what do you think of these 3.5ton lorries please?

I have a van type converted by Marlborough and its exactly like the one in the first link except mine has 3 windows (2 at the front, 1 at the back). I really like it and so do all the horses. Easy to drive and maintain and in my opinion much safer than trailers. Mine has a reinforced bulk head, full length heavy duty partition and full padding throughout.

They really are much sturdier then they look and due to their low centre of gravity they don’t rock much at all. We have travelled several youngsters many miles, some who had never travelled before and all settled down well and came off cool and calm.

Things I wish I could change:

Payload obviously! But as long as only travelling one, not a problem.

Breast bar. Mine is not removable but we have overcome this by putting up standard weaving grills (they are heavy though and of course add to the overall weight).

Ramp door. Mine lifts up and as others have said this can be a problem with a tricky/nervous loader.

Height. Mine is supposed to carry a 16.2 but in realty 15.2 is its comfortable limit. No way would it fit a 17.2.

What it looks like. Visually I do prefer the look of the coach built ones. Not only do they look nicer but I do feel you would get more respect on the roads. Despite ours having 'HORSES' plastered all over it drivers tend to treat it as a normal van.

As with everything you have to compromise. In an ideal world i would love to have an all singing and dancing brand new 7.5 tonne complete with full living, CCTV, a billion tack boxes, horse shower and a chauffer of course, but at the end of the day you get the best you can.
 
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My husband & I build 3.5 ton horseboxes on extra high top LWB Renault Master vans they are ideal for day use and young people who cannot drive a 7.5 ton without taking a test. I personally have used them to take our ponies to shows the largest being 15hh and they have been adequate, we have sold them to people with 16hh horses but we always say about the weight, one of my ponies actually travels better in one of these than my lorry maybe because they are lower to the ground there isnt so much movement. They are fashionable at the moment and are very easy to drive the low ramp is inviting but you do have to be careful about the weight none of them will take 2 horses with tack, rugs, water & passengers the payload is approx 1200kg.
 
The transporter I used to bring ponies back from Devon to Surrey used one of these. Was an ok fit for them (Dartmoor colt and 14.3hh arab) but I wouldn't want to put a bigger horse in them.

Yes they are quicker (we left 20mins after the transporter and even going 80mph in the car she got to my yard before us - but that's another story!!) but if they are well reinforced then the payload is compromised.

We used to own a VWLT35 but upgraded 6 years ago to a 6t Iveco and I'm so pleased we did. Lovely lorry, space for day living etc and no need to worry about payload.

Easy to drive too - I drove it on L plates until the rules changed and have just shelled out £1k to do a course and my test (starts next week so fingers crossed I pass and can stop hassling my mother to drive me places!)
 
My first thoughts were that it looked quite nice and really good pay load! For a van as I always thought van converts could only take tiny ponies.
Im not too sure I would want to travel a 16hh+ in it though. 2bh I couldnt make a proper judgement without looking in person at size as it could be decieving as that 17.1hh doesnt exactly looked squeezed in!
my mum said what about headroom and it does look a bit tight. I think if you had a big horse that likes to stick his head in the air like a giraffe or liked standing on his back legs then probably not a good choice.

Im not too sure why people are saying get one with higher payload so can carry 2 horses when OP said she only wanted to carry 1 anyway?
 
I personally dont like them.

I hired one to pick up my Sec C colt, we were blown all over the place on th. motorway, he is a good traveller but he hated it and was kicking out every time we slowed down(can only imagine he was too busy bracing himself when we were going faster) and he managed to dent it on a 40 min journey costing me a small fortune to have fixed :(
 
Prince33Sp4rkle said:
http://www.cm-horseboxes.co.uk/

I would def want some sort of grill putting up to stop them trying to climb/crawl/jump in to the back space, but other than that,what are your thoughts please oh wise HHO'ers?

(Will def only be taking one horse, so dont worry about that!)
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Have a look at these sales@truLeisure.com we have one built on a brand new chassis cab Renault Master. Its brilliant with 7.6" head room easy loading and plenty of storage space. They do the small vans as in your link but also make to order the larger 3.5 ton which is what we have. It has 5 windows plus the one from the cab through to the horse area so I can see madam standing there. It is well reinforced where the back end goes so if they kick although there is a sudden noise they cannot kick through. They are far sturdier built than most other 3.5 ton boxes. We have the extended living area with a sink and a tack cupboard and a long bench seat with a full trunk for storage underneath.

They will put up a weaving grill if you need this, we personally dont leave madam as she is a bit of a baby and keeps shouting but it depends on the individual horse very much. Large luton for storage which you dont get on a cut and shut van conversion. Another person I know who has one has a 16.3 horse who fits in with no problems.

