While those sparking new aluminum, four-horse gooseneck trailers with cozy-looking living quarters gleam at you from the ads in horse magazines, you know your wallet can't go there. We all would love to have a trailer with a tack room and living quarters . . . a television, a microwave and a comfy bed. But you wonder if you can even afford to buy any new trailer, even just one with new wires, new tires, new lights, new floor boards, new hinges and doors.
Chances are you can.
For little more (or maybe a little less) than a used trailer you can buy a new one. Maybe not the Taj Mahal on wheels, but a good, safe, two-horse trailer is within the reach of most budgets if you just settle down your expectations and look up what is available within your price range. We found you can get a two-horse, bumper-pull trailer for around $5,000.
KNOW WHAT YOU NEED
The first thing you need to consider before embarking on the hunt for a new trailer is your towing vehicle. If what you have now is what you're going to use to pull the trailer, get out the owner's manual and look up the manufacturer's recommendation on how heavy a trailer it can handle. Then look for a trailer your tow vehicle is rated to handle.
Most trucks, SUVs and even some cars can pull a smaller two-horse, bumper-pull trailer. Just be sure to consider the weight of the trailer itself, plus the total weight of the maximum number of horses it's built to hold. There is a plate or sticker on all trailers (usually near the nose or hitch) that lists how much the trailer weighs and how much the "gross vehicle weight," or GVW, can be when the trailer's loaded. Match that to the amount of weight your vehicle's manual says it can handle.
Once you know how much total weight your vehicle can safely pull, it's time to go shopping.
Generally a straight-load trailer costs less than a slant-load. And a step-up trailer will be less expensive than one with a ramp. An all-steel trailer will cost less than an aluminum one. A divider that goes to the floor isn't better, either, so don't spend money on that. Horses need to spread their legs a little in order to keep their balance, so a bar divider is fine.
Put It To Use
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Know what the towing vehicle can handle.
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Put in your own extras, like mats, if they're costly.
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Ventilation is a priority.
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Skip dressing rooms, saddle racks, etc.
One of the major considerations when buying a trailer is the size of the horses you have. A really tall horse needs a really tall trailer: Six-foot high interiors in trailers used to be the norm. Now it's seven feet. Really big horses might need more room and generally do better in a straight load than a slant load. Speaking of slant load, don't go by what a salesman might tell you about how long the stalls are. Some might quote the diagonal measurement of the stall and, like the diagonal measure of a TV screen, it doesn't tell the true story. Measure your horse-from the tip of his nose to the top of his tail-then measure the slanted stall from the center of the front to the center of the back, not from corner to corner diagonally. What suffices for a 15-hand Quarter Horse might be tight quarters for a 17-hand warmblood.
