From: doconnor@sedona.intel.com (Dennis O'Connor)
Subject: Re: trucks?
Organization: Intel i960(tm) Architecture
	<Sep11.174831.17338@yuma.ACNS.ColoState.EDU>
	<1992Sep15.152315.4096@lut.ac.uk>
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 22:13:12 GMT


I'd like to apologize in advance for the emphatic tone of this post.
I've seen two many Ford Escort wagons with class III hitches towing
a two-horse and bobbing and weaving down the highway. 

M.J.Rooth@lut.ac.uk writes:
] I've been following this thread in total awe!:-)What *are* you people
] towing?:-)Yes,it would seem our trailers are considerably lighter than
] yours.On the other hand,they are probably more fully equipped(yours,I
] mean) Ours are,typically,ramp at the back,angled ramp at the front,
] room for two horses,and nowt else!

The trailer weight is a secondary issue. The main issue is the weight
of the horses themselves. Each horse is about 1000lbs ( 450 kilograms ).
The center of gravity of this weight is about 4' off the floor of the
tralier, and it MOVES. This last is the most important thing to
remember : the weight of a horse will shift during towing.

E.g. Our 4-horse semi-stock trailer is steel, yet weighs only 2400 lbs.
I'm extremely pleased that it's got a 8-foot wide wheelbase, BTW.

Imagine two horses in a light trailer. Suddenly the driver of
the two vehicle has to do an emergency lane change. The horses
lean against the side of the trailer : if the lane change is fast
enough, and the trailer light enogh, and the horses heavy enough,
the trailer will try to flip onto it's side. A heavy tow vehicle
with a class IV ( load-distributing ) hitch can help prevent this flip.
A lighter vehicle will just flip with the trailer.

Same load, imagine a panic stop. If the horses and trailer significantly
outmass the tow vehicle, forget about controlling the stop : the trailer
and horses will just shove the tow vehicle out of the way.

Then there's normal horse moving around. If a horse freaks out
for some reason, the violent movement will make a light vehicle
hard to control. Even with our 4-horse and Ford F150, we feel
it every time one of our horses changes position ( they ride free,
one in the front half, one in the back ).

] do as long hauls though.Yes,Jill,we do tow with the family car,but
] Mercs and Volvos are pretty well out of sight of most folk.The Volvo
] Estate is considered a *very* good towing vehcle.A lot of folk use a
] car of between 1600cc and 2000cc.My own vehicle is a 21yr old Short
] Wheelbase Diesel Land Rover.2286cc,and I towed quite a bit last year.
] Provided you arent in a hurry(and with horses on board you shouldnt
] be)the old girl is perfectly adequate.

I disagree. Sometimes the only way out of a dangerous situation 
( like some idiot changing lanes into the side of your huge
safety-orange horse trailer because he or she doesn't see it :
it's happened to our big red Ford truck ! ) is to FLOOR IT.
A big engine with an automatic tranny will, in a split second,
pull you away from whatever the problem is. A 2.0L engine won't.

] I think the answer is that different scenes produce different 
] answers to the problem.

No, the answer is that the world isn't perfect. Lots of people
tow with light vehicles, true. But it's also true that many
state troopers can tell you stories of euthanizing horse with
their service revolver after a jackknife or flip. 

] Bear in ] mind too that petrol costs around $5 a gallon over here,
] and you begin to see why we dont run big engines:-)

Maybe it's because I'm not poor, but my opinion is : if you
can't afford to properly care for a horse, don't own one.
If you can't afford a proper tow vehicle, don't tow : hire
or rent a tow vehicle instead.

] We also stay on back roads.English back roads are fairly quiet,but
] are narrow and twisty,so a big trailer would be a bind.Our trailers
] weigh in at about 3/4 of a ton empty,I would say.

As I said, my 4-horse only weight 2400lbs. It's the horses that
are the problem, not the trailer. And back-roads are much more
dangerous ( in accidents per vehicle-mile ) than interstates.

To sum it up :

   When it comes to stability, their is NO SUBSTITUTE for
   a long, wide wheelbase and a lot of mass set low.

   When it comes to accident avoidance, power will save
   you as often as the brakes will.

   

--
Dennis O'Connor			doconnor@sedona.intel.com
Newsgroups: rec.equestrian