Trailer Questions, please help.

[TicTac]

I know that these sort of questions have been asked many times before but untill it actually affects you, it's not a subject to take much interest in,

However, now I need as much info as poss please

I am looking to buy a trailer and am thinking of the following. A Bateson Deauville, an Ifor Williams or a wessex. My horses are 2 x well built 16.2 and I have around £4000 ( would prefer new one)

I need one that can offer as much internal space as possible, and gives a good ride for my horses and is light inside. All this is most important as my mare has only ever travelled in a lorry upto now.

Is it adviseable to shut the rear top doors when travelling ( providing adequate ventilation etc) as I'm not too sure if my mare would be worry if she could see the traffic behind.

I would be interested to hear your views and experiences, good or bad please.

Thank you

 

[sonjafoers]

You will get lots of mixed views on this, but here is my experience in brief.

I had an Ifor Williams 510 which was great, plenty of room and horses travelled really well in it. My friend had a 505 and I really don't think it would be big enough for what you want.

When my 510 died I bought a 511 and to keep the story short I had real problems with it, not only with the quality of it but one of my horses started sweating up when travelling which she had never done before. I put it down to her hunting quite a bit more than previously & assumed she was getting into a state thinking she was going hunting everytime she loaded.

After a year or so I had to get rid of the 511 due to too many problems with it & got an Equi-Trek. I love it and my 'sweaty' girl now doesn't sweat up at all so it is probable that she didn't like the ride in the 511. There have been many horror stories about them and I would advise you to steer clear just in case you have problems too.

I know you say you would prefer a new trailer but you should get a really good 510 for £4,000 so if you decide on Ifor Williams then I would settle for a 2nd hand 510. I have no experience of Rice but hear they are very good - not sure of price though.

With regards to travelling with rear doors closed I would advise against it, you can close one of them in really bad weather but other than that always keep them both open.

Good luck in your search

 

[dozzie]

I dont know about the trailers you are looking at but i have the Rice B60 and the spec is great for bigger 16.2hh. It is supposed to carry 2x 17.2hh.

The Rice Richardson range has a cheaper version with same spec but has 7'8 headroom which is possibly more than you need but you do really need 7'6 headroom for 16.2hh IMO. Definitely worth a look at the Rice Richardson. .

When I bought mine I downloaded all the specs for the different makes and decided what I wanted. I went for wider and longer with 7'6 headroom hence the B60 but i think the Ifor 511 is similar.

Re the back doors, it wont matter if you shut them although I would want some ventilation so make sure there are vents somewhere else. You will probably find your mare is ok with the cars behind her. I would also want a half partition with something to stop them eating each other.