We have historically stayed in hotels for shows. Debating getting a camper or a LQ trailer. We don’t show nonstop and spend all year on the road, usually about 8-12 weeks a year but hoping to be able to do more soon. Usually take about 4 horses but now some babies are getting older so we could potentially have more next year. A LQ trailer that would fit all our stuff, plus hay and shavings etc is a fortune, about 100K unless we find a used one! Trying to weigh pros and cons of having two trucks on the road (camper), a trailer with LQ (less living space than a camper and less space for our stuff) or just continue with the hotel route (spend a fortune on food, and no place to hang out during day between classes etc). Any thoughts or experiences, good and bad, would be great to hear. Also financial considerations welcome. I’m not sure it would really save us any money, we don’t stay at fancy hotels, and most places charge about $250 a week for the camper hookups at shows. TIA for any help!!
Love,love my LQ. Have used it a lot. Wish it were larger. Would not have a trailer without ever again.
I have done lq for 9 years and I love –
I don’t need much and love shows like Kentucky horse park
And other shows I can stay on grounds . How many people would stay in yours?
I don’t recommend to huge but what were you thinking?
I just went through the same process trying to sort out what to replace my little 3H trailer with. I have 4 that go to shows regularly and probably won’t exceed that for a few years.
But the big decision was - brand new 4H trailer or used 4H w/LQ trailer.
At the end of the day I had two big strikes against the LQ. The first was an issue that most don’t have to deal with - I have a ferry crossing to go to a show that increases somewhat exponentially as the trailer I’m hauling gets longer. The difference was something in the $30 each way range for the size difference between no LQ vs LQ. So $60/show and $600-ish per year (not counting clinics and other misc trips). The second was cost. The cost of a (nice) hotel room at an average horseshow is ~$100/nt or $500 for a one week show. Hookup at a horseshow averages $350 at a show. Not a lot less and if you add in the additional fuel and ferry, it doesn’t work out to be enough less to make it worthwhile.
But like you, I was on the fence because of the convenience of having a place to retreat to during the show day. That ceased to be a factor as I thought about it because I don’t ever have more than an hour or two between horses at a show, and that’s certainly not enough time that I feel like I could go relax in a camper area. Realistically, I’m at the rings watching competitors go to get a feel for my courses in any spare time I have. And the big shows have been adding more lounge-type areas so I can go sit in a comfy couch and watch the GP ring for the hour or two I do want to lounge.
Food was another factor - the idea of being able to make my own meals to save money. But again, I can get a hotel room with a kitchenette (and have on several occasions), and still find it easier to run through a fast food spot than make a meal myself. I do like the option for breakfast, but that’s about it.
I wish I had saved all of the calculations I did, because I had pages of dollar estimates based on my shows for the last couple of years. I expected that having the LQ (or camper) would be close to a breakeven, but ultimately it would have cost me more to have a LQ/camper than it does to stay in hotels. Maybe it would have worked out differently if I did more than 8-10 (ish) shows a year.
Miscellaneous factors that worked against the LQ too:
- in a hotel you have room service cleaning the room/sheets (etc.) daily. I wasn’t really digging the idea of having to clean out the camper or LQ after getting home. I’m bad enough about cleaning my trailer tackroom out after 2 weeks of showing!
- the convenience factor - I think that pulling out the LQ to haul out to a show would have impacted how willing I was to go to little schooling shows and local things heavily enough that I didn’t want the added disincentive. Even going from 3h to 4h has dissuaded me from popping a horse in the trailer to do something a few times. But YMMV greatly there if you’re better than me about getting out and about!
Price of the trailer wasn’t as big of a factor as I thought it would be. Looking at new (4H) versus used (4H LQ) there really wasn’t a huge price difference. The LQ was going to end up costing more, but not by a significant amount.
I still would really like to have a nice travel trailer/camper or LQ. But I don’t have a driver for a second vehicle, and I just don’t have the dollars to spend on it. If I win the lottery, though, I will for sure by a nice big one, and additionally hire someone to drive it for me and come along to the shows.
So all of that to say that I couldn’t justify it financially. It definitely didn’t pay for itself in any way and I’d rather spend those extra dollars on shows.
One of my riders has a LQ trailer but the advantage is she hauls a horse for me and I stay with her and my trailer hauls all the stuff as well as horses so there is room. On occasion we have gone to a show with just 3 horses and managed to get all our stuff there as well but it was only a 3 day show. One does miss the storage space in the gooseneck. Camper spots run around $30 a night and though we do not hang out during the day for all the reasons mentioned above, it is nice to be able to go and make a quick lunch to bring back to the barn or at the end of the day be able to sit down and eat without the need to go anywhere.
Definite advantages and disadvantages to either way so really a personal choice.
A friend of mine recently ordered a very nice 5h with LQ. While it is going to be a beautiful trailer, if it were me, I would have gotten a trailer with a dressing room big enough to hang out in between classes with AC and a mini fridge, and then stayed in hotels. For the price of the LQ trailer (this one is over $100k), you could stay in a lot of hotels and not have to worry about winterizing, storage, parking, or borrowing a small trailer when you are just moving one or two.
