Jessica Jahiel's HORSE-SENSE Newsletter Archives

Trailer selection

From: Carol

Hi Jessica,

I would be very interested in picking your brain about trailers. I am in the market for my first one and have in mind a 2 horse slant with fully enclosed dressing room, a modified stock style. While I know the makes are sort of a regional thing (i.e. a Jackson trailer is not well known in California I've been told since it is made in the mid-west), I am trying to put together a checklist of critical things to evaluate in a trailer as well as the many options available. I would be happy to share my checklist with you if you don't have one, and maybe you could make some additions, suggestions.

Any education you can give me would be very much appreciated. Thank you.

Carol

Hi Carol! I would love to see your checklist -- I do have one, of course, but it's always interesting to compare. And as far as "picking my brain" is concerned, I'll be happy to talk about trailers, but there are more useful brains than mine, and I'm glad to say that you're going to have access to them! I'm about to add a TRAILER FAQ to my web pages, courtesy of my friends Tom and Neva Scheve. These are the people who write those wonderful publications, HAWKINS GUIDE TO HORSE TRAILERING ON THE ROAD and HAWKINS GUIDE TO EQUINE EMERGENCIES ON THE ROAD. Those are reviewed on my pages, and I strongly recommend that you get both of them. They'll fit in your glove box, which is where they belong.

One thing I can tell you right now, though, is that unless you have small horses (under 15.3 and with reasonably short backs) they will not be as comfortable in a slant-load as they would in a straight-load. The stall sizes are significantly smaller in slants, because the horses don't have the 3' of headroom that is present in front of the chest bar or over the manger in a straight-load.

Watch for the TRAILER FAQ. It will be on my pages soon, perhaps by the time you read this. And it will be added to and updated regularly, so keep checking back.

If you still have questions, send them to me via e-mail and I will pass them along to the Scheves. They are a wonderful resource, and I'm delighted that we're going to be able to help people with their trailer questions.

And if you just want MY personal preferences, for what they're worth, you're always free to e-mail.

- Jessica

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