Gray vs Blue Trailer

Long before I started the Sanctuary, I bought my gray trailer. It's been probably close to 15 years ago that I bought it. It wasn't new then and it certainly has seen better days since then. I tend to use that gray stock trailer for everything. I still have the big six horse trailer but I need to sell it because I can't justify it any more. There aren't any drafts to haul so I might as well get a decent 4 horse and be done with it. But it requires time and patience. Of which, I have very little of either.


When we brought Bob (the Percheron) into the Sanctuary, the trailer floor didn't seem like it was adequate. We added a sheet of plywood to stabilize the flooring a bit more.


In the meantime, the whole darn thing started to rust away. Mike fixed the rusted away parts and welding on new sheet metal but not before the salt, slush, snow, rain spray did damage to the floor. I've been worried since last fall but knew the flooring was decent underneath the mats.


But this weekend Mike fixed all of the flooring issues. Thanks to our old farrier for giving us some good advice, Mike was able to get part of the flooring replaced and the trailer back into running operation in just under a couple of hours! I was amazed. I thought the trailer was going to be out of commission for weeks (which isn't good because I  need it tonight if the storms hold off...I'm at the paying job right now and the radar shows a big red blob over the Sanctuary).


Mike also took the trailer in to get new tires! I'm somewhat excited but not really. Another expense that is going to come out of my personal checkbook. But you absolutely HAVE to have good tires. I do not ever want to be on the side of the road fixing a tire because I was negligent in making sure everything was up to par....of course, I honestly leave that up to Mike. Although last week, I picked up a nail and one of the tires was flat, flat, flat before I even got out of the driveway.




So....the blue trailer story. One of Mike's coworkers was selling the blue trailer because they needed it gone. It had decent tires so I bought it for a reasonable price. We swapped out the tires onto my gray trailer and I've been using those ever since. Who does that?!?! Buys a trailer for the tires?! My family!!!


But the tires dont' seem to be holding up to my constant running with the drill team so I'm back to putting new tires on the gray trailer. The old tires are back on the blue trailer. I haven't decided yet if I'll sell the blue trailer or keep it as an emergency stock trailer. Not that I've ever had an emergency but being a Sanctuary with 16 horses, I guess it's always better to be safe than sorry. The trailer is paid for and I can use it in a pinch if need be.


I'm happy the gray trailer is back in use. I only wish that I could get it painted. It looks very dumpy these days and in truth, I need to replace it with a newer version. But until then, I'll take the rust bucket of a trailer and deal with my sensitive ego and stuff my pride in my back pocket and deal with the rust because the trailer gets the job done and it doesn't owe me a thing.

See all the rust? A tad embarrassing but I'll get over it! And no we dont' normally leave our lawn mower sitting out in the middle of the yard. Our old farrier needed to borrow it as his died and he wanted to get his lawn mowed before the rains came (fingers crossed we get rain!)