BADASS
RIGS & TRAILERS
In 2021, we will showcase standout rigs and trailers in the magazine and on AmericanFarriers.com. To see a video showcasing this rig and on future trucks and trailers, visit here.
After the axle broke on his shoeing trailer in February 2021, Sergio Ponce wasn’t in the market to buy a new one. He would simply replace the axle and get back to work. But when the Collinsville, Texas, farrier was told that due to supply chain issues the specific component was months from delivery, he found the motivation to start shopping.
The search didn’t take him far. Ponce went to Promise Land Manufacturing, also in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. He opted for a trailer, which the company could design and build before Ponce’s back-ordered axle would ship.
Sold on the Flexibility of a Trailer
Ponce works about a 25-mile radius north of the Metroplex. He mainly shoes reiners, but has a variety of other horses in his practice. He works with two associates, so Ponce wanted spacing to keep their work areas on the driver’s side, but maintain a minimal approach to the trailer. The grinder, knife sharpener and double drill press are housed on that side.
“We can keep functioning at the same time, but give them enough space not to cramp us on that side and remain efficient,” he says.
Ponce says the main theme to the design is keeping it as open as possible, like being able to easily see his shoe inventory stored on racks and pegs at the center and front wall of the trailer.
There is a balance to having ample storage and maintaining the clean, open design, especially with the shoes. Ponce keeps his most frequently used steel shoes in two drawers in the rear of the trailer. Each drawer holds five rows of shoes. Besides being stored at the area he does most of his work, Ponce says placing the drawers low and deep prevents the trailer from being top heavy.
A welder built this hoof stand for Ponce after numerous repairs made to the farrier’s previous hoof stand.
Like many other farriers who haul a trailer, the flexibility sold Ponce. Although this is a hot summer day in North Texas, Ponce says the trailer could fit into many barn aisles during inclement weather. His family owns horses, so they can unhitch and pull a horse trailer.
“I don’t have to travel as far in my practice, so I have the convenience to unhook it and use my truck for other purposes. Plus, if my truck breaks down, I can get a different one and keep on trucking down the road.
“Deciding between a trailer and body, comes down to whatever fits you as an individual.”
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