How do you transport horse and carriage?

benson21

benson21

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As i am sure everyone is now aware (cos I go on and on about it!!) donovan is going to be broken to harness in 3 weeks time, so now the questions start!! To you who compete with pony and carriage, how do you transport it all? Do you have a horse box, or a trailer with adaptions? I have seen trailers with the additional bit by the jockey wheel to put a carriage on, does that work ok?
 
Our first 7.5 tonner had been converted to take two and a carriage and had a big electric winch fitted to get the carriage in.

Local harness racer has a rack fitted at the front of his IW trailer to take his race cart.
 
We used to take two trailers as we couldn't fit the cart in the horse trailer and it was too big to hang on the back. My OH adapted our old garden rubbish trailer with ramps so that it was easier to get on and off. Some friends of ours with ponies bought bigger trailers so the cart would fit at the front or back, in with the pony
 
I help a man out with his driving horses. He has 7.5 ton lorry with winch to get carriage on and stalls for horses at the back.
 
I've seen it done with either carriage in horsebox, or on a trailer behind. Depending on size of horse & carriage, you could probably get both in a trailer.
 
I've got a picture of an adapter that goes on the front of a trailer. All I have to do now is find it. I'll put in on here when I do.


Horseboxextensionkit.jpg
 
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lazybee said:
I've got a picture of an adapter that goes on the front of a trailer. All I have to do now is find it. I'll put in on here when I do.


Horseboxextensionkit.jpg
Click to expand...

Thats trhe kind of thing i am thinking about. is there a company that sorts it out, or do I buy one and find someone to put it on?
 
We have various options.
We have a 7.5 tonne lorry that can take 4 wheeler and 2X ponies (+has good living), or we have that and a flatbed lightweight trailer so we can fit 5 ponies in lorry and 2X carriages on trailer. Or we have a heavy 3.5tonne stabling trailer so we can take 3X carriages, 5X horses and stable 6 ponies/stall 6 horses. We also have a horse trailer that can take a 4 wheeler or 2 ponies/horses...
Some people use the big IWs to take a carriage and a pony, or maybe even 2...
The front of trailer extensions don't have a good rep. in general.
 
I am not to sure if trailing behind a 3.5 tonne lorry will work tbh, I suggest going to the next big Driving event and checking out how others do it.
The racing sulkies are very lightweight. It also depends on size of pony and of carriage, I have seen them inside a big trailer, tipped on one side, alongside the pony.
See the British Driving Site or a scurry site or SCDA site.
 
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We have 2 x 3.5t high top vans - one a purpose built horsebox & the other a LWB High top & we tow quite easily trailers,caravans etc with both vehicles even tho 1 is a 2.2 & the other a 2.5. (but DH & I are both old so we can drive the full laden train weights)
In fact the 2.2 is fully loaded to the gunnels & max weight when it also has the caravan weighing 1400kg (unladen) on the back of it - tows like a dream to far flung race tracks :)

As long as you have the right licence (check out ROG's posts) then you'll be fine :)
 
digger66 said:
I was looking at the trailer front extension but heard that the extra weight on the tow bar affected the car's handling and could cause snaking. Also the excessive weight on the tow bar could be illegal.
Click to expand...

That is always a concern and should be checked out before purchasing and fitting
 
we bought a second hand extension in the end, and fitted it ourselves. It was a reletivly straight forward job to do, and we used it yesterday for the first time with no problems.
 
I have seen various options.

7.5 ton lorry adapted for carriage and horses, with temporary stabling, which fits on the side of the lorry when it is all unloaded.

Trailer extensions for lightweight 'modern' carriages or Trailers with racing sulkies suspended on the rear - we see this a lot in France, where trotting racing is popular.

Being a lazy soul!! I either drove my horse to local events if close by, or we took horse in our lorry and I towed the carriage with our car. We never went far afield though.
 
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