Trailer Upgrade

 It's been apparent for some time that Cinder is too big for my trailer. I've been casually looking at trailer prices for the past year and half, trying to figure out what I want/need. But, as with almost everything, covid has impacted trailer manufacturing, and (at least in Oregon/Washington) there's not much in the way of two or three horse bumper pull trailers available. And if you want to order a trailer, the wait time is 6-9 months. 

Before Christmas my mom and I went to our local dealership to check out their trailers, but they only had a $25k Platinum warmblood sized two horse (nice but way out of my price range), and a very basic warmblood sized three horse available. The three horse is the same brand and model as my old two horse trailer, just taller/wider and thirteen years newer. I was somewhat interested in the three horse; it was in my price range, my truck can handle the weight, and in case of fire and needing to evacuate, being able to haul as many ponies as possible is never a bad thing. 

Pictured, not the Platinum or the three horse

But the dealership has another lot about two hours north in Washington, and for $200 would bring a trailer down to the local lot so I could buy it in Oregon and not have to pay sales tax. Oregon doesn't have sales tax and if I had bought it in Washington I'd have had to pay 7.8%. Paying the $200 was way cheaper. So my mom and I went on a mini road trip to check out the warmblood sized trailers in WA. 

They had three, two horse trailers that I was interested it; an all aluminum one that was only extra tall not extra wide, the warmblod sized version of my trailer, and a Trails West one. The TW was the most expensive, so of course it was the one I liked the best. The all aluminum one looked cheap and because it wasn't as wide and as long as the others I nixed it. The TW had more upgrades than the others, including a water tank, swing out saddle racks, and a bigger tack room. 

I put down a deposit on the TW and started making arrangement to have it shipped down to my local dealer. A friend of a friend had been interested in buying my old trailer but that ended up falling through and I didn't want to deal with listing the trailer on Craigslist or FB so I traded it in. Because the trailer market is so hot and they can't keep two horse trailers in stock, the dealership ended up giving me more than I thought I'd get in trade in (over 50% of what I paid new for it) so that made writing the check for the new trailer a little easier. 

I did throw Peebs in it once I got it to the barn, but I haven't taken it out with horses in it yet. It definitely feels heavier hauling it empty, but in a good way. My old trailer almost felt too light hauling empty and felt like it was bouncing around all over the place. The TW feels more solid.  Both ponies should fit easily in it, and I'm excited to start going places with it!