How to Travel with a Cart

[Elizabeth Pannill]

I am still working on my ( hopefully ) soon to be new trailer . I want to be able to travel with the cart inside the trailer not in the bed of the truck. How do you all fit a cart inside ?

I have looked at some nice full size slant loads but there seems to be no way to fit the cart in the trailer. I have heard that a lot of people use a stock type trailer and put the cart in the back with shafts sticking out the air vents. I usually have no help when loading to go somewhere so need it to be easy on me ( no heavy lifting : )

Thanks for the ideas on the trailers . Am considering a Wrangler .

Elizabeth

Cinco de Mayo Farm

Staples, Texas

 

[xxs]

Elizabeth, you can put the cart on the back of the trailer. My dad did it when I was a kid. He welded a little L shaped bracket just under the rear doors..or ramp..that the rail of the cart seat fit into . It was about 6" long or so..and all you had to do was back the cart to the trailer, tip it up so the rail went into the bracket, then the shafts went up and were held to the trailer with those heavy black rubber bungee straps from the rings on the cart to the rings on the trailer. Then, to prevent the wheels from running themselves to death (we found this out after mom was following us to one show..LOL) we also put a long bungee from the outside wheel bracket..through the spokes..across to the other wheel..through the spokes..to the other wheel bracket. This worked so well, and one person can do it in about 2 mins.

 

[TTF]

Yeah we use a "Cart Caddy" on the back of our trailer to transport our carts. My dad's cousin is a welder and helped us out getting it on. It's really quite handy!

Here are a few pictures we have of it all hooked up and ready to go.

 

[Margo_C-T]

I have a 14", 5' wide, 6.5' high(5' wide X 6.5' high used to be pretty much the 'standard' dimensions, before the days of slant load and 'semi' width), stock combo trailer; it has been and is a perfect vehicle for minis and mini vehicles. It has a 'divider gate, which gives about 7.5' in the front load space and about 3.5 ' in the rear load space. A stock combo, instead of just being one big open space, has a front end like any straight load trailer, w/ feed bunkers and a straight 'wall' underneath, giving it a tack compartment accessible by an outside door under the feed bunkers, and about 11' of load space; I chose that because I've always also had fullsized horses, so needed fullsized horse hauling capacity. I can put one or even two carts, depending on which models, up front, w/the shafts slanted up over the feed bunkers, or even back over the center gate, and two minis in the back,a four wheeled pair vehicle in the front and the pair in the back, or one or more minis in the front and a cart in the back. You should have a side 'escape' door up front if loading the miniatures up front, and they are common on a stock combo. I do use ramps to load/unload the 4 wheeled vehicles; not needed for the two wheelers, even in my step-up trailer--and I ALWAYS load by myself--and I'm not young! My only change would be to get a 6' wide one, instead of the 5'. Many have slat sides and back gate,but you can order them, at least from CM, which is the maker of mine, w/ near-solid ones, leaving only @ a 6" opening at the top. Also order w/ 'channels' and you can then insert (removable) plexiglas strips into those open areas that will make the trailer about as snug and dry as any other(leaves only one opening completely above the back gate), or be removed in the summer for more air flow. I have had mine for around 14-15 years, and have been VERY satisfied w/ it!! Just another option.

Margo

 

[Cedar Ridge Farm]

A friend and I were just discussing this 2 days ago....the pics and info are great!! Thanks for this thread!!

 

[wildoak]

I've hauled in a friends trailer with the cart rack on back like the pictures - it's a great solution but for one thing - she had no escape door, so if you needed into the trailer for anything you had to undo everything & take the cart off, kind of an inconvenience if you need to check or water horses along the way.

I have a Sundowner 3 horse slant and I often just roll my cart into the trailer and stand it up. It just lacks a couple of inches of being able to stand up straight, so I either drop a window and put the shafts (no more than 8-10") out the window, or just stand it and let the tips rest against the ceiling - and bungee into place so it doesn't bounce around. I can do this and still comfortably get 3-4 horses in ahead of it - if I had some kind of divider so they wouldn't get into the wheels, I could get 5-6 horses in.

Alternately, I do have rings on the ceiling of the trailer and can hang the cart overhead. This is the most efficient, space saving method but kind of hard for me to pulley it all the way to the ceiling by myself.

Jan

 

[muffntuf]

margo, can you post a pic?

Thanks!

 

[JourneysEnd]

I have a 14' C&M stock trailer, 6'6" tall.

I can carry 2 carts, 2-3 horses and all my equipment.

There's 7.5' in the front of the trailer and 5.5' behind the divider gate.

If I had it all to do over I would have brought a 7' tall or 7'6" where the carts

could stand straight up.

As it works now, I have short ramps I use to back the carts in and I put a wooden closet pole the trailer to rest the shafts on. Sorry, don't have a picture.

 

[Relic]

We only have a stock that we had customized for 4 minis in stalls with a tack space in the front thats fairly large and holds the cart plus feed water a very large trunk and all the other crap going to a show. The cart gets walked in throught the back door and sits in front of things and the large trunk goes between the wheels of the cart... then the big solid door is closed and the ends of the shafts rest on the top of the divider on a slight slant we're short about 4 inches for it to stand up straight. But this works and 1 person has no problem as everything goes in the tack part first through the back door. Once the trunk and cart are out at a show we use the side door for the smaller stuff. l never wanted to have to haul the cart outside because l watched a farm come in the rain at a show one year who had the carts on top of the trailer and when the guy unzipped the cart covers a whole bunch of water came pouring out..

Solid divider closed you can kind of see the ends of the shafts over the top..it hauls a jerald and a roasder back to back but you need to haul most of the other stuff in the back of the truck then.

 

[Margo_C-T]

Sorry, MuffnTuff, I don't have a way OR the knowledge to post photos here--and in fact, don't think I even have any photos of the trailer! However, I believe that the same model is still available from CM, and you can google for their website. Note that there are a number of options available; I ordered mine specifically with several-solid sides, channels for plexiglas inserts, a solid and side-swing rear gate, escape door, feed doors, chose the side that the tack door is on, etc., so it is important to study and ask about ALL possible options! I will add that I have made no changes to the inside of the trailer EXCEPT that I did have two 'dividers' made,so that three minis could be hauled straight-load in the front portion of the trailer. This entailed having three little 'tie rings' welded to that front 'wall' I mentioned in my first post, plus having some short pieces of pipe welded on, so that the dividers could be mounted w/ drop pins. I have found that I seldom use the dividers, but the welded-on rings are GREAT for attaching bungees to keep vehicles in place in the trailer. It is also REALLY helpful to have a few carriage tiedowns, which are bands of HD nylon-backed fleece w/ a ring at each end, used to put around the wheel spokes or framework of your vehicle, making a loop, then you run your bungee cord through both rings and back whatever you are 'anchoring' to...won't scar or rub the finish of your cart/carriage! You can order them through Iowa Valley Carriage, or even Smuckers, along w/ other places, I'm sure. I consider them an invaluable asset for hauling your driving vehicles!

I have to add that IMO, if you do not have a (good-sized) side escape door, it could be downright dangerous to carry a cart attached to your rear trailer door. In an accident or other emergency, having that cart mount/cart 'in the way' of being able to IMMEDIATELY get the door open, could be deadly.

Margo