# Weight of stock horse trailer



## MacabreMikolaj

A little help? I've glanced around but I'm having difficulty finding this information. A few websites showed the 2 and 4 horse aluminum open stocks as being around 3500lbs (for the big 3-4 horse open type trailer). However, I'm needing to know the weight of the big ol' steel open stocks (think older models used to haul cattle often).

I'm just being proactive as I'm purchasing a new truck, and I need some specs to decide if I'm alright with the 9300lb tow package or if I need to be looking at the max trailer tow package at 11300lbs. We own small horses, so fully loaded we'd be about 4,000lbs on horse weight alone. We prefer the older open stock style trailer (as do our horses) so I want to ensure the truck I have can pull it half decent.

The truck I'm looking at is a 2010 F-150 4x4 style, with a 5.4L V8 engine.


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## cakemom

To quote my hubby, should pull it ok, gonna get sucky fuel milage! Rofl
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## MacabreMikolaj

^

Haha, that's essentially what my dad told me. He said a 9,300lb limit means diddly squat because it's tongue weight and distribution I want to worry about anyway. He said going over limits doesn't mean I'm going to break my truck, it just means I'm going to be less efficient on mileage and such.

Based on only hauling locally, I think I'll be fine with the standard package. I do not see myself ever really having a need to haul a fully loaded open steel stock horse trailer - and if I did, I could just drive slow because it would be close anyway!

Thanks!


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## Mingiz

I pulled my 4 horse stock bp with a F250 5.4l without any issues even with 4 horses on. I usually haul 2...You should be ok my empty weight is 2,700 lbs


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## spence

crap, i dunno. all i can tell you is what i've got. an 89 hillsboro trailer, 20' gooseneck. essentially i can easily fit 4 horses in the back 16', the front 4' section is the "tack room" and then the neck. it weighs in at around 6000 lbs. ya should be ok. and i've seen some hefty sized goosenecks pulled by half tons. don't necessarily think it's a GOOD idea always, but that's just me.


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## flytobecat

If you've got the title somewhere, they usually list the weight of the actual trailer.


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## spence

yeah, but those are always the emptiest weight. i've always found them to be a bit low...


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## maura

I think it's a mistake to judge truck/trailer capability based on weight alone. There are way too many other factors that come into play. 

If you're going to be pulling a two horse, and making mostly local hauls, I think you'll be okay with a half ton. If you're going with the four horse, or doing longer hauls, or are in moutainous terrain, bump up to the 3/4 ton. Also make sure that the towing package is a real towing package, the dealers are sometimes misleading about what's in the towing package. A real towing package includes beefed up suspension, a transmission oil cooler and a beefed up engine cooling. 

If you overweight/overwhelm a half ton, besides sucky gas mileage, you'll put enormous wear and tear on the transmission. Depending on how much hauling you do, you'll end up replacing the transmission in your half ton. Spend the money now on a 3/4 ton; or spend the money later on a new transmission. 

Just my two cents.


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## Eolith

Just a sort of unrelated side note: when hauling in an open trailer, I've been told to put fly masks on the horses to prevent any flying road debris from hitting them in the eye. It may be such a small chance of this happening that it's not worth it... but then, better safe than sorry.


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## flytobecat

We put fly mask on even in our enclosed trailer for the same reason. You just never know.


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