Has anyone ever had a 3 horse trailer?

[maya2008]

Looking for experiences. There is a very good reason not to get a 7.5T horsebox.

 

[poiuytrewq]

Not too much help sorry but a lady next door to my old yard had one. It was huge! I believe one went sideway/herringbone across the front somehow and the two bigger ones facing forward side by side.
She drove them for weddings so they went fair distances in it and she was happy with it.

 

[Polos Mum]

My old ifor 510 can be partitioned for 3 small ponies, it is massive and happily carries two 17.2's checking the towing weight of you car and then size of ponies would be first step.

 

[skint1]

I knew someone who had a Rice one, it was huge, I can't remember what she used to tow it with though

 

[nicolenlolly]

We have just taken delivery of the Cheval Liberte Minimax and omg I love it. What a fab trailer. We have always had ifors and then when the number of ponies increased, we went up to the HB610 which I think is actually stalled for 4 or 5 ponies but it had an argument with a tree when hubby was driving it and insurance wrote it off. The Cheval is in a different league though, it is so quiet to tow and less jerky on the car too, more than anything though, its the tack area in the front that I like, I was sick of having to fill the car with saddles etc and inevitably the odd over reach boot or bandage would get left behind when the children didn't empty the boot properly!

 

[seamoth]

We had one years ago carried two 15hh horses facing forward and a 12/13hh pony in the front compartment, was very heavy and was towed with a Land Rover very easily. The person we sold it to thought he could tow it with a small 4x4 Sukuki he couldn't even pull it empty out of the stables, we had told him.

 

[maya2008]

We would buy a tow car to suit. Sale of smaller lorry plus savings to pay for it all. Our horse transport also has to take humans to work if one of the cars is broken!
Looking at brochures it just isn’t clear what they class as a ‘pony’. Ours range from 11hh to 15hh (only one of those).

 

[Britestar]

My friend has an equitrek 3 horse for sale and has replaced it with an ifor eventa 3 horse.
Ideal for 3 ponies but I don't think my 16.3hh would fit in either.

 

[Lintel]

Like others have never had one myself but knew a lady how towed with a old mitsibushi pick up and had a cheval.. minimax?(I think) it was huge but lovely and seemed fairly light to be honest considering! She travelled two Welsh D's and an A together?

I wouldn't have been comfortable seeing three 16hh ID's but it would have taken three 14hh Hipo's easily!

 

[KittyH]

I've got an Optimax. It is fab for taking 2 eventing, as you can tack up, stud etc. in there. It makes taking 2 out on my own much more manageable. Its also fab for taking 3 to pony club. I have taken 2 cobs and a small horse out together. The trailer has loads of room -will take 3 large horses or 4 ponies, but I think you'd need a tractor to tow that much! I tow with a long wheelbase Shogun (3.5t tow capacity) and 3 X 550kg horses is okay but wouldn't want much more in there, just because of how much weight that is to drive up a hill or brake in an emergency. It is huge, but tows fine. There are venues with tight parking which are difficult - you wouldn't want to drive one if you weren't quite confident manoeuvring. Tack box is a godsend, and horses travel well in it (herringbone with loads of room). It is a pain to hitch up - you can't shunt the trailer around by hand. It works well but I am hoping to move to a 7.5t next year so I can stay away.

 

[silv]

Very popular over here, horses travel herringbone. Just need one of the big 4WDs to tow it.

 

[maya2008]

I've got an Optimax. It is fab for taking 2 eventing, as you can tack up, stud etc. in there. It makes taking 2 out on my own much more manageable. Its also fab for taking 3 to pony club. I have taken 2 cobs and a small horse out together. The trailer has loads of room -will take 3 large horses or 4 ponies, but I think you'd need a tractor to tow that much! I tow with a long wheelbase Shogun (3.5t tow capacity) and 3 X 550kg horses is okay but wouldn't want much more in there, just because of how much weight that is to drive up a hill or brake in an emergency. It is huge, but tows fine. There are venues with tight parking which are difficult - you wouldn't want to drive one if you weren't quite confident manoeuvring. Tack box is a godsend, and horses travel well in it (herringbone with loads of room). It is a pain to hitch up - you can't shunt the trailer around by hand. It works well but I am hoping to move to a 7.5t next year so I can stay away.

Our ponies weigh a total of 1500kg on a fat day, so if 4 would physically fit, sounds like it would take the weight.

 

[KittyH]

Our ponies weigh a total of 1500kg on a fat day, so if 4 would physically fit, sounds like it would take the weight.

Yes, you'd definitely get 4 good sized ponies in an Optimax.

 

[Tiddlypom]

Our ponies weigh a total of 1500kg on a fat day, so if 4 would physically fit, sounds like it would take the weight.

The payload of the Minimax 3 horse is 1700kg, which is very decent.

This pic shows 3 medium sized looking neds in one. I don’t think I’d be brave enough to tow it fully loaded with 3 neds up even with my trusty LWB Shogun, except maybe on very short local trips. If the horses starting stamping and throwing their weight around, that is inevitably going to start the trailer swaying. I wouldn’t care to be doing 50mph+ on a dual carriageway if that happened. Towing a 3.5t dead weight (Shogun tow limit) is very different to towing a 3t unstable load (trailer max loaded weight).

 

[JGC]

We had a three-horse Cheval Liberte trailer (mainly because my mare wouldn't back out of any kind of transport, as the local fire brigade could attest to). We had two 17 .2hh in 155/160 rugs in there fine, I don't think three from 11 to 15 hh would have been a problem.