Trailer Opinions: Single or Double?

Is there any point having a double if you only have one horse?
It might be good for helping other people go to shows etc if you're going to the same one, but I would say get a single.
 
Depends what your towing it with.
We have a ford modeo, so can ONLY use a single, which we love anyway and suits our needs.
IF we could ever get a beefy number to tow, then I might consider a double ifor, but for now thats not an option.
Doubles have the advantage over singles to not only carry another horse, but to put all your stuff! But they both tow well generally as modern trailers are so light yet well balanced.
 
Personally I would be buying a double. It is more likely to hold its price as most people look to buy doubles. Single trailors are not as sought after and therefore will not sell on as well.
 
ttt said:
Personally I would be buying a double. It is more likely to hold its price as most people look to buy doubles. Single trailors are not as sought after and therefore will not sell on as well.
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Wot?!? Good single trailers are like hens teeth - it took me months to find mine and I guarantee you that you won't have trouble selling it on.

A single will hold its price very well, and for the one horse owner they're brilliant, especially if, like I do, you have to go everywhere alone. You can manoevre them by hand, they are not wider than the towing vehicle and the horse has more room than on one side of a double. The weight is always centrally balanced and there's not as much of them to clean!
 
If your planning on towing with a Golf then you shouldn't get any trailer!!!! For both your own safety and that of other road users.
 
Sorry, missed the bit about the Golf. I think you may struggle to find any trailer that can be legally towed by a Golf. I'm not very up on how you work it all out, but if you search on other trailer posts you should find that other people have posted about it.

You may need to do your calculations and then work out if you need a new towing vehicle as well........
 
Chunkie said:
Wot?!? Good single trailers are like hens teeth - it took me months to find mine and I guarantee you that you won't have trouble selling it on.

A single will hold its price very well, and for the one horse owner they're brilliant, especially if, like I do, you have to go everywhere alone. You can manoevre them by hand, they are not wider than the towing vehicle and the horse has more room than on one side of a double. The weight is always centrally balanced and there's not as much of them to clean!
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Agree with this- I tried to find a second hand trailer but the ones I eventually found were nearly the same price as new, so I ended up buying new. I personally find them much easier than a double to tow as someone else already said, they are not wider than the towing vehicle. Max laden weight of mine is 1900kg (its an Ifor Williams) so your car would need to have at least that as towing capacity. I tow with a Ford Kuga, which wouldn't quite be able to tow a double anyway.
 
The other thing that seems to be left out when discussing towing vehicles is the length. I find that the longer the towing vehicle is, the more stable the whole rig is. Having towed with a SWB landy, a disco, an estate car and a pick up, I find that the trailer is most stable behind the pick up even though both land rovers had more towing capacity IMO this is because it is the longest.

On this basis even IF a golf had the capacity to tow a trailer I wouldn't use it because it is so short.
 
I have an old Sinclair double trailer, which I use without the partition as I have had a one piece breast bar specially made. The trailer is very light, but as I have an Audi A4 estate, I would only ever tow my 15hh section d short distances in it. He's always been absolutely fine and the car tows it easily. I wouldn't put two horses in it with my car though. So, a lightweight double trailer with one horse could work. However, a Golf wouldn't be an ideal towing vehicle I'd have thought.

I am just about to change my car for a Golf funnily enough, and have accepted my towing days are over once it arrives. I'm keeping my trailer though, as YO has said I can borrow her Range Rover if I need to take my horse out.
 
In that case I would go with a lightweight single, and then look at some of the bigger estate cars - volvo, Merc, BMW, Subaru etc.

You will have be very careful though as you have to add Weight of horse + weight of trailer + weight of tack, water, hay/feed + weight of passengers (ie you and your mum) = weight car will be towing. I *think* the most you'll get out of an estate is about 1800kg - 525kg for your horse = 1275kg for everything else including trailer.
 
When I was looking to buy a trailer I searched high & low to find a second hand single but we couldn't find one anywhere! We had been borrowing the model before the one you're looking at and it suited us down to the ground as we only have a small 4x4. By chance we then found an old double trailer which was the same weight as the single trailer(VERY hard to find!) It's actually worked out better as the partition is wooden so we use the spare side for rugs and stuff :)

I wouldn't tow with a Golf I'm afraid! I have a clio sx which is the most powerful model of the clio and it could tow my horsebox unladen but there's no point in spending money to put a tow bar on it! We tow with a Rav4, contrary to some people's opinions but we do comply with the weights. Wouldn't tow a double Ifor though because that would be too heavy.
 
can anyone recommend a good 4x4 then?

p.s we were told by a good friend that we would manage with our Golf :confused:it did a lot better than some our our friends 4x4's
 
In that case I would be looking at a vehicle with a minimum towing capacity of 2000kg. That leaves 400kg for you, your mum, your tack, rugs water etc. and also leaves you with some spare weight for any unforeseen extras. It is NEVER a good idea to be on the weight limits!

ETA: sorry cross posted. When you say golf I assume you mean one of these?
 
For saftey's sake you'd be better with a 4x4. The Golf, like my Clio could probably pull a trailer but, you're very likely to be overweight which could cause your trailer to wave going at speed on the motorway. Also your brakes would be a lot less efficient and you'd be putting a hell of alot of strain on you car. The trailer and horse is going to be weighing more than the car at a whole! Also what if you want to go to a show in a field? Chances of you getting stuck in mud are very high!

I'd really look into 4x4 if you're going to get one. You get a lot of look-a-like 4x4s out there. There's one, I'm not sure of the make but it's only a 2 seater and I seen someone pulling a double ifor with 2 horses in it and the towbar and the coupling was down in a V shape! Very dangerous and illegal!
 
If you tow with a golf then you are just ASKING for trouble. I had a major trailer accident with a friend who was towing with a land rover, a car any lighter than that would have flipped with the trailer and it all would have been MUCH worse. Get a 4x4, and not one of those light sporty ones, a proper one that's heavy enough and big enough for the job.
 
erm im not sure of the budget but it would be used everyday for my mum to drive a small distance to the train station and at nights again for short distances to see our lad
 
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