# Chevy Colorado to Trailer Horses?



## Emoore (Sep 14, 2015)

Worth reading: Towing Impressions - 2015 Chevrolet Colorado Long-Term Road Test

Towing Impressions, Round Two - 2015 Chevrolet Colorado Long-Term Road Test

A Working Review of the 2015 Chevrolet Colorado Z71 4WD - Torque News


Also, and I'm sure you know this, the Colorado only has the 7k tow capacity when properly equipped. Not every Colorado on the lot will have that capacity. 

My third thought is that I would never ever tow with a single axle trailer. All you have to do is think about having a tire blow out while towing horses to see why.


Edit to add a 4th thought: If I were primarily looking for a tow vehicle I'd much rather spend $15,000 on a used full-size pickup than $28,000 on a new mini truck.


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## candice and mateo (Mar 4, 2011)

yeah, good point on the single axle. I have read those articles and all seems on the up and up. surprisingly, properly equipping the Colorado to get the 7k is only the receiver that is mounted directly to the frame. that's it. nothing with the cooler torgue or anything... weird


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## HombresArablegacy (Oct 12, 2013)

My third thought is that I would never ever tow with a single axle trailer. All you have to do is think about having a tire blow out while towing horses to see why.

This ^^^ You're asking for a world of trouble if you try to put 2 horses in a single axle trailer and tow it. It's just not safe. Single axle trailers are not stable, prone to fish tailing and just a bad idea. 
Have you ever seen someone pulling a single axle u haul trailer or something similar on a highway at the speed limit? They swerve, bounce from side to side, and yes, fishtail.
Put 2000 lbs of live horses in one and all they have to do is shift their weight for things to get out of control fast. Not safe for you or them.

Go with a double axle trailer, you can find a decent used one in your price range . Always put the safety of you and your horses first.


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## 6gun Kid (Feb 26, 2013)

Its not what it can pull, necessarily, but what it can stop.


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## candice and mateo (Mar 4, 2011)

right. I agree. double axle it is... now back to the truck...


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## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

A lot of people may say this is a fine vehicle to tow....
Those people, to them being on the edge of unsafe is how they do it.... I guess.
Instead of looking at a Colorado a better choice would be a full-size 150, 1500 series truck.
Longer wheelbase, _larger braking system_ than a Colorado and probably about the same mileage per gallon....
Not pressing the truck to get anywhere near its limits and capabilities will also keep you from wearing out your truck faster and costly repairs more frequently needed like shocks, struts, brakes, front end parts...
 
Will you please consider the amount of weight of the trailer, the horses inside on one axle and one tire per side and be realistic....
You are talking about stopping over 4000 pounds of weight on 2 average size brakes on that trailer. The truck stops can stop itself, the trailer needs to stop itself too _by itself._
If you have a blow-out your trailer with your horse{s} in it is crashing on the ground...
Here....a "blog" from a horse trailer site about exactly the kind of trailer you mention wanting....
Pros and cons...and honest answers and evaluation on the trailer.
_Viewing a thread - Single axle trailer_
_EDITED....see you already nixed the single axle trailer... THANK-YOU!! Your horses Thank-You too..._
Now, I have seen, I have towed a one horse trailer with a single axle but it was 2 tires on each side on the one axle...
That trailer was only able to handle certain sized and weighted horses because of what it was...
I would never intentionally purchase any horse trailer with a single axle ever...
Road stability = safe travels and ride for all occupants or the trailer and towing vehicle.

As for the Colorado....
Numbers given are "good" only for particular equipped vehicles....
Please remember that the tow weight number are dead weight, NOT a live cargo of horse{s}... 
Big, _*huge*_ difference towing a camping trailer or boat than moving a horse.
You should spend some time, lots of it reading real peoples blogs and comments made about towing with the Colorado, a properly configured truck....
Honest comments not blah, blah, blah from some person trying to sell you something they have never put to the kind of loaded test that you are referring to doing...