What about an RV with a smaller trailer? Not sure what you’d be looking at with that kind of set-up, but I see tons of RVs for what seems reasonable prices.
Bearing in mind that I have not shopped either option, but I do know from a friend that just bought a camper, if you are going to need to finance it, there maybe be a significant difference in the interest rates for new vs used unit.
Might be worth investigating before getting your heart set on one or the other.
There are definitely pros and cons to each. Last January, I bought a 2 horse LQ trailer. i LOVE staying on the show grounds - being able to do night check, get up early and walk across the parking lot to feed and then go get ready to ride, etc., etc.
But, there are trade offs. You do NOT save money because of the cost of the trailer. It is a juggling act for me to pack all my stuff without a dressing room. Have discovered that my tack trunk rides perfectly just inside the door to the LQ. But, still have to pack everything else. My horse was NOT happy in the back stall of the trailer, which makes it more difficult. With a 3 horse trailer and 1 horse, it would be easy. Stuff in front stall, horse in middle stall, back stall empty.
I am actually thinking of selling mine next year and getting a 2+1. I do love my trailer and staying on the show grounds, but hard to justify the cost. And a 2+1 will be awesome to have for ease of hauling and fitting all my stuff in. (And love the option of giving a horse a box stall.)
Just wanted to say that I have really appreciated this thread! It is a topic that I have been wondering about for quite some time, and I like hearing everyone’s perspectives. So keep them coming!
Think about what you really want in a trailer. My daughter bought a 2h gooseneck Sundowner with a slightly oversized dressing room and a small roll out canopy. She loves it. She and a friend can sleep in the gooseneck, with their dogs. They pack chairs, a cooler, a big tank of water with a small pump, and a portable stove. They can bring a small generator and a fan. That extra foot in the dressing room, as well as the canopy, means that they have almost everything they want with little extra expense. Maybe you want the whole shebang, or maybe just a little extra room will make you happy.
[QUOTE=AKB;8365536]
Think about what you really want in a trailer. My daughter bought a 2h gooseneck Sundowner with a slightly oversized dressing room and a small roll out canopy. She loves it. She and a friend can sleep in the gooseneck, with their dogs. They pack chairs, a cooler, a big tank of water with a small pump, and a portable stove. They can bring a small generator and a fan. That extra foot in the dressing room, as well as the canopy, means that they have almost everything they want with little extra expense. Maybe you want the whole shebang, or maybe just a little extra room will make you happy.[/QUOTE]
If I ever replace my 2H dressing room, I will likely go the route of the 2+1 with a dressing room. Pretty much anywhere I show there is a full service restroom with a shower, so I could get away with a air mattress, mini-fridge, microwave, propane barbecue, and generator (ans/or have it wired for land service - pretty easy to have done).
When looking at LQ trailers - that has often been my concern - what to do with all the stuff I keep in the dressing room while traveling. Plus my big-ass horse does not really like a slant trailer for long trips. Picture a off-kilter cork in a bottle in most slant load trailers and you’ll get the idea.
We bought a used 4H with dressing room and mid tack and are converting it to LQ. We paid under $10k for it and will spend maybe $500 converting it. We got cabinets and a door for free (slightly broken so not used for apartment upgrades). It had a shower already. We bought an RV toilet, vinyl flooring, and will have to buy a camping couch/bed for the kiddos. We have been able to do all of the work ourselves. Most of it I could have done myself even as a wimpy girl. Hubby had to handle the grinder to remove the dividing wall. Its really been a pretty easy project once we got the floor plan all laid out.
I’m thinking about a new trailer now and going through the same dilemma. I currently have a 2H BP trailer with dress that I love. I take it everywhere, across the mountains to shows 11 hours away or just down the road to the vet with a mare and foal. I love how easy it is to go anywhere with the trailer hooked up. For that reason I am really reluctant to get a bigger trailer that would be inconvenient to take for quick trips down the road. If I go bigger, it has to be a GN which I have never driven before… I’m interested that PNW has done less quick trips now that she has a bigger trailer.
I have thought a lot about getting a truck camper and keeping the BP trailer. This was the go-to set up when I was horse showing as a kid for many people. The advantage of this is you still have your small trailer for running around and you have a separate camper for non-horsey weekends, plus you do it all with one truck. Disadvantage is that you are always stuck with a 2 or 3 horse trailer and you either have to unload the camper at the show to have a vehicle to run around, or drive all over town with a camper on your truck.
I’ve been thinking a lot about upgrading to a 2+1 with dressing room and using the dressing room for weekender type sleeping. I only get hotels about 3-4 weeks/year for showing so that cost against the truck camper or LQ trailer when you factor in the $350/week to camp on the show grounds doesn’t really pay off. You could potentially rough camp in the dressing room in the trailer parking lot of the show rather than paying camping fees in the main camping zone if you aren’t going to bother with hook ups. I’m thinking of it as one step up from tenting.
