We took on the Calico
line in early 2008 and it’s been a great
addition to our lineup. Calico trailers are well
made, but they're also very affordable, which
makes them doubly appealing. Many folks who
start out shopping for a used trailer are
pleased to find they can afford a new Calico. We
get several inquiries a week about used
trailers, and good used ones always seem to be
in short supply. Calico allows us to offer a
ready supply of safe, well made, well-equipped
NEW trailers at prices just slightly above those
of good used trailers. (And as some of you may
have found out the hard way, you often won't
know if that used trailer is good or bad until
AFTER you've bought it.)
Calico has been building
trailers since 1983. They offer trailers ranging
in size from short & narrow for miniature horses
up to tall & long for warmbloods and other large
breeds. Calico also offers livestock trailers in
a variety of sizes.
One of the things we
like about Calico is that they don’t limit you
to a fixed model configuration. We like to think
of designing a Calico as ordering from an a la
carte menu. The starting point is a plain stock
trailer. We then select options to create
whatever configuration we (or you) have in mind.
The basic trailer has air gaps as you’d see on a
livestock trailer. If you want windows, we
select “enclosed sides” and specify where you
want the windows. Want a straight load? Specify
straight load divider, butt bar and breast bar
options. Slant load? Specify the number of slant
dividers you need. Want a dressing room? You
have at least 3 choices. Prefer a rear gate or
ramp or a combination? Calico offers several
choices here as well. Make your Calico as basic
or deluxe as you wish.
Before we get too far
along, we want to emphasize that when WE quote a
Calico price, it’s for a READY-TO-USE trailer.
With few exceptions, our trailer will have floor
mats, spare tire, good height and BRAKES ON BOTH
AXLES. Some dealers like to use a low price to
get your attention, but then you have to add a
spare tire and/or floor mats and/or other
options to get it to where you really need it to
be. And those add-on option prices are often
inflated. If that low price special has brakes
on only one axle, it’s not cost-effective to add
them after the fact. (And we’re big believers
that if it has two axles, it should have brakes
on both. The auto industry decided by about 1920
that brakes on all wheels was a good idea. Why
not on your trailer?). If you have horses and
the trailer’s not at least 7’ tall, you’re
likely going to be buying a taller trailer
before long. The way we look at it, every time
you make a trailer purchase that could have been
avoided, you’re losing money. We equip our
inventory trailers (and offer guidance on custom
trailers) to help you avoid the “I wish I had
more length/height/windows/doors… in my trailer”
dilemma. If the trailer’s equipped properly, you
shouldn’t have to do much more than add hay
bags, load your horses and hit the road. (Or if
you don’t have horses, load your cows, goats,
alpacas or…)
On this Calico lead
page, we’re showing some examples of trailers
that have proven popular with our customers.
Click on one of the flashing “Calico Gallery”
buttons on this page and you’ll see more Calico
configurations we’ve developed over the years.
And we use the term “configurations we’ve
developed” for a reason. As we mentioned
earlier, the basic building block for a Calico
is a stock trailer. We specify the length,
height and width we want, whether it keeps air
gaps or gets windows, stall divider or not, etc.
Calico is very accommodating and their options
are reasonably priced, so it’s possible to do a
lot on a modest budget. And the knowledge we
gained designing custom trailers in our premium
brands is put to use in designing
sensibly-equipped and affordable Calicos. Just
another of those extras you get when you
purchase your Calico from Traveled Lane
Trailers.
Enough generalizations.
Let’s talk about actual trailers. Many shown
here are staples of our Calico offerings at
Traveled Lane. Others are interesting variations
built for individual customers. We’d normally
show several pictures of a single model to show
you how it’s equipped. Since Calico lets you mix
& match features to create your trailer, in a
given section, we’re showing features of
different trailers so you can see some
variations and different colors.