I have family with a Colorado truck.
Immaculately maintained and is one rated for that weight...his is a cab & half truck..
He rented a U-Haul trailer to move his kid to college....
What a disaster. 
One truck went past and "moved" me....nearly off the road!! 
Just the truck going down the highway with regular traffic you can feel every larger vehicle pass with a rocking of the vehicle...and you want to put live, breathing and moving horses in a trailer behind it..
_No thank-you!:icon_rolleyes:_ 
:runninghorse2:...
_jmo..._


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## candice and mateo (Mar 4, 2011)

really good feedback horselovingguy. this is exactly what type im looking for.


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## Prairie (May 13, 2016)

After years of hauling horses to shows all over the country, my advice is to buy the vehicle and trailer combination that will survive and safely handle the worst possible conditions. In my years of hauling, I've had tires blow making steering and handling difficult, but due to having the pickup for the job, everybody was safe. I've had a fuse blow and had to depend on the pickup's brakes to stop the loaded trailer. I've watched 1/2 ton pickups pulling horses swept off the road in high cross winds---my 1 ton dually never even hesitated and easily handled those winds with a much bigger and heavily loaded trailer. I've seen drivers run into the backend of a horses trailer when the towing vehicle didn't have to power to accelerate to the speed limit and maintain it. 


Find out what the total loaded weight is on your trailer, including horses, feed, tack, and the extras, add at least 20% to that for live weight (25% is better!), and that's the minimum amount of trailer weight you need to look at when buying a towing vehicle.


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## tim62988 (Aug 30, 2012)

I would say for the price difference, go with the 1/2 ton truck 2 horse trailer and you will be good to go.

the price on the new colorado's vs a new 1/2 ton is about 4K difference, going with a 4 wheel drive bare bones package.


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## Darrin (Jul 11, 2011)

Personally I don't recommend towing horses in a 1/2 ton truck, mid size? Oh, heck no!

If it's in the budget and you have room, buy an older 3/4 or 1 ton truck for towing and leave it parked, drive something more economical back and forth to work and to get groceries. Doing this you can get something like a Honda, getting 30+mpg as a daily driver plus an older truck for towing and still be at or less then you pay for a new Colorado.


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

Recently, while my 3/4 diesel truck was in the shop, i had to use my husband's 1/2 ton gas truck to haul my trailer and one horse. His truck has a tow package, the trailer is a 3 horse slant with a fiberglass roof, so it's not a super heavy sucker like my old stock trailer. I felt so unsafe hauling with that, it felt....flimsy. I can see why trailer accidents happen, I am pretty sure I couldn't keep that rig on the road if a deer ran in front of me on the highway, with the heavier diesel truck, no problem, it's happened to me before, was a non-issue.


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## Joel Reiter (Feb 9, 2015)

I have a first generation Tundra with specs similar to the Colorado. I used it to pull a two-horse straight-load Featherlite from Minnesota to Washington state and back. Most of the way I had just my big guy, but in Montana I picked up my niece's 16.3 mustang. I doubt that trailer ever had two horses in it with that much combined weight.

I made it out and back safely, and I don't think a Colorado would fall apart pulling 4,000 pounds of trailer. But if I was buying a new vehicle for towing I would get something more capable. The two concerns I have are wind and hills.

Horselovingguy and Prairie pretty well stated the issue with wind. I had one moment on I-94 in North Dakota when some combination of weather and passing semi caused me to have to pay attention to stay in my lane. It wasn't a dangerous situation but it did make me wonder what would happen in stormy conditions. Of course, there is the question of how much is enough. A Colorado pulling a two horse trailer with one horse in it is probably no riskier than a 3/4 ton pulling a full four-horse bumper pull. Dualies would provide more stability. A gooseneck would provide more stability. The Colorado with the crew cab and long bed has 12.5" longer wheelbase than my Tundra and that would provide more stability.

The other issue is power. My Tundra with the 4.7 V-8 engine is rated at 245 hp and 315 lb. ft. of torque. The 3.6 V-6 in the Colorado is rated at 305 hp and 269 lb. ft. of torque. I never had any trouble maintaining legal speeds, but I went up onto the highline (US 2) and took the non mountainous route. If I had stayed on I-90 across Montana and Idaho I would have been driving up some of those 6% grades with my foot to the floor. The 2017 Colorado is getting a new engine with a slight bump in horsepower and torque, but it doesn't look like a huge improvement.

