Will new horse fit in my box?

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missmischief

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I am looking to possibly buy a new horse. He is a big 16'3. My horsebox is a Ford Transit with old style Ifor williams conversion. When I bought it I was told it would take 2 x 16'2s I only have a 15hh mare so it's been fine. The floor to ceiling height is 7' and the length from breast bar to back is 6'. Current owner travels him happily in an Ifor Williams 505 trailer and I have checked out the sizes on the web. It appears to be 1" higher and 1" longer than mine. Thoughts please as I don't want to buy a horse I can't travel or scare him if it's too small for him. Alternatively I don't want to lose a good horse. Does a couple of inches really make that much difference? No pun intended ladies. Ha!:)
 
I have a Vauxhall Movano conversion - internal headroom 7ft - my 16.2hh mare travels really well in it. I used a poll guard on her at first, but don't bother at all now. However I used to travel my 15.3hh in it and he looked huge in it, but he had long back, long neck whereas the 16.2hh is very short coupled and short neck.....
 
sister in law has just got a horse coming in at 17,3 and of because ifor state that said trailer is for up to 17,2 poor husband now has to go horsebox shopping. i think you have to take each horse and the trailer/box you want to travel them in on a case by case. Manufacturers put max heights to cover their backsides!
 
Not sure my husband would survive the heart attack it would give him if I said we need a new box to go with the new horse!! He would probs say buy a smaller horse. Ha! Difficult to know what's best to do!! Mmm
 
trust me, my answer would be hack. different horses require different things. in my flying days we walked a 17 hand horse into a jet stall that a 14 hand pony would not go into because the roof was too low!!
 
I've got a 17 hander and a 17.2...had to wait for ages to find a cheapish trailer that could fit comfortably - I was specfically looking for at least a 7ft 3/7ft 4 headroom.

Though was a little paranoid as I do know of a horse who died of a blood clot after smacking its head on horsebox roof....
 
I would guess that he would be a bit cramped, can you adjust partitions so that he will go diagonaly into the box, he will have more room length ways if you can do this?
 
Thanks for comments, think I'm going too look for a bigger box as even if he goes without the partition it would mean we could not take both horses. Seems a few around that are 7'4 - 7'8 so won't chance it.
 
missmischief said:
Thanks for comments, think I'm going too look for a bigger box as even if he goes without the partition it would mean we could not take both horses. Seems a few around that are 7'4 - 7'8 so won't chance it.
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Weight wise there is no way a transit type box would be legally able to carry two anyway!!! asuming it is a 3.5T and the other horse is a normal size.

Plus the transit/ifor types are high up so stability would be a nightmare.

And the head height is too tight, really more suitable for ponies and small horses.

(sorry!)

Ideally you need something with more head height. Stability wise if budget will stretch something like a Renault Master type, as they are front wheel drive so can be slung lower as theres no big drivepost/pole going to the back wheels under the body. This also means head height can be a bit higher.

BUT these are still 3.5T lorries and unless the other horse is a falabella you will likely still be overweight carrying 2.

It is irrelevant what stalling is in it and remember that the weight quoted when it was new often doesnt include lots of the internals, fuel etc let alone tack, horses and people. Make sure you take it to a weighbridge before you buy it to check what weight it actually is, and subtract that from the 3.5T to see how much weight left for you horses tack water carriers etc.
 
Although you may find that he goes in I wouldnt risk it as Iachlandmarcus pointed out the weight issue is a big worry - you would be over weight but also very unstable. I had a ford transit with ifor williams back - horse loaded fine, travelled very very slowly (I mean crawling along) round a corner and I suspect he fell - was fine when I checked but when got to destination and had schooled wouldnt go back in to come home (3 hours later left him there overnight - still wouldnt go in next day so rode home).

Upshot is I dont think those boxes suit all horses. But .. when I sold mine it was no problem as loads of people interested - you may well get enough for an older 4x4 and ifor 510 or similar!
 
I had a similiar Ford transit conversion and we did travel a 16.3hh in it occasionally. However it was a very sensible traveller and had a low head carriage.

So with all of these things I would say it would depend on the horse...I would be tempted to ask the seller if you could try loading the horse in to it before making any decsisions.
 
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