I am wanting to buy an aluminum horse trailer, and I know some of you guys on here have one. I am looking for likes and dislikes of different brands.

I want a 4 horse slant, with 6' of LQ. I team rope, and would like a bigger trailer than my 2 horse, and something with living quarters.

I have been looking Elite, Platinum, Bloomer, & C&C. THese seem to be the more expensive, classier trailers. They seem to be put together extremely well.

The Sooners, Sundowners, & Exiss' seem to be the lower end.

anyway....tell me what you know.
Phillip

 

Palmetto, we've got a 3 horse slant load/aluminum cherokee trailer with an extended tack room from Bunkhouse trailers. It's been a great trailer. It tows real nice. There's not a lot of tounge weight on it either so it doesn't squat the truck as bad (which is a good thing considering the tow truck is a dmax ). The only problems we've had with it was my dad backed it into a tree late one night after a long horse show and then I ran over a stump with it and bent the fender a little. Other than that, just regular maintenance. We've had it for about 4 years now. Everything is welded and the floor is braced nicely. I'll see if I can get some pics of it when I go home this weekend.

 

We have an S and H

Ours is a two horse though, my dad and I rope but dont stay over... we have towed a trails west before that i believe a buddy might be selling. PM me i know of a really nice sooner with a livin quarters that is a four horse GN, sittin on custom rims, tires, and really wooden interior. I think its still for sale and i think the price is decent (if u want more info on the trailer) Now the trails west isnt as nice.. But maintainance keeps her running good. S and H is just really good overall... We dont do much to it cept put air in the tires and clean it out.

Tx

 

Bloomer and Sooner are my favorites.

Both offer some of the best interiors in the business.

 

Sooners, Sundowners, Exiss, 4-Stars, Bloomers, Are all good trailers. I've towed many and my favorite tow is the 4-star. I currently haul the 4-star and the sooner (see my sig). The leading brand these days are the bloomer and 4-stars, unless it changed. Sundowners are always a good trailer but watch out if it is a valuelight model. The valuelight model is a good model dont get me wrong, its just covered with aluminum skin but with a steel frame.
any more questions feel free to ask, this is my kinda knowledge
HH

 

I have a 4 horse WW Stock/Combo that we traded an Exiss for.
The only problem I had with the Exiss, and have seen on the SunDowners is that the ties on the trailer sides are just bolted to the skin. I had a mare pull back and rip the tie right off the trailer, leaving a hole in the skin. An aquantance with a SunDowner had the same thing happen, only the horse snapped on of the frame struts in half.( aluminum frames), look for a steel frame....
Also, something that bothered the BOSS, was that all that black deisel exhaust will stick to the white trailer skins and requires an acid wsh to get it off...takes some of the paint with it everytime...
As far as comfort, the Exiss was real nice for me and the horses.

 

You just cant take a mare anywhere can ya?


Good info on the ties. Definetly something to look at.


I passed an older WW on the freeway the other day. It was a stock/combo with a rear tack,and front dressing room. It was definately kept outside because the aluminum had a green tint to it....lol. I like the way it was setup though.

I would like to see if I could get a trailer company to build me a Stock/Combo with about a 6' LQ Shell, A midtack, A hayrack, and then have Bunkhouse or Southwestern Conversions put in a weekend package.

 

pride requires that I point out this wasnt one of MY horses.... cant take the BOSS's friends anywhere...
or their horses......

 

I dont know, I think you should consider an old all-steel trailer like mine seen in my pics. I dont think a mare will be able to do any damage to it, though it does weight just over 6,000lbs empty!! Sure hurts the milage when empty Good Luck

 

I like my Featherlite four horse seen in my gallery. the livin quarters is really nice.

 

Palmetto, from what I've seen the best bang for your buck is probably the Exiss....


I like your Stock Combo idea, that's the way I want to go too.

I pulled a 40' + 4 Star all over the place and it was a real good, well made trailer (it was a custom job they did special at the factory) I can get ya pics if you like.

 

My personal favorites are Exiss, WW and Double D trailers...the only down fall of the Double D is its a little heavier..one of my roping buddies has a killer 4 horse slant load drop down windows partial living quarters, full front tack, gooseneck for sale..i believe its a 01 or 02...it is a very clean trailer..still looks new and he was asking something like 11K for it..I am not sure if he has it for sale still, havent roped with him in awhile but have his number and can find out if anyone is interested....just look around, you can find alot of good used trailers at Murdocktrailers.com they are out of Colorado and have a wide variety of used trailers. Personally if i go with a new or newer trailer I will go with an Exiss or Double D...but a new trailer is a few years off for me, or at least once the truck is paid for, I am looking at a older Double D right now that needs a new floor and paint job, its a 4 horse straight load gooseneck and it belongs to one my clients and he isnt asking much for it, plus if i get it it will be a good write off for the business this year.
Good luck in finding a trailer and just take your time and you will find the perfect one to fit you.
~Heather~

 

I look on horsetrailerworld.com allot. I check it for new trailers everyday.

I found one that would fit my needs perfectly about a month ago, but I needed to sell my other truck first ya know. Well a couple of weeks later, I sold my truck, and called the guy back. But he had already sold it.

It was a 98 sooner, aluminum w/red skin, 3horse w/mangers, weekend package, hayrack, permanent rear tack, and generator for 16.5k. It was clean too.

1998 SOONER

oh well, Ill keep looking.

 

You should also look into CM trailers.They are made in Madill OK.(a lot of them are)I have a cm 4 horse that is all steel.I am thinking of trading it on a CM norstar lq trailer one of these days.I have hauled with guys that have Cm's and they are real good built trailers.But you couldn't go wrong with any of the name brands I don't think.The bloomers are really nice too.

 

yeah CM trailers are nice..i pulled a 4 horse CM BP with my 87 ford diesel and even with that truck i didnt feel nothing behind me..there are alot of good name brand trailers out there...the only thing I have heard bad abou the Exiss is it is a stiff ride and hard on your truck <at least this was a few years back> even if it is true im sure they have fixed this. It is a hard decisions, alot of good trailers on the market today and hard to chose...i was gonna say if you are a USTRC card holder to check out if they have any trailer dealers in the ropers reward section but i just loged in and they dont yet, hopefully soon. Also check on teamroper.com they have 10 pages but most of them are out of CO but some good deals...just figured id give you a few more options. Good luck and if I think of anything else ill let you know.
~Heather~