[robison19]

i prefer slant load...my horses load better in them too....I have noticed when they are hauled loose in a stock trailer they always ride backwards and usually aposition themselves slanted in the trailer.

[luckydragon]

I prefer slants. One of my horses will not load/haul in a straight. My mom's horse will sit back on the door of a straight load. In a slant he isn't near as bad. All of the horses I've had seem to prefer slant loads. They all get in them better anyway!

[Cowgirlcuttinit]

Good poll Shymare! I love my Slant load I had a bumper pull and hated it! The bumper pull was a 2 horse strait and now I have a slant load 4 horse trailer gooseneck and I will tell you a story of why I swear to my slant load gooseneck! I live in colorado and we used to live on the western slope and we were driving down I-70 which is a major road that travel east and west well March of 2008 we were traveling east and we had just come off vail pass and it was nice and sunny up on vail pass cruzing around 60mph and we were coming up on Silverthorne, co all the sudden we came upon a huge line of wrecked vehicle and it was blizzard and we were going about 45 mph and tried to get our truck to stop mind you we are pulling two horses in a 4 horse slant all steel horse trailer and the roads were no icy we hit three cars and when our truck came to a stop we were in a ditch of snow 5ft deep and our horse trailer had swung around us hit the cab of the truck and hit a suv on the side we were all ok horses us the people we hit the horses a had just hit there butts on the side but no cuts blood ect my son go the worst of it when the truck came around and hit the cab it shattered the glass and he had minor cuts we got out of the truck and looked up the road there was a line of vehicles for about 3 miles and 1/2 mile up the road there was a truck and a 2 horse bumper pull with two horses and the bumper pull came off the hitch and flipped we ran up there and the guy was ok but the horses were not there was a crowed of people we pushed through and one of the back trailer doors was open and I got in there sense everyone else was standing there in shock and found both horses were covered in blood one horses leg was caught in the divider and the other horse was just ******** out with blood running down its face I screamed at my husband to go get our tools and our vet kit while he was doing that I got the other horse clam down a bit so I could get him out we got the one horse out that was in a panic and some other people finally stepped up and started helping I checked him out quickly making sure nothing was broken then I went back to the other horse we got our tools out and started taking the divider down once we got the divider down we got her leg out and she stood up and got out of the trailer well in the end she did not break her leg it was cut bad both horses lived to tell the tail long story short this is why I will never own a bumper pull! I believe if we had our horses in a two horse bumper pull we would have been in the same predicament the other guy was in I have seen to many horse trailers (Bumper pulls) come off the ball and never has it been a good outcome! So I do not know if it is because of the strait load or slant but bumper pulls and goosenecks big difference! Wow sorry that was long!

[magoo320mj]

Stock trailer, for several reasons...the most important being, it's hard to haul cattle in a slant-load trailer.

[Huntseatin593]

I like slants IMO. We have a stock right now (working on getting a new trailer). It is nice though because it is versitile. We can haul straight or slant. All the horses we have put in it seem to ride just fine. It is very easy to load babies for the first time. It is very roomy and they don't feel squished! I would like to have slants because it does divide out the horses better. We wrap legs but still worries me somebody will get stepped on. (which I know that can happen in a slant.)

I too perfer goosenecks. I first learned to pull my moms gooseneck and then they bought me my own bumper pull. HATED IT! I traded it for a horse! Then I bought me a gooseneck and now many trailers later still have a gooseneck! I can pull it anywhere I wanna go!

[redhorseridge]

I've had both slant and straight. With a slant, the stalls are usually smaller (both in width and length) so bigger horses are usually more comfortable in a straight (the newer ones, not the older ones). You can't unload the horse in the front of a slant without unloading everything else. Research is now showing that the horses have to balance more with the one set of legs (front/hind) and often get more sore than in a straight -- lots of torque on the knee, hock and fetlock joints on long distance rides.

In straights, the wheel wells are usually outside, whereas with slants (not all) they are inside. Straights usually have escape doors; many slants do not.

Many people think horses prefer to ride in slants since, when tied in stock trailers, they often stand at a slant. If you tie a horse by a barn or fence, they will stand at a slant as well, which sort of nullifies that argument.

[crayon]

I like straight load. I don't have a trailer, but that's what I plan on buying. lol. My horse was brought to me in a big stock trailer. She was just tied at the very front of it. I like the idea of stock trailers because they seem "simple" to ship in... But with the size of them, (especially the one my horse was brought in)
I wouldn't use one because if something were to happen and the horse and he/she fell or something then they'd be all over the place.

[crayon]

OOPS! I accidentally voted slant. I meant straight!

[xlilxonex]

Straight loads... i can NOT stand slant loads... Why? Because if there is a problem with a horse, you must unload all the other horses to get to it.. Safety wise, I prefer a straight load.

[xlilxonex]

Originally Posted by barnprincess

look up the negatives of the slant loads. they actually cause navicular after a horse being loaded that way so many times.


http://www.naturalhorsetrim.com/Section_21.htm

Rofl, what a load of bull.... Slant loads causing navicular.. Are you kidding me???

I don't like slant loads, but not for rediculous reasons... Read through that site, all it is is stories of horses who are NOT well-trained to load/unload and stay in the trailer...