Life and horse trailers.....kicking around options

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Rider’s terror as jack-knifed trailer overturns with horse inside - Horse & Hound

‘I knew it was happening, I could see the trailer going behind me and there was nothing I could do’
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This was a Land rover with a single horse. So not a combination likely to be outrageously mismatched weigh wise. Thankfully horse and all other road users walked away pretty much unscathed. So no guarantees it won't happen even when you have a suitable towing vehicle but I can say that the heavier your tow vehicle in relation to your trailer the less likely it is to start snaking in the first place and if it does start the more likely you are to be able to correct it.
 
Tiddlypom said:
Just to reiterate that the OP is very wise to enquire as to what will safely tow the load she requires. Not all tow cars are equal no matter what the theoretical tow limit on them is, though her Yeti ought to be a good ‘un.

What can happen when it goes wrong and the tail wags the dog. Incredibly, neither the farmer driving the 4x4 nor the cattle in the trailer were seriously injured. This was last year on a dual carriageway not far from here. The combination stated to snake and then went over.

Incidentally, another shout out for the sturdy build of Ifor trailers - the cattle were contained in the trailer.

Never be complacent when towing.

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That looked like the trailer we used to have on the farm. The top was detachable so the wheels were underneath rather than on the side and as my husband found out, if the cattle start moving they can cause the trailer to snake. Happened with him going down a hill on the way to market. Fortunately only spun him round and he ended up facing back up the hill. He was towing with a tractor.
 
Errin Paddywack said:
That looked like the trailer we used to have on the farm. The top was detachable so the wheels were underneath rather than on the side and as my husband found out, if the cattle start moving they can cause the trailer to snake. Happened with him going down a hill on the way to market. Fortunately only spun him round and he ended up facing back up the hill. He was towing with a tractor.
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Frightening, and cattle really do move about with a lot of shifting bulk. We’ve got a big Nugent atm, seems better ventilation and light than Ifors, no obvious difference to stability, very noisy.
 
When i was very young i had to drive a big lorry to move the cattle

The first lesson was not throwing them around, the second was how it felt when they all moved to one side of the lorry, at the same time, you could really feel it de stabilze

The reason for partitions is associated with steadying the load and safety when two horses are travelling together
 
Snaking:
- excess speed;
- road conditions;
- tyre conditions;
- unstable load;
- wind;
- the sucking effect from passing HGVs;
- wheel ruts on the ‘slow lane’ of motorways;
- potholes;
- corners and any sudden movements;
etc.

A heavier, longer tow vehicle helps, but being careful anyway is definitely the way to go!
 
My first trailer was a converted pony trailer with a higher roof, it was timber. I avoided motorways, but I only wanted to go to local things - shows, riding club, out for hacks. It would only ever be large enough for one horse, but he used to stand diagonally across it and it was really quite useful to have the extra width for saddling inside the trailer for instance, or I could tack up before travelling and there was no partition to get caught on. I had a Land Rover, which was very, very slow and the steering had a mind of its own, so I went very slowly (sorry traffic) but for what I wanted it suited.

I bought a Bateson when I came into some money.
 
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