothpick legs alwaysg goes in the front stall.
Mine is a Corn Pro with tack room.
My good endurance riding buddy has a 2H slant HORSE trailer, and his back stall is also huge. I was just inside his trailer a week or so ago and again, the back stall is 1 1/2 times as large as the front stall.
So what brand or type are you talking about?
Everybody has their own preferences, but I’ll NEVER go back to a straight load if I can help it. Horses are just so much happier in a slant. Long ago we were told by the vet to get a slant if possible because the trailering stress is minimized when the horse can lean against the force with the long side of his body, instead of just leaning straight forward and straight back onto the front or the back legs. Of course I have no science to back that up, but it makes sense to me.
I know we saw a lot of scrambling and freaking out when we had straight loads. It was too tight and cramped, and the horses hated backing out. I live in WI, and we get a LOT of ice and snow. I trailer almost every weekend to ride somewhere all winter, and some places I have to park, I am unloading horses onto slick footing. When they can come out head first, they look down, assess the footing, then carefully climb out. If they’re backing out, they don’t know it’s slick until they’ve already lost footing on the hind end, and then they WON’T get out!
With a slant (stock!), they don’t have to back out. If you have a slant horse trailer with the tack room in the back, the end horse will still have to back. Again, that goes back to personal preference, but I don’t like backing horses out of trailers. I don’t like fumbling around with escape doors and butt bars. Straight loads give me the jeebies because you have people trying to undo butt bars standing with their chests and heads to the horse’s hind feet. 99% of horses might never kick out, but I read a story on the net of a woman who was killed trying to undo a butt bar. Horse kicked out full force and put a foot right through her chest, ripping the butt bar right off the hinge along with it.
With my slant load, I can swing open the door and be WAY back out of kick range. Also, it is far harder, and is more unnatural for a horse to cow kick sideways, than it is to kick straight back with force. When you’re getting a horse out of a slant, you can stand way up by his belly to unlatch the swing gate, swing it open, get to the horse’s head, and you are NEVER around those hind feet.
None of my horses would kick out in the trailer, but I’ve hauled a lot of horses for other people, and I am damned glad I don’t have to get right up in their business with the butt bar and the back door.
To “me” personally, the old 2H straight loads are really old school and things have improved since then.
Very true.
When I haul 2, it’s because 2 will be ridden, so it’s not an issue. When I haul 1 that has to be dropped off somewhere, and 1 is going home with me, we obviously load the friend’s horse in the last stall.
So it CAN be avoided, but that is a problem if you want to put the larger horse in the rear stall, but the smaller horse in the front is the one getting off first. (Done that too!) Then you unload both.
My friend has a slant with the tack room in the back and it does make it tight back there, plus the last horse has to back out, so we are definitely getting the slant with the tack room in the front
I’m so appreciative of all your input, it truly helps!
Trailer characteristics I like
I have a Logan Performer 2 horse slant which I bought a few years ago in your price range. Features I like: taller trailer is more inviting to the horse (I think mine is 7’6" high), lighter, airy interior, separate tack room for when you wash out the trailer, saddle racks that swing out easily, lots of vents and windows that can either be left open or removed when it’s hot and stuffy. I haven’t used the outside lights, but am sure they’d be useful if I needed them at night.
Funny memory: I mentioned in another thread how flexible my squirrelly Andalusian is. Shortly after I got her, she was learning how to trailer load so we got her in the trailer, closed the divider and let her get used to it. I’ll never forget my trainer’s face while she watched my horse actually turn around in the front space, limbo UNDER the divider, jump off the trailer and stand there like nothing unusual had happened!
I should have named her Gumby (or maybe Pokey, come to think of it).
I’m referring to a 2H with NO rear tack, OK? That’s what I meant. The rear stall is small, too short, stem to stern…for a good sized horse. the front stall is roomy, the rear…tiny. Front wall of horse box is slanted, tack room is upfront. GN. I’m just SAYIN’ take a tape measure and make sure the horses have room.
My 3H slant with a rear tack…the 3rd - the last or rearmost stall is the largest.
I can’t recall the brands in question but I’ve peaked in a few 2H slants w/o rear tack and the rear stall is just too small.
I didn’t explain it clearly enough, sorry to be vague
I’ve had my two horse straight load aluminum trailer for 25 years and love it. Light weight, easy to pull and I can manhandle the tong when attaching to the truck. YOu don’t need precise alignment.
Forgot it has a ramp. I would not be without the ramp.
Holy crap did you miss that valium this morning?! :eek: Go sit down and put a cold rag on your head. 
Sorry, truly. I wish it was a missed valium. I wish it was something less than what it is that’s got me all off kilter today. Family funtime in the land of dysfunctional, raging, parents. Fun fun fun.
I apologize. I’ll edit my post and maybe you’ll edit your quoting.
