By PAIGE CERULLI
When Anthony and Kay Hart founded Hart Trailer LLC in 1968, they did so with the goal of manufacturing the best horse trailers in the industry. Rather than focus on mass-producing trailers, the Harts custom build trailers to meet their customers’ needs and forged meaningful, long-term relationships in the process.
It’s that dedication to creating a quality, safe, reliable trailer that sets Hart Trailer apart. It also contributed to the business’ success; Hart Trailer is now owned by the second Hart family generation and will soon celebrate its sixtieth anniversary.
When Anthony and Kay Hart started Hart Trailer, their family was already in the manufacturing business. Anthony and Kay started the company at the same Chickasha, OK, location where it remains today. They began by manufacturing steel trailers, and the trailer designs that the company uses today have evolved from those very first trailers created.
Hart Trailer’s Amanda Williams explains that family involvement and ownership of the company is particularly unique to the company, especially today. “Kay and Anthony had three daughters, and their daughter, Tracy Hart, actually got her start sweeping floors at the shop,” Williams tells The Plaid Horse. When Tracy was a teen, she started working in the front of the company, and in 2010, she purchased Hart Trailer from her parents.
Anthony and Kay were highly passionate about their work and the trailers they produced.
“It wasn’t just a job to them; it wasn’t something they just did 8 to 5 and went home and forgot about,” says Williams. The couple always worked to maintain very strong relationships with customers, employees, and dealers, taking great pride in the quality of the trailers they produced.
Such dedication to quality meant that Anthony and Kay were intensely focused on the details of the business. Anthony mostly focused on the shop and the manufacturing, while Kay handled more of the business operations. Williams describes them both as being incredibly focused on the details, to the business’ benefit. “They did not do anything that wasn’t done properly,” she says. “Neither were people who would take a shortcut.”
Tracy inherited those qualities and has continued to run the business with the same focus. “We don’t do anything that’s not as close to perfect as can be,” says Williams. “There’s a focus and drive of trying to make sure that we’re always improving and not taking shortcuts.”
Williams recalls one day early in her employment when she and Tracy were walking through the trailers. One trailer’s Hart Trailer decal had been applied slightly crooked, and Tracy immediately got an employee to remove it and correct it. “From the little details all the way down to the welds, she and Roy go over everything,” says Williams. “There’s not a trailer that leaves that they haven’t put eyes on.”
When customers call the company with questions, they get a sense of the company’s dedication. Hart Trailer employees directly interact with customers regularly, and when customers call in, they speak with a live person. Hart Trailer employees often become friends with customers, such as when the company repeatedly sponsors shows and organizations.
Horse Trailers Made by Horse People
Many Hart Trailer employees are horse people, and they understand the importance of trailer safety and quality. Williams has a particularly unique perspective, since her parents professionally transported horses all over the United States and Canada. “I grew up with the opportunity to pull several different brands,” she says. “The way that [Hart Trailer] pull, you don’t know that they’re there. They are heavier-made and very structurally sound, but you don’t feel them behind your truck when you’re hauling down the road.”
Hart Trailer uses an axel placement formula that’s unique to the company. The trailers are built to not only last for decades, but to also maximize safety in case of an accident.
“I’ll never forget when I first started, a mini trailer was at a stoplight and a semi ran into the back,” says Williams. The trailer sustained minimal damage, and once one corner post, the back doors, and ramp were replaced, it was road-worthy again. “I was in awe at how well the trailer held up.”
Such durability means that many older Hart Trailers are still on the road today. When Williams first started working with Hart Trailer 13 years ago, she worked in the parts department. She often got calls from trailer owners looking for parts for trailers that were decades old: “We have trailers on the road from the nineties, eighties, and, on rare occasions, the seventies.”
Supporting the Next Generation
Often, Hart Trailers are passed down from one generation to another. To support those younger generations of trailer drivers, Hart Trailer has launched a new scholarship initiative. “It’s an avenue for us to give back to some of the families,” says Williams. “These are all students involved in livestock or equestrian or rodeo, and their families own and pull a Hart Trailer.”
Scholarship candidates must complete an application and will undergo an interview process. Scholarship recipients will receive not only scholarship funds, apparel, prizes, and service opportunities for their trailers, but will also publicly represent Hart Trailer.
During its time in business, Hart Trailer has evolved from manufacturing steel trailers to manufacturing a wide range of aluminum trailers. Today, the company manufactures slant as well as straight load trailers.
The straight load trailers are designed with larger horses in mind, such as jumpers and dressage horses. The straight loads are taller than the slant loads, and Hart Trailer even manufactures straight loads suitable for draft horses.
Hart Trailer doesn’t use sheeted floors. Instead, they use tongue and groove interlocking floors that won’t give when you walk on them. “These floors make our trailers incredibly strong,” Williams says.
The trailers feature a half-inch fiberglass composite roof, which helps keep horses warmer or cooler depending on your climate.
All Hart Trailers are unique, and the company builds them custom. “We don’t have a cookie cutter or packaged trailer,” Williams explains. The width, height, and length can be customized on all but one model, which is limited only by width, and there are also several different tack options and configurations available. Additionally, with over 21 different sheet colors available, there are plenty of ways to make a Hart Trailer your own. “We don’t build two trailers alike,” says Williams.
While Hart Trailer is located in Oklahoma, you can find the trailers at dealers throughout the United States and Canada. In addition to choosing from stock trailers available at dealers, customers can place their own custom trailer order through a dealer. Customers are also welcome to visit Hart Trailer and see the extensive attention to detail and pride that goes into each trailer’s build.
As Hart Trailer nears its sixtieth anniversary, the company sets its sights on the future. “We’re always trying to stay on the front edge of innovation,” adds Williams. “How can we do things better? You don’t want to fix something that’s not broken, but you always want to be striving to do something better than before.”
That dedication to providing top-quality trailers designed specifically for horse owners is integral to the business’ success. Customers recognize that quality and keep coming back. “We have customers that are on their sixth trailer,” says Williams. In some cases, trailers are passed down from customers to their kids and, eventually, their grandkids. It’s a fitting achievement for a company that’s built upon the importance of family and the value of a top-quality product designed to last.
