Equi trek trailers

[Chesterfieldsofa]

I like the idea of rear facing travel and would like to hear the good and bad bits about owning one of these trailers. There's a couple I've had a quick nose around at local shows (with owners permission), one with living, one without. Main points against seem to be the size and weight, neither of which I have an issue with. Do you have direct experience with them? I'm well aware of the 'wouldn't touch them with a barge pole' brigade, but to be honest, I'm the same with the Ifor Williams (rattleboxes) that everyone seem to love. So, if you have/have had one, do I need living? And is there anything else I need to know?

They can over-heat quite easily. There seems to be something off with ventilation. So if you were doing long journeys it would be stationary it's something worth considering

A friend's horse went absolutely bonkers inside one when he got hot and stressed.

My friend has one that she bought from new to take her horse (and mine) to shows. It's overpriced and poor quality for what it is, the customer service and aftercare is terrible and in the manual they suggest you have it serviced every six months or some equally ridiculously short period.
As the previous poster says horses get very hot in them and mine hates travelling in it as the partition in the middle bangs about and is very loud.
I wouldn't recommend them to anyone.

My IW isn’t a rattle box! I’ve had it from new since 2007 and it’s never had any issues whatsoever. Tows like a dream. And they hold their value too. A friend has an Equitrek - I can’t see the point of the ‘living’ area - there’s not enough room to swing a cat even with just one person in there! If you want living you might as well get a used lorry for the same money. Depends on what your needs are I suppose.

Depending on how many horses you're planning to travel with I'd seriously consider a 3.5T lorry. I was looking at one the other week - good living, relatively new and under 15k. A new equitrek pushes that price... Plus you need to keep a "big" car on the road to tow it.

A small lorry would suit me for my one WB and a friend has a 4.5T for transporting two with very fancy living!

Ifor Williams are fantastic trailers - brilliantly built, lightweight for towing and great design.

I think Equitreks look smart on the forecourt and do have a good living if you need one. I don't know why anybody would buy one without living compared to a IW.

IW's hold their value as well.

Why are you interested in rear facing. My horse hated going rear facing and kept trying to stand on the side ramp. I know there is talk about horses travelling well that way but I think it's a myth.

Professional horse transporters nearly all go for herringbone.

Had an Equi Trek Show Trekka from new since 2008.

Yes - in extremely hot weather they overheat. However, you could - if you can be bothered (I don't go anywhere in hot weather because I hate riding in hot weather!) - get a roof vent installed. I've never had any problems with mine and get it serviced annually (NOT by EquiTrek - I use a local trailer servicing company who are extremely good and very competitively priced).

Mine have always travelled extremely well in it and I love the additional storage. It is heavy to tow though with two in, even though I don't travel huge horses - I've had a 14.2 & a 16hh in as maximum but I have always towed with a mahoosive 4x4 so although I can feel the weight on the back compared with my old Ifor, it's never caused an issue.

When I bought mine I got Equi Trek to install as an extra a weaving grille to prevent any attempts to jump over the breast bar, which is fixed - a potential problem with a bad traveller but the weaving grille will prevent that. In the time I've owned it I think I've replaced 2 tyres and obviously bits and pieces of damage (most caused by the horses!) I don't think the build quality of the doors, for example, is great BUT I've never had any issues that haven't been caused by my own clumsiness/delinquent horses.

Ifors are absolutely great and I'd have one again. But for me at the time I needed to extra storage and somewhere to get changed/shelter from the rain at frequent shows. I didn't want a 7.5T box and simply couldn't find a small 3.5T with a decent payload that hadn't done over 100,000 miles and was a ridiculous price.

Just be sure you have a big enough car to tow it. I would say that it must be able to tow 3000kg, no less. Otherwise it will struggle.

I wouldn't bother because they are over priced and you can get a lighter trailer than them. My trailer is a bateson as they are even cheaper than Ifors, but lighter and easier to tow. Good quality too.

I’ve had various lorries and trailers over the years. I’ve had 2 equi treks, the big tri axle and now a show-treka. I LOVE them and all my horses have as well, including a mare that could not balance travelling herringbone. I’ve never had any problems and one trailer I had for 10 years.
I wouldn’t have one of their bigge lorries though, as build quality can be poor.

Will try to answer everything, we tow stuff other than ponies so always have a car capable of pulling 3.5t, so not looking to have an extra vehicle (lorry) kicking around. We only have one pony to travel and not buying new. I find Ifors that I've used very 'rattley' when compared with our vintage Rice, probably due to the chains used and the partitions, and some of them have jockey doors that cannot be opened from the inside which seems odd and quite unsafe. I prefer a wood floor as I think the extra weight gives a quieter smoother ride.

Travelling backwards seems a much more natural thing for an animal to do. We have a camera in our trailer and have used it to transport goats a couple of times recently which turned of their own accord to travel backwards - obviously felt more comfortable and natural to them. Had to slam on the brakes with sheep in the other day (thanks to a twat in a range rover deciding to overtake as I was overtaking a cyclist) and as a result most of them travelled backwards once they had re-distributed themselves.

I'm always quite surprised that horses willingly walk into trailers anyway - the only reason they face forward is that you walked them in and reversed out - front ramps are a relatively modern thing. Lorries are herringbone as that's the easiest way to fit more than two in. More lorries seem to be rear facing now, just waiting for trailers to catch up.

Missed the temperature bit - where we live isn't particularly warm. Even this year when it got 'really hot', for us it only reached 25°C on a couple of days and is always cool enough in the morning/evening and no problem sleeping at night. I don't leave the pony in the trailer, so stationary shouldn't be a problem, but surely you'd drop the ramp anyway?

Chesterfield - this was for ferry transport. Cold temps but 6+ hours stationary.

My dad has had an Equi Trek with the small changing area since they were first marketed in the UK and hasn't a bad word to say about it. The after sales care and service have always been brilliant, he gets it serviced annually, tows one big horse in it with a Range Rover Sport (59 plate so the workhorse RR not the pose-mobiles some are nowadays!) . His previous horse struggled travelling in a Rice but walked straight into the bright and airy Equitrek and travelled brilliantly. never had a problem with overheating - on a hot day, the horse wears the lightest travel rug and the vents are all open.

The ones I have seen have looked like a recipe for expensive repairs, as to be fair do the new plastic ifors, but we have a trailer destroyer of a horse. We use a big old rice as it is cheap and easy to repair, but we are out a few times a week. If your mileage is much lower maintenance may be less of a consideration.