What Does Your Horse Trailer Say?

Published on this site: November 29th, 2006 - See more articles from this month

Every time I go to a horse camp where the rigs are parked so people can camp and ride, I see the dandiest things painted on the trailers.

Usually I see the sides of trailers, both gooseneck and bumper pull, painted with the name of the riders. "The Richardson's, Steve and Deeda" comes to mind.

Some add a location under the names, like naming a boat and proclaiming the port. It's always a toot to "ride the camp" looking at what everyone else is driving and/or pulling.

Some have vistas of forests and sunsets. I have seen some with brands in a prominent location.

And I have seen some painted fronts, either the gooseneck part that sites over the pulling truck or the top part of the bumper pull that shows when meeting another vehicle. That's nice, but I envision a ton of time scraping off the bugs from my name.

The big billboard, however, is the rear. That part the people following you have no choice but to read.

What is there, more than anywhere else says what you are all about.

I followed one into a camp recently, a big gooseneck, and both back doors were shiny chrome.. and the sun was just right, it almost blinded me. Who knows if there was anything to read, I was having trouble keeping the laser beam of the sun out of my eyes. When I buy a new one you can bet the chrome won't be on the back doors.

One of the first trailer-door billboards I ever saw, and this was many years ago, said "Stay Back - Show Horses" It was a two horse tag along in need of some fender body work and a new coat of paint. The wheels didn't match either. I can bet what kid of show those horses put on.

The truck stop is a good place for safety signs and tape. That red and white reflecting tape looks good on the back, especially at night. I saw a back door the other day that had one of those big 18 wheeler signs on it "Caution Wide Turns" with a picture of a car crashing into a left turning truck and trailer.

Another one said "If you can't see my mirrors, I can't see you". I like that.

Another one said "Live Cargo on Board - Horses"

and "Please stay back - Don't be what you see" There was the one that had two words across the whole width of the trailer "Caution Horses". Each word must have been a foot high and three and a half feet long. But wait, there's more. Underneath that was a monster picture of Yosemite Same, the Warner Brothers cartoon character with both rootin' tootin' pistols pointed at me and underneath two more really big words " Back Off". That told me a lot about the owners..I I found it refreshing, informative and with a sense of humor. I never met them but I can bet that's the kind of people they were.

On a legal note, I hope Warner Brothers does not get wind of the use of a copyrighted cartoon figure.

What your horse trailer says can say a lot about you, and may be a factor in whether or nor your camp neighbors come over to introduce themselves.

This article and hundreds more about horses and places to trail ride and camp can be found at http://horsebackridingarticles.com

Uncle Oscar- and Lazy-S-Stables all rights reserved. Uncle Oscar has been around horses all his life from early beginnings in Southwest Missouri.
His down-home philosophy and tips have helped many people through the years.
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