Travelling overweight?

Travelling with an overweight trailer or horsebox is not only illegal, it can endanger your horse and other road users, too.

Chances are you pack everything but the kitchen sink when you travel with your horse. Contingency cooler rugs, extra bridles, bits, rugs, boots, water, first aid kit, hay, feed, not to mention enough sandwiches and coffee to sustain a small army!

Heavy issues

Stratford Horseboxes has been weighing items of tack and other equipment that are commonly transported to a one day show that doesn’t involve an overnight stay, for one 16.1hh horse of average build.

The results might just surprise you!

Thermatex Rug – 6’3″ 3kg
Sweat Sheet – 6’3″ 1kg
Wool Exercise Sheet 2.5kg
Headcollar and lead rope 2kg
Travel boots and tail guard 3kg

Saddle 7.5kg
Bridle and breastgirth 1.5kg
Numnah 1kg
Four leather boots (horse) 1kg

Riding hat and whip 1kg
Long leather boots 1kg
Riding jacket 2kg
Body protector 1.5kg

Bucket x 2, body brush,
dandy brush, mane and tail comb,
hoof pick and sponge 2kg

Total Weight 30kg!

It all adds up

“For two horses, the weight of tack and equipments would double to 60kg and the two horses themselves, each weighing around 550kg, would add 1100kg.

Two people of normal weight, together with their clothes and food would weigh perhaps 80kg each, so adding160kg and increasing the total weight to 1320kg”, explains Nicola Elliott from Stratford Horseboxes.

Know the score

“If you are travelling horses or ponies, you should know exactly how much your towing vehicle is legally allowed to tow and to stay within the law, you also need to know how much your trailer weighs empty.

For a horsebox, you need to know how much it weighs empty and then subtract that weight from the maximum weight laden to give you the payload.”

Everything but the kitchen sink

“It’s easy to see from the simple calculation above that if you add in the BBQ, awning, crates of beer, three dogs and lots of friends, that overloading, with all of its legal and safety implications, is a real possibility.

So if you don’t know how much weight you can legally tow or carry in your horsebox, do yourself, your horses and every other road user a legally required favour – and find out!”

Thank you to Nicola Elliott from Stratford Horseboxes for this information.

Stratford Horseboxes

www.stratfordhorseboxes.co.uk