NMace wrote:
I, too, started hauling horses and cattle in the 1960's. And unlike Wildfire, I have seen 6 accidents involving death of horses, cattle, dogs, and humans. And have friends and family involved in another dozen. About 1/2 were because of being overloaded. I have watch a couple hundred horse trailers dangerously sway when in high wind, the live cargo moved or passed by an 18 wheeler.
I don't know if this "trumps" his experience, but my mileage hauling animals is well over 500,000 miles. Some in big rigs, most in pick-ups. And I recommend enough truck and a gooseneck with living quarters.
This is exactly why I wrote :"This is why I don't post on forums very much and I'm sure that's true for others as well. The OP has asked a specific question and specific answers from those who know what they're talking about would be nice so the OP can make an informed decision. Posting figures to prove your opinion correct is not helpful."
You have to graduate to cattle, dogs and humans to try to prove a point that has no information relative to the OP questions.
And, you do know how many miles that divides down for each year if you are spanning 50 years and have to include "animals" to get that. FYI, I've been hauling cattle all my driving life, too. That's not relevant to this conversation.
It seems out of whack to suggest that it's so horribly dangerous, even though the weights posted are within specs and even more difficult to swallow the enormous amounts of accidents witnessed yet not true for me or my friends and family. Yet we all have similar hauling experiences. So I called my brother today, who retired with over 4 million miles as a Wal-Mart truck driver and that does not include the miles as an independent for 10 years prior. He knows how much HORSE hauling I've done and laughed out loud at 500,000 miles over the course of 50 years. I asked him how many horse trailer accidents he saw while driving the semi (something that sticks in his mind since he has a sibling well traveled with horses)and he said maybe 2. No 2 horse trailers involved. It seemed like they were more like stock trailers. What he saw a lot were bumper pull camp trailers and motor homes accidents and most were during heavy winds.
I fail to see how any of this helps someone determine if extending a tongue on a 2 horse and/or using an 18" ball mount is safe.
Living quarter trailers are NOT the only safe way to pull a horse down the road. You can't quote credible statistics that prove otherwise, only strong personal opinions. Everyone chooses what they have based on need, affordability and lifestyle. The truck camper allows for camping without hauling a whole lot of extra trailer (aka living quarters), camping with horses, empty pickup bed for hauling a gooseneck with hay or tractor on board, just a 2 horse trailer for quick trips for conditioning rides and so on. It has worked and still works, safely. I'm sure farmerjon can attest to that, too.
