LDV Horsebox - anyone have one?

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cjt1701

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I currently have a van conversion Renault Master and am toying with the idea of swapping for something else. At the moment we only take 1 pony at a time but would like to take them both (2 natives well within the weight range for our 3.5T). I really want something with a small day living/changing area that has somewhere to sit down. I am old enough to be able to drive upto 7.5 or tow a trailer so apart from actual length of the vehicle due to restricted access at yard have a licence to drive most things.

What to swap it for that's the question.

I had an old VW Lt50 but struggled to reach the pedals being under 5 foot tall.
Would love an Iveco Daily but coachbuilt are out of price range
Don't fancy a Transit as heard they can roll about a bit.

So has anyone got a horsebox built on an LDV chassis? Do they give the same ride as a Transit?

Many thanks
 
I very much doubt that unless you have two Shetland ponies that you will have sufficient payload in a 3.5 Ton for two native ponies. The maximum payload obtainable is about 1.2 tons and with day living this will go down. The Renault Master is the best Chassis Pan Cab due to it's low centre of gravity.
You could get a 7.5 ton which may be the solution but again take great care to get one with sufficient payload.
 
I have a Renault Master and because we only travel one, have converted the grooms area at the back and put a decent seat with storage below, a small sink and hob with worktops and cupboards. Works really well for changing and brewing up. It reduced the payload from 1100 to about 100 which is still enough for our 1 pony. I agree with Peter, a good, safe 3.5t anything with day living will struggle to have a payload enough for anything other than 2 tiny ponies, think shetlands or dainty little sec a types. When you add on the fuel, people, water and tack you will be really tight for weight. If your two are well within the weight as you say, I would seriously consider converting what you have, we looked around for the whole of one summer at 4.5/7.5t to give us more space and couldnt find anything within our quite reasonable budget that was as good as what we have. In the end we made the changes and its fab, plus running and maintenance costs have not gone up!
 
I used to have an olde daf400 (these are what became LDV's) with an ifor box on it (no living). We had great fun with it for a number of years, even going to Wales twice! In theory Pie shouldn't have travelled well in it - however he seemed very settled. My payload was 1 ton for a very basic box.
The downsides of it were no power steering. she was very slow especially up hills. The centre of gravity being high means you have to corner dead slow as it feels unstsble - this was likely worse because I only travelled one, turning left wasn't so bad but turning right not so nice.
I've recently upgraded to a Renault master which is much nicer to drive although I have to keep reminding myself it's a lorry not a car!
 
We have a couple we use for smaller bale deliveries, I wouldn't want to put a horse on them. Our mechanic calls them 'Lucky Dip Vans'!
 
I have an LDV on my 3.5 ton horse box. I stick to one horse due to weight concerns but the only way to really know is of course to use a weigh bridge. I have an R reg. I changed from a transit a few years ago to the LDV and the difference between the two is marked. The LDV has much more power, although the transit was nicer to drive. I have no issues with my LDV apart from its age. As a short distance and low usage box I would recommend it. Although again if you want to transport two horses you would need to check your weights. Its cheap to drive and cheap to fix and so far has done really well. We can not all afford expensive, wonderful boxes.
 
If you tow, have you considered an equi trek trailer? I think as they are towed so you don't have to factor in human weight etc and you can always put tack in your towing vehicle they have a better payload than the 3.5t van but still have living?
 
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