I got rid of my 1 year old custom built aluminum mini trailer and got a Titan brand two horse straight load, with a full size tack room. Their straight load does NOT have a center post down the back, so you can easily load your cart inside the trailer without taking the wheels off. There is a walk between door between the tack room and horse box, I am having diamond mesh steel added to the bottom of my divider like a stud divider so I can haul my riding horse with my mini without worrying about my mini going under the divider. You can also very easily fit 2 minis or a decent sized shetland pony in front of the chest dividers, but before the wall the tack room door is in. The tack room on my trailer is HUGE, I could very easily put 2, possibly 3 minis up there if I ever absolutely needed to (evacuation, etc) as the tack room has screened window. The stalls are huge, my trailer is considered warmblood sized, and short of a huge draft, I wouldnt have an issue putting a very large horse in it. It has drop down feed windows at the head, sliders at the butt, both screened. Loading lights, lights in the dressing room, rumber walls, obviously floor mats.
Their trailers are galvanneal, the best of both worlds between steel and aluminum. If youve seen an aluminum horse trailer in a wreck, you know they crush like a tin can. Same goes with a horse that doesnt haul well, Ive seen horses literally pull tie rings straight through the aluminum, or kick dents 3" out. Actually, my trailer roof had tiny dents on it from a light hail storm. Never had that with a steel trailer. Sure, they dont rust and are light to pull, but honestly, Im glad I sold the aluminum trailer, after seeing a wreck in one. Its simply not as strong as steel. Then with steel, you obviously have more weight, and rust, but a much safer stronger trailer in an accident. Theres also the fact that more people can work on steel, and if your handy you can usually do a lot of repairs yourself. Some aluminum trailers have aluminum floors. In a steel trailer, you can replace a wooden floor yourself (with proper care they last a LONG time though) in an aluminum trailer, you need a trailer repair shop to replace an aluminum floor, and its very expencive.
My trailer is galvvaneal with baked on paint. Its 10 years old, and has two spots of surface rust that are slightly bigger than a quarter on it. People look at it and thinks its less than 5 years old and aluminum. Its a large trailer, only weighs 3600lbs. Its a two horse straight load with an XL tack room, so the actual trailer in all is about the same size of most 3 horse slant loads with tack rooms. An aluminum trailer of similar size isnt much lighter, and you certainly wouldnt pull an aluminum trailer of the same size with any smaller of a truck, so no difference there.
Some people like ramps, after having a few trailers with them, I hate them. If the ground isnt level where you have to park, your ramp isnt going to be steady, freaks a lot of horses out. If its a steel trailer, they can be heavy, and they are harder to get closed quick if you have a horse that wants to come back out. They are usually the first thing to rust too.
That said, of the 6 horse trailers Ive had, both steel aluminum and galvvaneal, gooseneck and bumper pull, my favorite has been my titan. You can get them used about 10 years old between $5,500 and $6,000 depending on the condition. Can get them used cheaper without all the options (instead of drop down feed windows some have the slat stock sides, etc)
