Before the days of slats or bars on safety-glass windows, before sharp edges were filed down and rounded for safety, horse trailer shopping was scary-and uneducated buyers were easily taken. Old-make horse trailers were often too small, cramping even average-size horses, and little thought was given to ventilation or the horse's comfort and health. Fortunately, you rarely see these horse trailer problems anymore, since the larger brand-name manufacturers now make their horse trailers with safety and the horse's comfort in mind.
So horse trailer shopping is now primarily a question of deciding what you can spend and what features are most convenient for your hauling purposes. We surveyed two-horse straight-load, bumper-pull trailers and found good things happening in the hauling market, for horses and buyers alike.
We're sticking with straight-load trailers because, even if the stalls on a slant-load are widened, they won't give enough room for horses over 15.3 hands. There's no access to the front horse without removing the rear horse, and horses ride at an angle as you pull straight, which makes it difficult for them to balance. The only benefit we see to a slant-load trailer is that more horses can be stacked in a shorter trailer.
Many popular two-horse trailers are bumper pulls, also called tagalongs. A gooseneck trailer may seem appealing because it has more stability and can take corners more quickly than a bumper pull. But you need a pickup truck for a gooseneck and you've got to deal with that hitch in the middle of the truck bed.
So if you want to avoid the bed hitch or haul a trailer with your SUV, you'll need a bumper pull. Bumper pulls are easier to hook up to your vehicle, and they're almost always less expensive than a gooseneck trailer.
Trailer weight is an important concern for most of us, especially since many people hauling two-horse bumper pulls are using SUVs, which already weigh more than a regular pickup truck and further limits its towing capacity. Most trailers are now mainly aluminum, which is lighter (but usually more costly) than steel.
We suggest you get a trailer with rubber torsion axles for independent suspension. They make for a smoother ride, and they also allow the trailer to be pulled more easily. In comparison, a solid axle will bounce, which means when you hit a bump in an empty trailer it makes an unpleasant jolt. Rubber torsion axles are becoming more common, but they're often still an extra you need to request and pay more for.
Features To Consider
Height: If you have a big warmblood, look at the Equispirit XL or XXL, which have heights 7'8", or the Cotner, which has a stall height of 7'7". Many of the trailers on our list are 7'6", which is basically the industry standard.
Doors And Windows: Side escape doors are key for your safety and because, if you need to get to one horse, you don't want to have to go by the other.
Dutch or wraparound doors, which come on the Sooner and Exiss trailers, are nice because you can fold the doors back on the trailer while you're unloading. Also, you can unload one horse without having to undo the horse on the other side.
Windows and vents are key for ventilation. The bigger the window, the more appealing to the horse the inside of the trailer will be. They are made with the horse's safety in mind, of automotive-quality safety glass. Window features, like the screens and bars on a Merhow or Equispirit trailer, add comfort and safety. A trailer with stock slats, like Cato's, might be useful if you're in a warmer climate and don't want a fully enclosed space for your horses.
A fiberglass roof, like those on Cotner and Trail-et's trailers, helps with temperature control. In a hot climate, vents, windows and fiberglass roof can make the difference in a trailer being 90_ or 100_. It's easy to forget how hot it gets back there sometimes when you are in the driver's seat of an air-conditioned truck, but the horses can get dangerously hot without adequate ventilation.
Ramps And Floors: We like ramps, which almost all the listed trailers have, because a properly placed ramp allows no break in the horse's action as he loads, making things easier on horse and hauler. It's true that some horses tend to shy if the ramp makes a hollow bridge sound and that step-ups save expense and maintenance. However, with a step-up the horse has to unload by backing down a step with a blind spot, which they don't have to do with a ramp. And on a less-than-ideal unloading surface, like cement, a horse can slip as he backs out.