For me the 2+1 would be nice for taking two mares/foals places or for hauling someone else’s horse to shows to offset my costs. I only ever take two of my own to a show, but have wanted to take 3 to mare inspections or things like that, so occasionally hauling more than two would be nice. Plus, for long away shows, you can take two horses and fill the +1 with hay to save money.
So much to think about!
6 horse head to head (are you wanting to haul more than 4?), extra wide and extra tall. Can be had for $20,000 or less, and the horses ride so much better in it. Take out the dividers, clean out the horse and use it as a small “apartment” for the show. We don’t use shavings when we haul, so we just hose out the back. Super easy if you do it every time you haul and the trailer is never gross feeling. We have a tall queen blow up mattress, camp chairs, rug, and a wood topped camp table that we put on the inside with our cooler. I bring this grill and cook all of our meals on it - breakfast sandwiches (frozen eggs, bacon and cheese on grilled bread), grilled sandwiches for lunch, burgers and green beans one night, and steaks and bacon wrapped asparagus the next is our usual routine for a weekend show along with the usual protein/granola bars. We keep it all in a big cooler and fill it to the brim with ice so we don’t have to refill it the whole weekend (Friday-Sunday). I like it so much better than going out to eat because it is quicker and more healthy. We use all plastic cutlery and hang a garbage bag up to dispose of it. I prefer to just hose myself off in the wash rack in a swimsuit, but we have a camp shower bag that we use too. Or a bucket with a heater and a cup. We don’t typically use electricity since we just go to bed - we have super bright battery powered twinkle lights and head lamps for cooking. Two strands light the whole trailer and I string them up on the window bars. Charge our phones at the stalls when we are taking care of night tasks. Sheets get washed with the horse laundry and put back in.
We don’t pay for hook ups because we don’t use them. We usually just sleep in the trailer park. Quieter and closer to the horses usually.
We have more space than the typical living quarters and just as much comfort. I hate that claustrophobic feeling of sleeping in the gooseneck part as well.
All horse stuff is hauled in the tack room, which is a small walk way all the way through below the gooseneck and the gooseneck part. It fits everything including our camping stuff super easy (and we are eventers). Everything is in bins including the horse blankets and such (of which we have at least 10). Usually we don’t haul 6 to shows, so hay and shavings go in the empty stall. If not, hay goes on top or in the middle of the horses (Obviously not completely full, but 4 bales can fit easily. There is a back drop down ramp and then easy ramp access for the front horses.) Sometimes we unload it or just leave it in because we don’t need all of the back space.
I am shipping cross country with my wb in a 2+1 and am still on the fence about whether to make it into two box stalls and put the horse in rear stall and junk in front. No dressing room but use gooseneck to store boxes of blankets etc. Or, should i just move partition over in two horse back and give wider standing stall. Which is safer for a horse who has to travel 14 hrs and usually ships in a single straight stall?
I have gradually upgraded over the years from: very small BP - larger BP - steel with large dressing room I upgraded - small aluminum gooseneck - larger AL GN - to current with full bath, kitchen, dinette, etc. I have done it with cash and used trailers.
The large trailer is not convenient for minor trips, but the advantages far outweigh the inconvenience for me.
LQ all the way!! And, if we want to go camping without the horses, the horse section works great for toting stuff. One year we even took the kegarator!!! And, if it is raining, bring the grill in the back, and keep cooking!
I have a three horse LQ. I never haul three in it because really need that third stall for hay and equipment. I can put 15 bales of hay in that one space if necessary. So given the number of horses you are hauling, it might not make sense. If one or two horses I would say yes–I love mine. But for 4 horses or more, probably more LQ than can be reasonably justified, plus the half semi you would need to tow it.
Nancy
I have spent many an hour searching the Internet for just such a solution. I have come to the inalienable truth 
that a travel trailer (sounds nicer than a “camper”) is the best option.
You can buy a new 30’ plus one with a media center and… a fireplace(!) for $30k. And, at least in NC, a travel trailer is considered a ‘second home’ and all interest on a loan is tax deductible! Which means that the net payments are less than $300/month for a 10 year loan.
In truth, I am not looking for one with bunk beds in back. I want ‘rear living quarters’ (RL) which only sleeps 4 - 6 (2 in queen bed, 2 in dining table adjusted for a bed – see pictures, below, and 2 in the pull out sofa) The ambiance with RL is awesome and you are still at the show, but also at home.
Edited to add link to some of my favorites. No LQ can compare to this.
http://www.campingworldoffayetteville.com/search/images.cfm?v=420392 (scroll down)
or:
http://www.rvtrader.com/dealers/Camptown-RV-730182/listing/2015-Jayco-Jay-Flight-34RSBS-115233967 (right arrow)
or
http://www.rvtrader.com/listing/2015-Dutchmen-Coleman-297RE-114723144 (right arrow)
