Towing horses behind your motorhome.

Many of the motor homes have an extension off the rear of the vehicle chassis that derates towing to 3500 lbs or 5000 lbs due to its strength. However, there are a number of E450 based Class C's that have a 7500 lb rating which would work for you. If your Class C is based off one of the one-ton or smaller vans, you will be overloading the chassis extension and possibly the rear axle.

I went through this process a few years ago because I town a heavy enclosed trailer behind me when we RV. I would have been on the edge or over of the limit of the E450 and I did not want to go with a large Super C or Diesel Pusher. We ended up with a truck camper on a pickup truck that could still pull the trailer behind it. Even with the larger truck and camper combination we will now run, the overall RV length will be under 26' and with trailer in tow still under 50'.

It's a short Class C (24') so the concerns about the frame aren't quite as relevant as they would be on a 32' motorhome.

If it has any frame extensions at all, they are very short, and as strong as you can expect them to possibly be.

Being a shorter unit, it is also much lighter. I would not want to tow that much trailer behind a 32' class C which would already be right at or over the rear tire capacity.

Well we plan on it, we just traded off a gooseneck trailer and switched to a motor home. It will only pull 2 horses and we need a WD hitch and brakes installed. It does have a 7500# tow rating and I should be well under with an aluminum trailer. I don't feel totally comfortable with the switch but we don't haul like we used to. I will say I know they are heavier now but in the 70's, 80's many people did it, if they had $$$. I'm not sure us horse show people weren't the first with fifth wheel LQ trailers out of necessity. I know we had a homemade one in the early 70's. They also used 4 horse steel trailers too, I showed for years and never heard of wrecks.

My vet tows with a 5000# Sunseeker, told me I should. I was afraid so we upgraded to one I think will work out fine. I also know someone who tows 4 with a Chevy 350 older short MH, I know it's not rated for that but he does.

Thank you all for your comments. I have been talking to Thor directly so I should know more shortly.
In regards to the exhaust issue there isn't an issue as the horses are enclosed in their trailer and not breathing anything worse than we are!

calamity

mkirsch wrote:
It's a short Class C (24') so the concerns about the frame aren't quite as relevant as they would be on a 32' motorhome.

If it has any frame extensions at all, they are very short, and as strong as you can expect them to possibly be.

Being a shorter unit, it is also much lighter. I would not want to tow that much trailer behind a 32' class C which would already be right at or over the rear tire capacity.

I disagree with this. 24' class Cs have long frame extensions similar to a 32', the extra length of the 32' is mostly ahead of the rear axle.

People tow horses, race cars and who knows what behind Class Cs all the time.
It does work. Now, I sure as heck won't do it, it does tend to screw up the rear of the coach because it overstresses the wimpy frame extensions and they handle terribly because the wheelbase is so short compared to how long the rear overhang is, the hitch is gonna be at least ten feet behind the rear axle if not more.

I even tried towing with similar length class As and went back to a dually pickup and camper because the motorhomes are such lousy tow rigs.
But it does work. Have at it.

Oh and about the horses breathing exhaust fumes... that's ridiculous. ALL horse trailers go behind trucks!! I haul 14 at a time in a very large horse transport truck, expensive show horses, sometimes even Bill Gates' wife's horse. What are you suggesting, that people tow horses behind their Teslas?

RoyF wrote:
What about your engine exhaust? Won't the horses be breathing exhaust fumes?

Well if the OP uses a longer rope on both of them then they would be far enough behind the RV to stay away from the fumes...course he's not going to be able to go very fast, wouldn't want to wear the horses out by making them run all the way to the campground!

I tow horses behind my pickup with a large TC in the bed all the time. Best addition was aTadibrothers camera system. easy install, wireless. I wish I had ordered the three camera system instead of two. One on the camper that I can tilt down to see the hich ball while hooking up and another to watch the horses inside the trailer. I would like one on the rear of the trailer to see traffic. The cameras operate whether going foreward or backing up. They have miltary grade night vision so I can see the horses even in the dark and backing up at night is a breeze with no blind spots.