Well, yes, it's also my eighth anniversary. Remember when I left my anniversary brunch to go buy a horse trailer last year? My husband is the best.
But it's also the one year anniversary of owning the Shadow, so I thought I'd take a look at how it's actually worked out for us. A one horse trailer is not the configuration for everyone, and I wasn't 100% sure when I got it that it was for me, but after a year of owning it, I still love it!
Love: Shipping Connor loose
I think we both like this. There's no practical reason to tie Connor in this configuration, since it's basically an oddly shaped box stall back there, and he can turn around to walk forward off of it. He rides forward facing most of the time because that's where his hay bag is, but he chooses to ride rear facing sometimes too.
Don't love: platform height
It's hard to tell in this picture, but this is a genuine jump up rather than a step up for Connor. He does it, but it makes him a little nervous, and I know as he ages it will get harder and harder. I will be adding a ramp at some point.
Love: weight
I have ZERO regrets getting the one horse. It makes far more sense for me to get the excess weight off my elderly tow vehicle than to constantly haul around a second stall I never use. My gas mileage is slightly better, and it's just so dang easy to tow.
Don't love: tie ring placement
Specifically, there is one, and it's on the opposite side of the trailer from the tack room. With a trailer this small there aren't a ton of options for ring locations, but I'm going to see if they'll add one, or possibly two, to the tack room side (so I can hang my backpack from one and tie Connor to the other)
Love: insulated roof and ventilation
Ya'll, if you have an all-aluminum trailer and the roof is not insulated and you live in a hot climate, drop what you're doing and head over to the Horse Trailer Conversions II Facebook group and learn how to DIY it, it's so worth it.
Aluminum is a great conductor of heat (unfortunately), and insulating the roof significantly lowers the temperature in the horse area. Between the factory insulated roof and all the big windows, it stays nice and cool back there for Connor.
Don't love: The door situation
The back of this trailer is one big swinging door which latches open on the passenger side of the trailer. And there's no butt bar. So if you're by yourself to load, you have to either leave it unlatched and pray the wind doesn't blow the door into the horse as he gets on (risky), or you have to latch it, tie the horse, and pray the horse doesn't shoot out the wide open back of the trailer while you run all the way around the door, unlatch it, and swing it closed (also risky).
Right now, I am double-tying Connor just for the amount of time it takes me to run around, unlatch it and close it, but I'm considering having the trailer place weld a butt strap or bar across the back to solve this one. Open to other suggestions if anyone has any though.
Love: The Organized Barn and Trailer tack room
This tack room is bigger than you'd think a one horse trailer would have, but it's not huge, and because our new barn has so little storage, it serves as my extended tack locker too. As a result, I needed GOOD organization in there. I've tweaked it a lot, and finally have it organized for maximum efficiency in every situation (although this is an old photo).
One quick shoutout, that chair rack in the upper left of this photo broke along a weld in multiple places 10 months after I got it. I emailed The Organized Barn and Trailer just to let them know and to see if they had a warranty, and they had a new one (with that weld in a different/better place) rush shipped to me immediately and without question. They have been nothing but amazing to work with, I can't recommend them enough! #notsponsored
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| Bad place for a weld. The new one they sent has this weld further up the bar in a location that makes a lot more sense. |
Overall, I could not love this trailer more. The one horse configuration is not for everyone, but it's turned out to be as perfect for us as I thought it would. With good care and a few minor tweaks to resolve my minor gripes about it, I hope it lasts me for a really, really long time.
If you're going to get a ramp eventually anyway, what about waiting until you do that, and changing the whole thing over to a ramp + top windows configuration? I don't know if that would be prohibitively expensive, but I've always strongly preferred those anyway.
ReplyDeleteYou're making me kind of want a one-horse as my next trailer, and I didn't think that was possible!
That's a good thought and I will ask about it, I had just assumed it would be more expensive since we're trashing/replacing an entire door and adding windows rather than adding a ramp. That's what I had on my last trailer though and I do prefer it.
DeleteWow thats super cool, never saw one of those!
ReplyDeleteI would get an extra big stall guard, maybe custom made for the back. My friend has a strap on her slant load, but I still find that sketchy.
Not a lot of people have heard of this configuration which is why I like to share it. Normally when you see one horse trailers they're either narrow and top heavy, or they're really expensive (this one is $8000-9500 new depending on configuration).
Deletewow i love it. I also was looking for light trailers for my Ridgeline to tow. Never heard of this. I can't see the weight what does it weight? My two horse aluminum Kingston weighs 2000 pounds empty. But i dont have a tack room. I also looked at a slant but did notlike the big door and no butt bar either. but i do like the looks of it otherwise. OF COURSE MY TRAILER IS NEVER LEAVING BUT i would get one of those maybe if it had to LOL :) HA HA HA And Conner is so cute in it....:)
ReplyDeletemy trailer is insulated and is cool in summer and warm in winter. Many ties at events we are all crammed in the front part in front of Remus cooling off or getting warm.He is all cranky like get out of my way you silly kids LOL
Haha! Yeah we never have to show off the trailer in my region so that did factor into getting a smaller trailer. This one is 2,100lbs empty, and it's basically on the floorplan of a 2 horse straight load with no tack room, which is what I assume you've got since it's almost the same weight. So picture your trailer, but with an angled wall and 2/3 of the trailer is for the horse and 1/3 is for the tack room and that's what I have!
DeleteStill my favorite trailer to give strangers tours of ;) haha. I think it's awesome that it works so well for you and that you love it!
ReplyDeleteSee I'm just more thoroughly equipping you to give tours! Hahaha. That was so funny!
DeleteI haven't seen one of these before! What a great concept though, if you just have one horse to take around.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about the closing him in issue. I would probably do some kind of butt bar or something for that. Maybe you could do something like an extended stall guard?
Yeah, it's so ideal if you just have one horse and you don't need to camp or travel super far. The aisle guard is not a bad idea, I will look into that.
DeleteThis trailer is super cool. The door thing definitely is an issue. I definitely think a aisle guard would be a nice option. Might even enable you to leave him in there with the door open for better ventilation, when you need to. (i.e. tack up when raining)
ReplyDeleteIt'd be nice but we really never show off the trailer here! I get the feeling that's much more common in other parts of the country. There's no situation in which I need to tack up at the trailer except when I go trail riding!
DeleteVery cool!
ReplyDeletePlus sometimes it probably comes in handy that you can't take anyone with you. Lol, I drive a 2 seater car and I admit I like that I hardly ever have to drive when I go to lunch with coworkers because we don't fit.
Honestly yeah, that was part of it too. First of all two horses is pushing what my truck can safely do, and second, that's a LOT of emotional and legal liability to haul someone else's horse. It's nice not to even have the option/temptation. No one is going to mistake me for a commercial hauler that's for sure :)
DeleteI read this post with interest. I had a Brenderup Baron One that I absolutely loved but sold it years ago. I was again in the market for a trailer, and with my current truck (F250 Powerstroke diesel), I could pull just about anything but a Shadow One popped up close to me, and based on this blog I went ahead and purchased it. I absolutely love it, though I have some similar concerns, i.e. a solid door vs split, no rear butt bar or strap, and a pretty tall step up. But it hauls like a dream.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations! I'm so glad it helped. I've now had it for five years and still love it. If you go back through my other posts tagged with Shadow Trailer, I did end up adding a ramp and a butt strap to it, and now it's perfect.
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