legal classification of horse trailers

["Glenda R. Snodgrass" <grs@theneteffect.com>]

Teddy, I think your idea about lobbying for change is a great idea.  Part
of the confusion arises from the fact that vehicles are licensed by
individual states, with different regs in every state, but interstate
travel is federally-regulated, so there are conflicts & gaps.  There 
needs to be some universal classification of horse trailers.

When I bought my horse trailer (a small 2H BP) and took the papers down to
the DMV to get a tag, the clerk didn't know what kind of tag to give me. 
I couldn't get a "farm" tag for it, because I live inside city limits.  He
asked the woman next to him, and she didn't know, and they got the
supervisor, and all disappeared in a back office for about 20 minutes,
then came out with a "trailer" tag, which is normally used for utility
trailers (like U-Hauls and such), but I didn't want to question it at that
point. 

Re insurance, someone recently posted about horse trailers & contents
being covered under homeowners -- this is not the case in AL.  In AL, a
horse trailer is a vehicle, and is insured & regulated as a vehicle. 
Before I bought my trailer, I rented one from a local trailer sales & 
repair shop, with NO insurance.  I called my insuror, to see whether the 
policy on my truck would cover a trailer I was towing, and was told NO.  
My liability would cover 3rd party damage if the trailer came unhitched 
and ran into another car or fence or something, but my insurance would 
not cover damages to the trailer itself.  There's no way in this state to 
have insurance coverage on a trailer that is not your own, even 
temporarily when borrowing or renting.  A strange mish-mash of laws.

Glenda & Lakota
Mobile, AL