When you're looking at a trailer, the quality is in the details

Philip Beacon of Western Gentleman Trailers in Dundee, Fla., shared his 15 years of experience in the business and noted five zones of a trailer to pay close attention to when making your decision.

"When you really start looking into the trailer - the materials used, the construction of the trailer, and more importantly the safety features not only for the horses, but for the owners as well - then there are a lot of things that really start to separate the trailer manufacturers."

The frame

The purpose of the frame, obviously, is to hold the trailer together. The frame runs the full perimeter of the trailer, and is the structural support for the rest of the trailer's features.

A 9-inch T-beam is the largest in the industry, and if you're looking at gooseneck trailers, it's best if the gooseneck structure is incorporated into the mainframe.

Bed

Connecting a trailer to the bed of a truck creates a stress point on the trailer where the neck comes together at the breast plate. All of the weight from the motion of the truck going forward pushes on the weakest part of the trailer, which is right there, described Beacon.

"Almost all of your trailer manufacturers reinforce that area," he said. "Now here's the problem. Once you reinforce that area, as structural integrity goes with anything, the chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Now the weakest part of the trailer moves straight down."

The front corner of the trailer, at the bottom of the breast plate where the frame connects to the trailer, becomes the next weakest link. Most manufacturers use a weld to support that seam, but a few actually reinforce that area in the same manner as they did the first, and the best trailers will have the neck of the trailer built into the main frame to dispurse that pressure even more.

Floor

Three types of flooring are generally available in horse trailers. Some companies will put floor planks together, some will use what is called "tongue and groove" floors, and some will use an interlocking floor.

In Beacon's experience, an interlocking floor is the best you can have because the pieces actually slide in together, which stablilizes the floor.

Any time you've got an aluminum floor, another consideration must be the bracing underneath. If the eye beams are spread too far apart, your horse's weight on the unsupported floor will cause a valley. Then, even if you are one of the few people who dutifully clean their trailer, urine and water collect in the valleys on the floor and start to eat away at the aluminum.

To reduce the need for concern, make sure the trailer you buy has the thickest interlocking floor you can find and is supported by beams that are less than one foot apart on the center. That way, not only do you have a more sturdy flooring structure, but you've got better support, as well.

Roof

Most roofs on aluminum trailers are fashioned by stretching a sheet of aluminum over the top of the trailer and attaching the sheet to the ribs with rivets. When you're pulling a trailer with this type of roof down the road, the wind acts on the aluminum and the rivets, little by little stretching the aluminum and the rivet holes.

Insulating this type of roof means adding a layer of styrofoam on the underside of the main roof, then coming back in under that with another sheet of aluminum.

One alternate roofing system, used by Hart trailers, is called an Encore panel. The Encore panel is 5/8 of an inch thick and made of a expanded plastic core covered by fiberglass resin and woven matting on top and bottom. The fully-insulated sheet is then finished on the top side with a thin plastic film. Once sized for the trailer, the roof slides into a rail and cannot be affected by the wind. The panel also carries a 10-year warranty.

Innovations like this add life to your trailer and increase the resale value when you're through with it.

Doors

Drop-down feed doors, escape hatches, tack room doors, and loading doors all work on the same principle. They're supposed to swing easily from an open position to a closed position on a solid hinge to fill a symmetrical opening on your trailer.

The age, use, and abuse that comes along with hauling a trailer down the road separates the well-made door systems from those that are not. One of the best ways to find out how any particular brand of trailer is going to stand up with time is to ask someone who has one. They will be able to give you straight-forward information about the trailer without a sales pitch, and you can see for yourself how these key areas respond to wear.

If you're looking at living quarters trailers, be particularly aware of the doors in the people-area. Is the main door insulated? Are the windows well-sealed to keep water out? Does the door have a rubber door jam to seal out the elements?

Make sure each door fits the hole it is supposed to fill and all moving parts slide easily from one position to the next. If the trailer has windows inside for ventilation, check to see that they open and close without too much force, because they will only become harder to move when dust gets in the rail.

When you go to buy a trailer, know what you're looking at. Approach buying a trailer in the same manner you would buying a vehicle. Don't just let the salesman give you his pitch. Ask questions, be critical, and compare.