Design a Custom Horse Trailer with Carriage Modifications
Horse owners who love to hook their horses up to carriages, wagons or carts certainly have a unique set of travel challenges. You’ve probably had to come up with some creative ways to haul your equipment to events or shows.
Now, you can work with Double D Trailers to design a custom made horse trailer to perfectly fit both your cart and your horses (all at the same time!)
Is a Custom Horse Trailer with Carriage and Cart Space Right for You?
It’s probably only 5% of our overall sales, but we still have a number of horse owners looking for custom trailers with room for their carts or carriages. “A lot of folks have to use an open stock trailer or a rig that is really long in order to transport their horses along with the carts,” explained Brad Heath, owner of Double D Trailers. “This presents a challenge because a longer truck/trailer combination is much harder to maneuver on the road.”
If you’re not sure where to start, our step-by-step design process makes things easy. You can design a custom horse trailer that will fit your exact horses and carriage all at the same time. This way you can transport everything all at once… no hassle… no extra vehicles… and no super long rigs!
6 Easy Steps in the Design Process
Our design process starts with you answering some basic questions. The team uses this information to create a blueprint for your approval before the trailer is built.
- First, we need to know the maximum number of horses you would need to haul without your carriage. We design our trailers so they can be flexible. For instance, you may need haul three horses without a cart, two horses with a smaller cart, or one large draft horse with a larger carriage.
- Then, what is the size of your largest and smallest horses you’ll be hauling? This is important to know because we can alter the size of the stalls so every horse is comfortable and well-secured. The stalls in our slant load horse trailers can be made to fit horses of any breed — from pony up to draft horse.
- Then, what is the size of the horse (or horses) being hauled with the carriage? We want to make sure the horses are comfortable and safe even while the carriage is secured on your trailer.
- What type of tow vehicle do you need to use? This information is useful so we can make sure your truck is well-equipped to handle the weight and tongue weight of your new custom trailer.
- How are you planning to use the space in the front of the trailer? Do you need room to sleep in there, or is the space for storage only?
- Next, we need the specifics of your carriage or two-wheel cart. What is the length, width and height? Does it have removable shafts?
Our team will want to see the photo of the carriage so they can find a good way to fit it into your desired trailer size. Sometimes the shafts can be attached to the ceiling or pushed up into the gooseneck area of a trailer. Our goal is always to pack things as efficiently as possible to keep the overall length of the trailer to a minimum.
Once we have all of these questions answers, we can come up with a design centered around hauling the specific sizes of your horses first. From there, we make the necessary modifications so the carriage will fit too.
The cart or carriage will usually be secured using an E-Track. We prefer this system because it doesn’t protrude from the wall of the trailer or have any sharp edges. The E-Track can be bolted in various locations and is adjustable.
As you can see in the image here, an E-Track includes a clip that secures in any one of the grooves. The longer a track, the more flexibility you have on how you position your equipment. These tracks can be mounted vertically or horizontally.
Custom Horse Trailers with Carriage Modifications
These horse trailers can be made to fit whatever size, design, or style carriage you own. A bumper pull horse trailer designed for three horses seems to be the most popular option. This would allow you to haul three horses (without a carriage) or 1-2 horses (with the carriage).
Depending on the carriage length, we might suggest you install a side ramp and park the carriage sideways for easy access to the carriage or your horses independently. This way you don’t have to unload your carriage to get to your horses or vice versa. Again, it depends on a variety of factors.
Carriage Horse Trailer Example #1
This particular trailer was designed for a gentlemen named Robert who lives near Pittsburgh, PA. He wanted to haul three Warmblood horses all at the same time without the carriage. In this scenario, the front area serves as a storage area and a makeshift dressing room.
Click here to view the full size PDF floorplan.
Then, there were times that Robert wanted to haul a large draft horse in the rear stall with a larger carriage positioned towards the front. A third scenario had him hauling two horses (back and center stalls) while hauling a smaller cart towards the front.
With each option, Robert was able to secure his cart or carriage so it didn’t shift during travel. The horses had independent stall areas where they could be protected and feel safe. It ended up being the perfect solution and Robert was quite happy with his final design.
Wagon Horse Trailer Example #2
In this second example, a woman wanted to haul three horses with a front dressing room. Or, she wanted to haul two horses with a wagon on board.
This trailer features a swinging wall partition between the main trailer cabin and the front dressing room. This partitioned could be opened up so the wagon was rolled forward into the dressing room area with two remaining horses safely in the back.
Cart Horse Trailer Example #3
And lastly, we had a client who wanted to haul a two-wheeled cart along with her horses. The shafts on this cart were not removable but we were able to secure them tightly to the ceiling so they were just over the top of the horse’s stall area. When traveling in this orientation, the horse would be tied at a slant so he was safely out of the way.
If one of these options doesn’t work for your particular horse and cart combo, then we would work with you to find another solution. We’ve found creative ways to include motorcycles, carriages, 4-wheelers, and even a canoe! So, we can certainly find a way to include your cart, wagon or carriage.
Ready to Start Designing Your Horse Trailer with Carriage Modification?
Brad shared, “I enjoy all of the trailers we design for clients, but special trailers for hauling things other than horses are always a lot of fun. Each one is unique, and challenging. It’s rewarding to see things all come together at the end!”
If you’re ready to start talking with Brad and his team about your own horse trailer with room for a carriage, contact him here.
