Shopping for a Horse Trailer in a Bad Economy

First, the good news. A couple of years ago I developed a near-phobia about hauling horses in a trailer. I've done it since I was 15 when I would drive myself to riding lessons and have to be sure I got home before dark, when my daytime-only license expired. I had no cell phone and didn't know how to back the trailer. It all worked out just fine.

But over the years, trailering began to cause me anxiety. Maybe it was from the time I almost lost a wheel on the towing vehicle because the tire dealer had rung off the lug nuts when they put on new tires. Maybe it's from all the stories about people I know or know of who had horses fall through trailer floors. (That's a total of two people and three horses. The people lived. The horses were destroyed on the spot.) And then the stories about the people you DON'T know.

I actually went to counseling about this because if I was going to do what I wanted to do with horses, I needed to get a grip over this. (If you don't like to fly, you can take a Xanax and konk out in the back of the plane.  If you're flying the plane or driving the trailer, this is a bad strategy.) Over time, I've gotten where trailering is once again routine.

Now the bad news. I took our trailer in on Monday for yearly servicing before the first Pony Club meeting this coming Saturday. The shop called. Major safety problems. Correction will cost more than the trailer is worth. (Yes, it's a rusty old, no-name trailer, which is probably one reason for my earlier anxiety.)

A week or two ago Paul struck a deal with Lily that if she earned $500, he would buy her a new trailer. She has not been able to make a dent in this amount in the past two weeks and I suspect that it will be very difficult for a 13-year-old who has few babysitting opportunities out where we live to make that much money for a long, long time. (She has saved up that much and more over the years in the bank, but Paul won't allow her to use it. Some lesson he's trying to teach her about working for what you want, except I think she feels like she already earned that money.... Sometimes it is hard not to knock your husband upside the head but we do try not to contradict each other or let her play us off each other.)

So, unless she can catch a ride to Pony Club this weekend, I don't think she'll be going. Major disappointment.

Paul wants to take her in the present trailer, saying it can make one more trip. Lily refuses to put her horse in something that may be unsafe. I'm with her.

I would think, with the price of gas and market turmoil, that there would be recent model, good trailers for sale at good prices. Where are they? At the barn where Lily takes lessons the doctors and lawyers are buying fancier, bigger trailers, so I guess that for many horse owners, even if things aren't as good as they were, they're still good.

Paul's business is actually thriving and growing, but part of why he's done well is that he is not attracted to $12,000 horse trailers. Or $6,000 horse trailers. Or $3,000 horse trailers. Or anything that costs money. See a trend here?

Anyway, we're looking for horse trailers. Lily and I want a 2-horse bumper pull with a small dressing room (I don't want to be hauling some monstrous trailer -- just a small compartment you can step into and keep your tack, hay, etc.). That's all she and I can agree on.

She wants an enclosed trailer. I think those are often dark, uninviting and hot. I want an open, stock-type trailer (only the upper half of the walls -- not the whole side). Horses like to get in those, and in S.C., horses are more likely to get overheated in a trailer than to get cold (plus there are always blankets and plexiglass panels we can add). Lily and I can't even agree on the color.

And we've got Paul nowhere near on board. I've brought it up several times only to have him go fetal.

I'm leaving for the weekend. I'm going to the beach with college buddies, leaving Paul and Lily at home to figure out how to get to Pony Club. I think it will be a fine thing for daughter and father to butt heads on this one. And I'm trying to arrange a ride for Buddy to go to Pony Club but no luck so far.

I'm liking a Calico trailer (never heard of that brand before) that's a slant-load and has a removable partition between the "dressing room" and the rest of the trailer. That means you can take all the barriers out of it and use it to haul lots of hay. The downside is that urine can run under the partition and into the "dressing room." It is really the bare minimum, no frills trailer. It's the silver trailer pictured.
Not a thing of wondrous beauty. I'm past needing wondrous beauty. Not something for somebody who wants to be envied at the country club. However, this trailer will do the job, and that in itself is a thing of wondrous beauty.

Lily wants what I'd really like but am adult enough to do without. I think. Here's a photo:
It's a Gore walk-through with dressing room. A real dressing room. Padded everything and a ramp. And aluminum, too. It's over twice the price of the Calico. Maybe three times.

In the meantime, I'm looking at ads for used trailers and deals at dealerships where trailer sales are slow.

One trailer dealer in S.C. offers 17-YEAR financing on their trailers. That makes me feel dead. Can you imagine paying for a trailer for 17 years?

It would be foolish, in my mind, to finance something that will not increase in value and will not generate income. That makes the choices easier and brings me back to the Calico. Now. All I have to do is get Lily to quit saying she hates it and to get Paul to uncurl from fetal position.

You have to pay to live.

Comments

[photogchic]

I am trailer shopping too. I am looking for a 3 horse slant bumper pull...used. I would like to stick around $5000. No luck so far...will probably just wait until Spring when the economy has really taken a bigger dive.

[Lynda]

Good luck. I was trailer shopping last year, and found that 2-horse bumper pull trailers are the premium product. Everyone wants one, especially the no-frills type. The trailer dealerships told me that when a used one came in, it was gone in a matter of hours. All that were left were the nice, aluminum, dressing room, tack room, etc., ones that cost $15,000. Keep looking though. I finally found the no-frills, brand-new one for under $5000.

[Anwyn]

I wish I had Lily here to babysit for my five-year-old, I can tell you.

I hope she can do it or work something else out with her father. I know that must be an expensive hobby that she has, but she's so devoted to it.

[White Horse Pilgrim]

There are some trailers for sale around here, thanks to the recession - pity about 3,000 miles of water in the way. A secondhand trailer is going to be fine so long as you have the floor checked (and are prepared to have it replaced if necessary) and have the hitch and brakes overhauled. You might buy a cheaper trailer having budgeted for the repairs necessary. At least that way you will know that the most critical parts are sound.

A mechanic working at the barn has just replaced a timber trailer floor with aluminium panels - that looks like a good idea for a floor that won't rot or rust.

[lytha]

hi there, i just found your blog and it looks like we've written almost the same story recently: ) i mean, the fear, and then the search part.

i love the idea of the removeable wall - i had to have mine turned into a removeable wall. the urine will not run forward into your hay/tack area if you use shavings.

here's my trailer story:

http://horsecrazyamerican.blogspot.com/2008/09/about-trailers.html

after all my work in modifying that trailer, i'm in another country now, and a friend has it. you don't happen to need a truck, do you? : )

~lytha

[kidsmom]

I have that exact same Calico. Pulls like a charm. We pull it with a Toyota SUV.

Urine has never been a problem. I put down just a teeny bit of shavings, and scrape the icky stuff out each time we haul.

[Mikey]

17 yrs financing? whoa.
I'd say keep looking. Tell everyone you know exactly what you want. After I bought a mammoth ex racehorse, I realized my lil bumper pull (like the gray trailer pictured) wasn't going to cut it. I put him in and he had literally 3 inches of clearance between withers and roof. Not cool.
So our friends bought a 4 horse slant Sundowner with a dressing room and bed. We said "that's exactly what we'd buy if we could find one". 6 months later, due to finances, they sold it to us, and even let us make payments. Cosmetically it's not perfect (someone hauled a kicker), and the lights didn't work. $100 at a shop in town fixed the lights. We paid a total of $3300 for a 98 4 horse slant. Couldn't have been better, and is perfect for horse shows where I have to change clothes. We've had it over a year and have yet to sleep in it, but it works perfect for us. So keep looking and put the word out. Your perfect trailer will come!

[Mark Lambros]

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