All in all it was a very good buy and we are very pleased with it.
 
I don't mind them. I have travelled my 16.1 TB xLuso in one with my friends 15.1 (and yes, I realise now that we likely would have been over the payload - although only went to training so not much stuff on board). He travelled fine in it, loaded first time and didn't seem to bother him at all - did have cctv though which was handy.

If it came to it though, I woudl buy a bigger one. We have a 7.5T which (fingers crossed!) I will be able to drive by the end of Jan after taking my HGV test. :)
 
I had a Renault Master, infact i still have it for sale, but i'm waiting til spring to sell it. I bought a 7.5ton lorry in the summer as now my daughter is competing more we need more room for storage and sleeping. I loved it, my horse is a 16hh welsh cob and he fitted in mine fine (It had the same space as a IW 505). both mine and my daughters horses would load themselves into it and every horse that ever travelled in it travelled well, infact i used to forget they were in it.

I must admit i do like my new box, but really have to think about my breaking as obviously they notice it more travelling sideways. People slag off the little boxes, but the van conversions are so low to the ground they don't move around at all. I wouldn't touch a transit with a barge poll, but still have a soft spot for my little purple van.
 
hmmmm, very split opinion then.

i dont think the loading would be an issue, CS does have to be blindfolded to load but as long as the faithful towel is in place will walk on easily, head held normally etc.

he is an excellent traveller, very quiet and doesnt kick/scrape etc when stood waiting at shows etc, so he isnt likely to do much damage day to day if you know what i mean.

i can see what people mean about being claustrophobic, but if you imagine how much space there is within the actual partitions of a herringbone lorry, its not that much more except headroom? and when stood at shows i will open the partition across to its widest fastening at the front so he has a bit more space to eat/chill etc (do that currently on my big lorry). so it is only headroom.

i am now wondering if it would be easier just to do my HGV......what puts me off is the increased cost of sevicing/plating/maintenance on a big lorry,compared to a smaller one. i obviously wont compromise on safety to save some money, and i guess that £10k i could spend on changing the lorry, will go a long way towards sevicing it over the comming years if i dont change it................aaaaaaaaaaaaagh.
 
We have a 7.5t lorry (actually 10t size but downgraded) and love that but anyway my yard owner has a 3.5t very similar to your first post and to be honest when i saw it i thought i would never put my horses in it as one dosent travel in trailers very well and thought he might be clastrophobic (spelling wrong sorry!) but when she offered me a lift somewhere i said ok and he went pretty much straight in (Loads straight into ours but hates trailers) and traveled great! Younger mare who has only ever been on large horse transporter and our box went in fine a traveled without a noise! All times there has been 2 horses in!

From the outside they look tiny but they are actually quite large and airy inside. Plenty of ventilation and windows. I went up to royal international in a friend 3.5t equitrek and loved it! So quiet and plenty of space, didnt even realise we had a horse in the back!

I used to hate them, and still hate conversions and dodgey lorrys but these seem to be good for a small box! Very easy for one person and one horse to sort out!
 
I've got one and I travel a 15.3hh and a 16.1hh (not together obviously!). The 15.3hh looks bigger in it as he has a long neck and is heavier, but the 16.1hh has a short neck and looks like a little doll. Both travel well in it. It has a reinforced bulkhead, etc. I have recently had to travel 150 miles each way to horse hospital with the 16.1hh mare in - there and back four times! And even though you can hear everything the horses do in there, we never heard a peep from her. She never sweats, and was a very very poor loader when we got her. She walks in now calmly and loves going on journeys!
I find one of the pros, is that you can see exactly what the horse is doing, and hear it as well. I know a few people who have had lorries and the horse has gone down in the lorry and they weren't aware of it until they reached their destination, because they couldn't hear what was going on. Some of these have become bad loaders and severely injured.
I also have a friend with a 5.5t - the actual payload is only a couple of hundred more kilos than mine, because the whole lorry is heavier, so people who think they are definitely safe in a 5.5t or 6t with two horses in, are sometimes sadly wrong.

Whatever 3.5t you go for, whether van conversion or coachbuilt, the chassis is irrelevant. They are both built to carry 3.5t gross. However I wouldn't travel anything bigger than 16.2hh in it.
 
OneInAMillion said:
I would rather have a 4 x 4 and trailer!
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Each to their own! Having lost a horse in a trailer accident you couldn't pay me enough to make me put one of my girls in one of those deathtraps on wheels. At least I know my 3.5t has been reinforced, is stable on the road, and I can see and hear exactly what the girls are doing (no I do not travel them together now the youngster is bigger and heavier).
 
1.25T payload will still be overweight with two big horses, tack, hay, water and you, as a 16.2hh is 600kg or more, a skinny adult is 50kg minimum, tack for 2 horses and hay prob 10kg... and so on.

