Horse Lorry or Horse Van?? Which Would You have??

Elsbells

Elsbells

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Don't know what to do and I hope you guys can help?

My friend bought a lovely trailer and my mare hates it. Now she's looking at lorries(2 horse)and also vans. My mare is a 16h SFx and her gelding is a 16.3 Hanno, so a big boy.

We have looked at and researched the lorries and are at a loss as to how they are priced and it appears that you can easily pay to much for a shabby lorry if your not careful? The vans however seem petty standard on price.

We are going to try the horses in one this week as the convertion guy is bringing one to us. He will build what is asked for and I just wonder what other peoples opinion on them are and of course, just what you would choose given the choice and why?

We just want have a set of wheels to get about in, for fun rides and days out. We arn't intrested in living as neither of us competes and if we do go away with the horses, we'll go for the B&B option rather than camp out.

What we do want more than anything are 2 happy horses willing to travel and for them to be safe.

Please help as it's driving us mad:mad:
 
I am not sure but as far as I know you cannot travel 2 16handers in what I think of as a van a Renault master type of thing.Hope that makes sense?
I would check very carefully.
 
The van size ones can be rated to 4-4.5 tonnes. If your license permits, this is probably easier to drive! A standard 3.5 conversion would travel one of the above horses but not both legally or safely.
 
It' a 4.5 and he's been converting them for years to his own design. We also have grandfather rights regarding legalities.

If they were both 14.2, I would be a lot more convinced too.
 
As above Im afraid. You wont be able to travel 2 horses of that size in a Van or 3.5t lorry. Legally you will need a bigger payload.
 
Be very careful, I was at a show last week and one of the organisers told me how she had payed a deposit on a new build only to have the guy run off with her money, she lost £18,000, not a typo sadly, 18 grand. On the payload side, you will for sure be over limit with a 3.5 tonner, what with a full tank of fuel, water, hay, tack, two or more people plus two substancial horses you can easily eat up 2000kg of payload and most 3.5's only have 1100kg - 1200kg for horses, my tip is what ever you buy, fill up the fuel tank, load up some water etc take a large mate and go to the local wieghbridge before you part with your hard earned cash.
 
You can get some nice neat lorries and 5.5 and 6.5t which have a really good payload which would take your two, you often get a better payload than you do with a 7.5t. It really depends on your budget but it might be worth looking at that type if you want something smaller than a 7.5

There is a HHO member selling a rather smart small 7.5t with a decent (2t) payload ;)
 
For 2 big horses, I wouldn't be happy with a 3.5ton van, fine for 1 but am sure you would be very very close to the load capacity, be worth doing your homework :)
 
Louby said:
As above Im afraid. You wont be able to travel 2 horses of that size in a Van or 3.5t lorry. Legally you will need a bigger payload.
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It's true. Ive looked into it extensively and we have decided to get a 4.6 ton van and get it converted. There are hundreds of 3.5 ton lorrys on the market and the lack of payload is propably the reason why,. I laugh at the adverts that say 'stalled for two 16.2hh'. Doesn't mean that its legal!

Good luck with your search xx
 
murphysgirl said:
It's true. Ive looked into it extensively and we have decided to get a 4.6 ton van and get it converted. There are hundreds of 3.5 ton lorrys on the market and the lack of payload is propably the reason why,. I laugh at the adverts that say 'stalled for two 16.2hh'. Doesn't mean that its legal!

Good luck with your search xx
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It's a 4.6 we are looking at. Why did you decide on a van rather than a 7.5 lorry please, as that was another option for us.
How big are your horses and what conversion are you having done?
 
i had a 7.5 ton but it was just to big for me to be comfortable driving. I sold it last month. Ive been looking for a 4.5 - 6 ton box, but there are not many around. Loads of 3.5 though. So we decided to get onemade. The boxes you see around are mostly converted delivery lorrys anyway.

It took a while to find one, but i went to test drive one at a van dealers and it is fantastic. drives like a car and doesnt feel too big. i'v put a deposit on it and Im picking it up next week. It passed its plating yesterday.

Its still a roller shutter van at the moment. It's going to cost £1200 to put a side rmp on and £300 to partition, £150 to line walls and floor. That will get me up and running in the next few weeks.

I will put a back ramp or panel and jockey door on next year then respray. It means that I can split the total cost of conversion over a year and save about £6000, which the conversion guys keep as profit.
 
I have a 7.5 ton and love it - although I have advertised it, as it is a bit big for my one 15.2 horse. Thinking of downgrading to a trailer - I don't like the smaller vans/lorries, the vans especially always look flimsy to me.
 
I spoke to my local horse transporter as he runs some lovely wagons and he said that with big horses you'd always be close to your max weight in a van conversion, also always go for coachbuilt rather than conversions ( dont remember why tho ). I waited for a coachbuilder to sell me his daughters 6.5 ton ... well worth the wait . I can travel my horses knowing that Im never going to be over the weight and its built for horses and it drives like a car .... brill !
 
Whatever the weight, bear in mind that if you are travelling on a motorway you are likely to be using the same lanes as the HGV lorries. If you get even clipped by one of them, a van is not going to protect your horses. I don't often carry more than one horse but I chose to have a 7.5t lorry to give that extra protection. You are also more visible and get more respect from other road users.
 
Mamamia said:
Whatever the weight, bear in mind that if you are travelling on a motorway you are likely to be using the same lanes as the HGV lorries. If you get even clipped by one of them, a van is not going to protect your horses. I don't often carry more than one horse but I chose to have a 7.5t lorry to give that extra protection. You are also more visible and get more respect from other road users.
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Good points, thanks.
 
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