# Alt to horse trailers



## Red Gate Farm (Aug 28, 2011)

A horse trailer with the proper towing vehicle is an expensive purchase, so I'm not surprised that others are less than keen to loan it out.

Have you looked into renting a trailer when you need one?


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## PrivatePilot (Dec 7, 2009)

A cursory glance at some specs shows that your dads vehicle has about a 3500# towing capacity. Unfortunately that's very limiting.

Now, with that said, I'm assuming you're in Europe somewhere?

I know that there are european spec single-horse trailers that weigh only around 1000# empty that would theoretically work even with a 1000-1500# horse, and honestly, would still leave a reasonable safety margin left over. Things are different there when it comes to what many north americans would consider "normal towing setups" - I'm well aware that people tow things there (and do it safely due to better drivers, and much lighter built trailers) with much smaller vehicles than are commonplace on this side of the pond.

So, with the right trailer it can be done. But as you've experienced, it won't be cheap - the prices on these super light single trailers are high, and there's not going to be any way around that.

I'd also keep in mind that although towing a horse in a light single axle horse trailer with your mentioned Land Rover may be technically possible from a weight perspective, one needs to keep in mind stability - what's the wheelbase of the vehicle? Too short and the trailer wags the dog basically, something you don't want to have happen with a horse behind you. :wink:

I'm going to guess (as you touched on) that there's no shortage of older equipment around, but you'll likely find that it's much heavier (which makes it unsuitable for your available tow vehicle), or may require a lot of work to make it safe again which you may or may not be willing to do.


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