I’m interested to know about so called 2+1 trailers. Can horses safely be transported in the area in front of the stalls? Is that area meant for a horse? My trainer regularly puts 3 or 4 horses in such a trailer and it looks concerning to me. The horses are nose to bum with the horses behind them. It doesn’t look good to me but I’m interested to see what people say
good old Depends on how big the horses are… I guess less than twenty
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When extra horses are not contained in individual stalls, there is more of a chance of injury from kicking each other. On the other hand, horses HAVE been transported together, in open area trailers and boxes successfully in past decades. So, you have to know your horses, and take your chances. And yes, the size of the horses does matter. You can more easily fit more horses in if they are smaller.
When I was pulling a 2 + 1, I only hauled 2 horses at a time, but they were usually racehorses, shipping to and from the track. BUT, one day at the farm, we discovered that an “escape” had happened in the middle of the night, and 4 of our young horses had disappeared. They were located at another farm, about a mile away, contained in a rickety paddock. I jumped into the truck, and drove the trailer down there. Which ones should I load, and which ones should I leave for the next trip? Couldn’t decide. So loaded them all (yearlings and two year olds). All first time loaders. Two biggest ones in the stalls, and the two smallest ones loose in the turn around area. Got the doors closed and ramp up, and drove home, no problems.
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Growing up I would have hauled 2 saddled horses in the front box of my Hawk 2+1 and would have done three without tack based on stock trailers we had then…Now I haul my mini in the box stall, because he’s to short for the straight stalls. I agree with clanter, using the whole trailer, 20 would be a stretch but I really think 15 would be quite possible. I do prefer to haul horses tall enough for the dividers contained in the straight stalls.
Our “2+1” is very oversized…I often carry 2 straight load and one slanted (head to the left) at the front with a slant gate. Once I had a 4th horse to move and I loaded the 2 straight, one slanted, right, facing the two in stalls (with a BIG hay net between their heads) and a 4th slanted left in the front stall. It worked fine for a one time deal. If you face the forth horse slanted left/ facing forward he is more apt to get bitten and harassed by the two in stalls.
2 - 3. I personally like them for two horses plus some extra crap or a golf cart. If you are showing for a week or two, you can fit all your hay/shavings in the front. If you don’t need to pack extra crap, you can fit an extra horse (that isn’t too long) on a slant in the front area safely. This is also easier if you have a full divider/stallion gate in between.
Depends on the size of the +1 and if there’s a full divider between the box and the straight stalls. I’ve seen someone easily/safely fit a mare and foal in the box and 1 youngster per straight stall. Can also make 2 boxes (depends on trailer) and do 2 mares/foals.
Technically 4 depend upon the trailer length. My 2+1 is 22ft on the floor (excluding the length of the nose) with a 4ft dressing room as I didn’t want too long of a trailer as I most often am just trailer one horse with all of my gear; sometimes 2; occasionally 3.
But some add a couple of extra feet so that the box area is just as long as the straight stalls and then place a removable divider there so they can haul up to 4 horses, head to head, if they wish. This is what my coach has in her Kiefer 2+1.
Mine is a 4Star and I’ve hauled smaller horses, minis and llamas in the box portion of the trailer. I got it to haul three full sized horses in a pinch; or to event with meaning two big horses and then all my extra gear including a scooter, rolling tack trunk, feed, hay, etc. They are wonderfully versatile trailers. I could easily haul two of my big draft crosses in the straight stalls plus all three of my minis or plus my two smaller horses (14.1 and 13.1)
Right. Mine is on the smaller side (17’ of floor space) but has a barrier gate to keep the +1 horse separated from the two straight load horses. My +1 area is big enough for a pony or small horse with the gates closed. If I kept the gates open, I’m sure I could cram 4 horses in there. I have never done that, but that’s my contingency plan for if I ever need to evacuate my 2 horses and 2 ponies in a hurry.
The only time I have ever seen 4 is when we used to put 2 mares in the straight stalls and their foals in the box, that worked well for going to inspections. And if I had 2 horses and 2 smaller ponies who got along really well (and at least 9’0 floor space in the +1)), that wouldn’t be the worst plan ever for 4H in a 2+1. But my trailer is technically a 2+1 (albeit a bumper pull). I don’t use it for that, I use that space for equipment, basically a very large tack room. It is an 8’0 wide trailer and 103" on the floor (so 8 1/2’ long). This makes it as long and considerably wider than your average 2+1 and I cannot imagine fitting 2 horses in there for anything except an emergency (all bets are off in an emergency evacuation).
Also, if you don’t have stud doors between the stalls and storage, I do not think you can really call it a plus one (I mean you can, but it is unusable in that respect so that’s not exactly truthful). More like a 2H with a side ramp and extra storage…