So it's a lot of money to only be able to take one horse. We looked into these seriously as I have a post 1997 licence, but I had a go at driving our 6.5T lorry last weekend and LOVED it. So much easier than driving a car even, so I'm going to have lessons and take my lorry test. Our lorry doesn't cost more than one of those vans to run either, as it's basic and weighs only about 3.5T empty. Still got some living, luton, room for 3 horses (and payload for those), plus walk-through to horses.

Many people are happy with what you're looking at, but I'm not sure they have the comp ambitions you do. What about stay-away shows? Would you hire one then?
 
3.5 ton = very expensive poor value and not very pratical... lets have a campain ... real lorrys for real horses!!!!! and leave these toy lorrys as builders vans and not to convert them to shoe horn a unfortunate wb, cob, id, tb etc in them and lets not forget the non riding humans having to huddle in that tiny space at the back with hay, tack and horse pee!!!!:D
 
realistically, dressage doesnt involve many stay away shows, and the shows that are, are only one night.
sis and i are happy to either camp in a tent, or shove camp beds in horse area of lorry in summer, and in winter we book in to a travelodge lol! (currently we have to book in to a travelodge whenever we stay away because mum drives and her bad back wont allow her to sleep in the lorry)so there wont be much difference there???

at worst, ill need to do one overnight at summer regionals, and one or two nights should we ever get to the nationals(!). even as he goes up the grades ill mostly be only doing one or two days at premier leagues as he' never going to be a top national horse.

i dont do the winter qual, thus dont do the winter regionals, and if we ever qual for the petplan finals, by April i think you could just about sleep in the lorry/camp.

i do knwo what you mean though and i am starting to think of calling the whole idea off and booking my HGV tuiton!
 
I too had reservations about these, but when selling my old lorry quicker that I thought could not find anything to replace it other than one of these. I needed transport pronto so bought a van conversion with the thought of replacing it when I could find a 'proper' lorry.

However 3 yrs later I still have have my van conversion, and love it. It is way stronger and more stable than a trailer and both mine travel beautifully in it - in fact every horse I have put in it has loaded and travelled well.

I have a 14.2hh and a 15hh so both fit very comfortably in it, but would not use it for a horse over 16hh.

Mine was professionally converted, has roof vents as well as windows, a re-inforced bulk head, and a observation window between the cab and body so am always aware of how the horses are travelling.

It is easy to park, especially on hunting days as can pop neatly on a verge, or squeeze into tight spaces as needed. It has been 100% reliable and all maintenance done via the same garage that looks after our cars. It is also economical to run so would recommend.
 
As everyone has said......NO!!!

My 17.1 wouldn't sandwich in one of those!

7ft 2 in long! My lad takes a 7ft rug so would be crowbarring him in!

Also would be getting him to go in on his knees as the 7ft 5 in headroom would not be enough - he's got 9 foot currently and his ears do touch!
 
Hi,

I don't have a conversion but have had a coach built 3.5 ton lorry for the last 10 years!
Personally have found all horses travel brilliantly ( including a 3 year old homebred who had never been in a lorry in her life), highly economical to run and if only taking one horse may be perfect for you!
There seems to be a lot of negativity, but it is possible to have problems with any form of horse transport and I wouldn't put my horses in some of the much larger lorries I see at shows - size is not always confirmation of safety!
If you can stretch to it then a coachbuilt rather than conversion may give your horse more space and head height - I have a 16.2 WB traveling in mine and he has loads of room, is very happy and never stressed. I have a Marlborough and it is very light ( lots of windows and 2 roof light thingys) and airy and also robust, I did sell my previous one for less than your budget and again it was coachbuilt, in very good condition and worked very well. Good luck in your search!
 
hi I personally wouldn't go for a conversion. I would choose a lorry purpose built for horses like an equitrek. My 17.2 dutch warmblood mare is currently in a 7ft rug and fits beautifully with extra roon at the shoulders and bum. Real lorries for real horse people not everyone has the grandfathers rights to drive a 7.5 tonne because the pasted their test before 1997. I have done my 18tonne test and it really isn't easy and i have been driving them round the yard for about a year. 3.5 tonne-MOT anything bigger -Plating. MOT=£50 roughly Plating=£95 plus pounds and with all the regulations including LEZ i would be careful with the lorries that are bought and VOSA were out in force last year clamping down at hickstead blenheim, burghley to name but a few.
 
I have just taken my HGV and it cost me £1300 for medical, theory, lessons and practical. I now have it for life so well worth it, plus if you ever start 'collecting' horses as I seem to :o you can then take more than one big horse.

3.5t are very expensive for what they are IMO, you could get a very nice LGV/HGV for your budget.
 
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