I have the shorter bed F250 '07 diesel 6.0 crew with 200,000 miles on it. Love this truck and it hauls my 2 H GN just fine. I’m not sure I want to have another long be especially with the crew cab. I drive my truck as my main vehicle and parking it is bad enough.
I drive a Ram 2500 full quad with an 8’ bed. It’s a bitch to park in small spaces but it more than makes up for it as a hauler. I can fit 6 adults (though 5 is better) and plenty of room around the hitch to pack shavings or hay or whatever. Plus it’s great for lumber etc which fits no problems.
I have a v-shaped front also and has kept me from popping out the windows. I have a shortbed with a gooseneck but I only have a 2 hours and won’t get anything larger.
Long bed hands down, not just because of the possible window loss but because if you have a farm or end up with one, you NEED those 8’ for all the crap you will be hauling with it.
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Hear her, hear her!!! 
And thus endeth the lesson.
G.
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I have a short-bed (5-½ ft) 2011 Ford F150 with the Ecoboost (turbo 6) engine. I haul an Exiss gooseneck stock combo trailer for 2 big OTTBs. My truck handles it just fine. The turnover ball is replaced with a similar ball that is mounted in the same hole but extends the ball about 4" farther back. It’s really simple and made a huge difference. I have taken a window out of my last truck (also a SB F150) with a bigger gooseneck trailer and I won’t lie, I’m not the best backer-upper if I really have to maneuver but if I take it slow, I’'m fine.
I only have my truck—unless you count my John Deere—so I need to haul shavings, hay feed, groceries, plywood, you name it with my truck. I can’t imagine driving a long-bed truck around in these strip-mall centers and TINY LITTLE parking places for cars! Not only are the spaces smaller than they used to be, there is very little room between rows, which can make it a nightmare to turn something larger. My garage doors are also kind of low, so a F250 is too tall to get in, and my JD has the roll-bar down so that it can get in. So the F150 is awesome. I LOVE my truck!!
I have a long bed with the double crew cab and it is so freaking fabulous for anything horse/farm/towing related. We also drive it for family vacations because you can fit an amazing amount of crap in there.
It sucks to park. The turning radius is huge and it does not fit in a regularly sized space. Don’t even think about parallel parking unless you can find a double+ length spot.
Solution – we park far away with the rest of the huge awesome trucks. We have a club, you can join. You’ll find us far away from everything where our giant trucks can take up 2-3 spots in all their gargantuan glory. 
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Yup! I’ve got a friend who has a long bed F350 and a 6 horse GN who is absolutely amazing at maneuvering in and out of the tightest spot with it. Even she managed to pop her back window out once when she got into a real jam involving bad GPS directions and a dead end dirt road…
As others have mentioned I’d be more concerned with the height of newer trucks than a shorter bed.
All for a long bed. My tow vehicles are nothing but. I have a '08 6.4 CCLB (crew cab long bed) that’s been hauling my 1998 Featherlite 6H H2H for the past 6 years no issues. Some goosenecks have a more aerodynamic style gooseneck that might be more compatible with a short bed, but my big old square nose Featherlite would cave in a back window if a jack-knifed it, and I’ve had to do that quite frequently. I wouldn’t be too concerned with the height of the newer trucks. We have a 2017 F-250 (short bed) and had no issues when it was stock, leveled, though now it’s lifted and the AMP Research steps have come in handy. Good investment for anyone who has a leveled truck or wants some steps. I’ve had sets on vehicles for years with no issues- PM if you have any questions.
I have a flat front on my trailer and purposefully jackknifed the trailer the first day with my brand new truck. It’s close to the window, but it does not make contact. 6’8" bed is really not that short.
I recommend the long bed. We had an F350 extended cab with a long bed and it pulled our Kingston GN like a dream. The only thing I learned too late is that Ford truck beds rust like nothing I’ve ever seen and the design of the back seat in the extended cab made it really hard to see the hitch in the bed of the truck when backing up to hitch up. The bed was rusted through before we hit 90,000 miles which was a real shame because it was a great truck. We sold it and now I think I’m going to sell my GN rather than try to find another truck. Best of luck to you in your truck search.
Same here, our beds have been 8’ and then 6 1/2’ and on none of them has the GN come close to hit the cab?
Just wanted to add that if you’re looking at one of the new “Alumiduty’s” you won’t have this issue… because it’s well, aluminum
Edited to add: I do also think it is a bit “trailer dependent”. I can’t vouch for all horse trailers. But I’ve had enclosed Kaufmann’s and Pace race trailers. The Kaufmann caved in the back window of a '06 CCSB Super Duty on a not quite 90 degree turn. The Pace came dangerously close… I wouldn’t have wanted to be jack knifing that trailer on uneven ground in fear the trailer would “tip into the window”. Uneven ground can definitely alter the angle of the goose near your window. I’m a rather safe than sorry person and stick to the long beds.
I say long bed…that’s all we’ve ever had…daughter has a short bed and had dented the cab, trailer and broken the back window of her truck a number of times!!
I have a 6.5’ bed crew cab Silverado 2500 Diesel. I haul a fifth wheel with it with no issues - BUT - mine has a v nose and I also have a sliding hitch. I know 99% of horse trailers are goosenecks, not fifth wheel, but I think if you get a 6.5" bed minimum, and pay close attention when you are first driving the rig, you should be fine with something less than a full 8’ bed. Especially if your trailer has a V nose.
Not for nothing - not every truck is created equal. My 2500 crew cab has the absolute worst turning radius on the planet. it has exactly the same wheel base as my old 3500 single cab 8’ bed. I owned them both for a short time and had them parked next to each other. Occupied exactly the same distance front axle to rear axle with the same tire size. I never really thought about where I was going to park with the old truck - the newer one absolutely sucks. Even a narrow aisle in a parking lot can be a nightmare, let alone parallel parking (which is a absolute no go unless I have a spot I can either pull straight out of or back straight out of) and I can parallel park with the the best of the big city drivers.
I have an extended cab 3/4 ton with a 6 foot+ bed and have pulled a gooseneck for over 30 years with no problems. I also feel like the long bed makes for a difficult daily driver.
This is also heavily dependent on where the coupler is on the trailer goose. The closer to the very front of the trailer, the more room you are going to have before you make contact with the cab. There is plenty of room on my ‘18 superduty but my C&C has the coupler at the very very front of the goose right up against the flat front. It also depends on how wide your trailer is - a narrower trailer is going to make contact later than an 8’ wide would.
that said, again, I have purposefully jackknifed this truck and trailer without making contact.
I know many people who have never cracked a cab window, and I know others who have done so several times. Some of it is also driver skill and/or making a momentary bad decision, as in the case of the person above who got the window on a long bed - it’s always possible no matter how long your bed is.
Skill is clearly an issue and not all drivers are equally skillful. But this may be one of those times where if you use a properly set up long bed you don’t have ability to do much damage unless you REALLY get out of line.
We don’t use our 3500HD as a daily driver. It costs too much. But with a flatbed I’ve only had to pay delivery charges on large items (personal or farm) twice in about three years. So there is that.
When I do take it to town I’m very careful of where I park. Usually I’ll stick to the outer perimeter of the lot and look for a space that permits me to pull straight in from the drive lane, meaning I can back out the same way. If I can set myself up for a “LeMans Start” I do. This almost always means extra walking but maybe that’s not so bad for must of us!!!
G.
