Finding Towing Vehicle for Horse Trailer

carringb wrote:

Angst wrote:


What overloaded tow vehicle? We haven't bought one yet and I'm making inquiry here and elsewhere to be sure we get the appropriate vehicle. Also, you seem to presume that I've never towed a trailer before. That would be a mistake. As to experience with the given trailer/vehicle combo, you seem to think that I won't practice with it or that somehow my 40+ years of driving various rigs won't prefigure in being able/confident in managing our future rig. While I do appreciate your concern, I think perhaps it's a tad misplaced. Though I suppose I could be wrong. Humm, and what's this I hear about the vehicle and/or rig not getting regular maintenance? Please, do pass along that crystal ball of yours, I would come in handy ;)

Sorry, I didn't mean to sound presumptuous. My point was that overloading an Expedition with high tongue weight, won't be any safer just because it will only be used for emergencies.

I just think your probably of success will be much higher with a suitable vehicle, that you can use more than just once a decade for emergency evacuations. Having prior towing experience may not translate into being fully comfortable with a two vehicle you seldom tow with. You're right, I have no idea what your maintenance regiments are, but I know how easy it is to let an extra vehicle sit longer unused than I ever anticipated.

As mentioned, most pickups will be able to manage that tongue weight better. If you need to be able to haul your whole family along with the horses, what about a van? That opens up many more models with suitable payloads.

PS - the company I worked for has done several "cleanups" from horse towing gone wrong. The worst one I did was after a horse panicked when the trailer started swaying. The driver got the trailer under control, but the horse tried to exit through the window, severing its carotid.

Thanks for the very kind reply, carringb, much appreciated. And point taken re. amount of use (little or a lot) doesn't necessarily determine how safe/unsafe a particular rig might be.

So, what SUV, if any, would you recommend? An Excursion over an Expedition? A Suburban 2500 over 1500? Both the larger vehicles have tow ratings running from 11k - 12k (at the upper end models), 3/4 ton and very large payload ratings (over 1900/2800lbs)