Hästsläp

We've decided to start around looking for a horse float to buy. Up until now we've borrowed a float from friends on the odd occasion that we've had to move the horse any great distance. But now that we're running out of excuses not to compete more with him, we really can't keep bludging off people. Now, if we were still in New Zealand, we'd just buy a float, strap it to the back of our car, and off we would go. The process in Sweden is a little more complicated. There are a number of restrictions and limitations on what can and can't be towed. I had to learn through the whole process when I was studying for my Swedish driving licence. It was murky then and it's still murky today.

It's all to do with weights. The weight of the car, and the type of driving licence you have, determines how heavy the loaded trailer (or horse float) can be. We have quite a heavy car which naturally means that the car can pull a heavier trailer. So that's good. The problem is that a person with a normal driving licence is limited to a maximum towing weight which is sometimes less that what the car itself it able to pull. So while we could hook up the trailer just fine, we might not be able to drive it anywhere.

Here's a brief rundown of some of the main factors, just to add to the confusion. As much as I can remember of them. The car has a registered working weight, and a registered total weight. The working weight is calculated to be an empty car with just the driver inside, and a full tank of petrol. The total weight is the most that the fully packed car is allowed to weigh. So obviously the difference between the 2 is the amount of stuff, including passengers, that you're allowed to pack into the car. Our car has (from memory) a working weight of about 1500kg and a total weight of 1800kg. Which means that we can take 300kg extra in the car, including passengers and luggage.

Got that ? Good.

Under our current driving licence restrictions, the total weight of the horse float (complete with horse) cannot weight more than the working weight of the car. The means that our car would be able to tow a loaded trailer weighing up to 1500kg. We are also limited to the maximum amount that the total weight of the car and the total weight of the trailer (eg a horse float with a fat horse inside) being 3500kg. Given that the total weight of our car is 1800kg, that would allow us to tow a loaded horse float weighing 1700kg. However, as 1700kg would put us over the car working weight limit of 1500kg, the the total permitted weight of the loaded horse float goes back to 1500kg.

One thing to take from this is that it's not the trailer which decides if it's a "light" trailer or a "heavy" trailer, but the vehicle which is towing the trailer. The same trailer can change categories if it's towed by a different car with a different driver.

All this leads to a lot of pondering. Are we likely to change our car in the near future ? A car that is lighter than the car we have today will change the calculations. What if we bought a 1500kg float and then bought a car which weighed 300kg less than our current car ? I think that we've pretty much decided that we're not going to buy a float which can carry 2 horses. So that will help a bit with the weight issue. It's highly unlikely that we'll ever have 2 horses needing to go somewhere at the same time. Our horse isn't small but there are floats on the market which cater for "1.5" horses, usually a mare and foal. That would work fine. The other option is to extend our driving licences to the next category. There is a new extension option of the base licence coming out which allows for the total car/trailer weight of 4250kg instead of the standard 3500kg. Without having to go through all the testing that you need to do if you wanted a new licence classification. Our horse doesn't weigh 1000kg so that would give a bit of a buffer zone.

At the end of all this we've decided that we want a light but safe float, we want both rear and front loading doors, we want it to be fully enclosed (some have a rear door which is open at the top), and preferably in red. Now all we need to do is to find one. We've toyed with the idea of importing one, we've seen them for sale in the UK for considerably cheaper prices than in Sweden. I'm a bit nervous about that as I don't know how it would work out with transportation costs and with the additional costs for registering in Sweden and compliance with Swedish traffic regulations. It may not be all that must cheaper in the end, and then there's warranty hassles. We'll see how it all pans out.