Horsebox Load height
Horsebox load height is basically the distance from the road to the horse area floor.
The greater this distance, the worse the ride characteristics will be for the driver and horses. Without question, careful consideration of load height and keeping a low centre of gravity is crucial for a safe horsebox design.
Our research findings
Horseboxes with a higher load height have a higher centre of gravity, therefore a higher risk of rolling over, especially during sharp turns or evasive manoeuvres.
Body roll is increased, leading to degraded cornering stability, and longer stopping distances.
This additional body roll and instability causes anxiety and stress for horses, potentially leading to behavioural issues and a reluctance to travel.
Horses will change stance more often, even rocking on corners or making sudden movements that cause unanticipated and exaggerated handling characteristics.
Aerodynamics are degraded, as a high centre of gravity translates to a higher overall body. This increases wind drag and reduces the vehicle’s aerodynamic efficiency, leading to decreased fuel economy.
Higher load height leads to steeper ramps and significantly affect the safety of loading and unloading horses.
In our research, we discovered that many horseboxes include a higher step from the ramp to the horse floor to compensate for steep ramp angles caused by elevated load heights.
Designing our horseboxes with a lower load height
With the goal of lowering our load height as much as possible to improve safety and ride quality, we looked at each model literally from the ground up.
For our premium Aeos horsebox range, we utilise the chassis version with the lowest overall platform height. To enhance safety even further, we include air suspension, which improves handling and stability.
For the Helios horsebox range, we considered wheel sizes and suspension travel and reduced the load height by completely redesigning our subframe. It sounds simple but was in fact a considerable task that impacted on so many other areas for the build.
For both the Helios and Aeos range we have designed a composite floor that incorporates Coat-X Polyurea protective coating for its strength and amazing durability, whilst keeping load height to an absolute minimum.
The lowered load height keeps our ramp angels shallow aiding safety for both loading and unloading.
Food For Thought…
This blog seems brief when compared to the extensive work we undertook to improve ride performance. Having said that, we have significantly improved the stability and handling of our horseboxes by lowering the load height. This reduction has effectively decreased the overall centre of gravity introducing a safety element that’s often overlooked.
As always safety, and primarily horse safety is at the forefront of everything we do.
Thank you for being part of our journey and we would greatly appreciate your thoughts on this blog post! If there’s anything we might have overlooked or if you have additional insights to share, we would love to hear from you. Please feel free to send your feedback to kevin@kphltd.co.uk.
Thank you for helping us improve!