I think the Colorado (and GMC Canyon twin) is a nice truck and might work for you if you buy the long wheelbase and stay on flat ground. For me, if I were replacing the Tundra today I would find a nice Silverado or Sierra 2500 with the 6.0 L gas engine. It would be a gas hog, but beautiful examples can be had in the $20,000 range, and most of what I use a truck for is hauling anyway.


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## Joel Reiter (Feb 9, 2015)

Darrin said:


> buy an older 3/4 or 1 ton truck for towing and leave it parked, drive something more economical back and forth to work and to get groceries.


Yeah, we do our commuting in a Prius and save the truck for hauling.

I agree with this advise as long as by "older" you mean used. If you truly mean older keep in mind that the 1/2 ton of today is probably bigger, heavier, stronger, safer and more powerful than the 3/4 ton of 25 years ago. I wouldn't want to pull a horse trailer with a truck that had drum brakes on all four wheels.


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## Darrin (Jul 11, 2011)

Think you have to go back to the 70's to get drum brakes on all 4 corners, not sure when they went to disc on all 4 but in the 90's they were still putting rear drums with front discs. But by older I meant mid 90's to early 2000's.

I wouldn't put today's half tons as bigger, heavier, stronger, safer and more powerful than 25 year old 3/4 tons than yester years pickups. Safer in a wreck? Probably. More powerful? Yes. Bigger, heavier, stronger? Doubt it.


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## carshon (Apr 7, 2015)

I think it has been mentioned here but wheel base is also an issue. the length of the trailer matters. Will it be a 2 horse with a nice sized dressing room? Or no dressing room, straight load or slant?

Wheel base makes a HUGE difference in hauling.


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## ChitChatChet (Sep 9, 2013)

I very happily towed a heavy 2 horse trailer for 10 years with a fully loaded Dodge Durango. It did incredibly well. 

We hauled 1.5 cords of wood at a time hauling 12 total cords a year. 

We hauled 3 large ponies at a time in that trailer never having an issue.

It can be done and quite safely IMO. All kinds of roads and road conditions

We up graded to a 16 foot trailer I could tow it empty no problems or with a pony or 2. Any more than that and it felt wishywashy.

We then purchased a 91 Ford F250 it provides nice stability for the 16 footer.


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## Joel Reiter (Feb 9, 2015)

Darrin said:


> Think you have to go back to the 70's to get drum brakes on all 4 corners. But by older I meant mid 90's to early 2000's


Yeah, you're right. Chevy went to front disk brakes in 1971 and Ford in 1973. Funny how being old plays tricks with your memory. Just one more reason to be careful about believing what your read on the internet. Thanks Darrin.


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## LoriF (Apr 3, 2015)

Joel Reiter said:


> Yeah, you're right. Chevy went to front disk brakes in 1971 and Ford in 1973. Funny how being old plays tricks with your memory. Just one more reason to be careful about believing what your read on the internet. Thanks Darrin.


LOL Seems like it was just yesterday. Being old doesn't play tricks on you but time does. At least for me anyway.


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## Kaifyre (Jun 16, 2016)

I haul Dreams (and his half brother Copper on occasion) in a Trail-ET Thoroughbred 2 horse straight load with a decent sized tack room. Pretty long wheel base, can't remember off the top of my head but it's quite long for a 2-horse. I pull it with my boyfriend's 2009 F-150 FX4 and that sucker is solid. Never had a problem negotiating mountainous grade and high wind (@Joel Reiter I live in Glendive so the I-94 is our road as well : ), nor does the truck struggle to maintain speed, etc. Unless you're taking some serious grade, you really can't feel much going on back there. We're looking at upgrading sometime next year but really it's just because my boyfriend wants a new toy - what we've got works just fine.
I passed on 2 single axle horse trailers, personally I'd never feel comfortable with one of those on the highway. JMO

-- Kai


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