The trailers just above
are 2H straight loads. We typically base these
on a 12’ body length. The ones in the “two
trailers” picture are 7’6” tall, great for large
horses. Those are shown with spring-assisted
ramp and tack compartment. The white trailer to
their right is 7’ tall, great for just about all
other sizes. The white one has a ramp, but it
also has curtain doors. (A la carte features,
remember?) Instead of a tack compartment, the
white one was ordered with saddle racks & bridle
hooks in the nose. If you want a regular ol’ two
horse trailer, skip the extras entirely. The
maroon trailer (officially Dark Red in Calico
lingo) is another 2H straight load. At 7’6” tall
& 6’8”wide, it’s what many consider extra tall
and extra wide. It has a tack compartment in the
nose and a gate rather than ramp. It was a
custom order and is a little more deluxe than
our typical inventory versions. It has stall
pads and rubber lining on the walls and gate.
The final trailer in that group is an enclosed
2H straight with tack compartment to show that,
if you wish, you can get it with windows!
Sticking with the
straight loads, but moving up a bit in size, the
trailers above are 2H straight loads with
dressing room. The first 4 pictures are 14
footers, with 10’ for the horses plus a 4’
dressing room. As you can see, they’ll build
these with livestock air gaps or with windows.
The last trailer in the group is a 16 footer. On
that particular trailer, we specified an 11’
horse area and 5’ dressing room. It’s a very
well equipped trailer, including windows all
around.
Just above are several
Calico slant loads. The ones with livestock air
gaps and swing-wall dressing room are popular
because they’re versatile and very affordable.
With Calico, you may specify a dressing room
with a fixed or swinging wall. In the slant
loads, we usually specify the swinging wall
because it lets you open up the interior so you
can haul a load of hay, ATV or what have you.
While many of our Calico slants go out with air
gaps on both sides, one hybrid combination
that’s fairly popular is to have drop feed
windows on the head wall and air gaps on the
opposite wall.
For what it’s worth,
Calico will build a 2H slant in a 12’ body
length, which is fine for some horses. But keep
in mind that the rear stall on the 12 footer is
about a foot narrower than the front stall. We
order the bulk of our 2H slants as 13 footers to
give you two stalls of equal width. Costs a
little more than the 12 footer, but we think
it’s worth it for the comfort of the horses. As
with the straight loads, we’re showing some with
air gaps and others with windows so you can see
some of the possibilities. And in case you’re
wondering, yes, the trailer in the middle row is
pink. Calico offers about a dozen standard
colors, but they will do custom colors as well
(and pink is custom). The pink trailer has
optional stall pads and wall mats.
Since you may mix and
match features, we’re showing some ramp and gate
options. The trailer on the left has a
combination of ramp behind a gate. The three
center pictures show what we call a “swing and
slide” gate, which is standard on livestock
models and may be specified on most
configurations. The trailer on the right
displays multiple options. In keeping with the
mix & match theme, you may order: 1) just the
ramp, 2) ramp with curtain doors or 3) ramp with
curtain doors with windows. (Please note: The
silver trailer is an earlier model and has
lever-style ramp latches. The white trailer with
ramp farther up the page has the fast-action
latches that have been standard on Calicos in
recent years.)
If you need to move
livestock or just want a simple trailer for your
horses, Calico offers livestock trailers in a
wide range of sizes, in bumper pull and
gooseneck hitch. In the pictures above, we’re
showing 12’ & 16’ bumper pulls on the left and
an 18’ gooseneck in the middle. (Please note
that the gooseneck is an earlier picture with a
roof style that differs slightly from current
models [recent models have a tighter roof
radius]. We decided to include it because red’s
an attention getter. The red rear view on the
right is of a trailer with the current roof
shape.) Standard features on livestock models
include an escape door and a combination swing &
slide gate on the rear. Trailers 14’ & longer
come with a standard divider gate to create
front and rear compartments. A popular model is
a 16’ footer with optional 7’ interior height
and floor mats. It’s a versatile trailer that’s
great for horses and livestock. As with the
horse trailers, you may mix & match options to
configure a livestock model to meet your needs.
We invite you to stop by
and check out our Calico trailers. We keep a
great selection of Traveled Lane Trailers-spec
Calicos in stock, which means they’re equipped
for safe and convenient use, while taking it
easy on the budget. And if you don’t see exactly
what you need on the lot, we would be glad to
design a Calico just for you!
Please note: Trailers
shown may have options not mentioned in the text
(such as spare tire, dome lights, etc.). For
readability, we’ve just mentioned the
significant features and options on each
trailer.
