New here - Have been reviewing old forums to get up to speed as quickly as possible.

Situation - Own a Mercedes Benz 320 v6 with 5000 lb tow capacity - no hitch in place today.  Prefer not to buy new car/truck with higher towing capacity.

Own a 13.1 pony and a 17.1 warmblood (fine boned).  Need to travel primarily on flat highways to local shows.  Don't need fancy just need to fit a long horse and pony.  I was looking at a Kingston Briarwood which weighs about 2600 lbs without horses but am concerned that once loaded - we get too close for comfort on the total weight. 

Is an anti-sway bar (which we had on the family truck in the late 1970's) the same thing as "weight distribution".  Does that increase the total pulling capacity levels?  If so by how much?

I admit that I am intrigued by the much maligned (or loved)Brenderup but have not made any decisions.  What are the other brand alternatives?

Understand dilemma as far as pulling...even though vehicle has 5,000 lb towing capacity, you will need to upgrade your pulling vehicle if you stick with it:  transmission cooler is highly recommended; not only a hitch but a load leveler hitch; I'd use air shocks replacing your current one.

Plenty of two horse trailers out there, but with the drastic difference in horses why not go with a short stock trailer.

mea culpa

How would an open stock trailer help with the size differences?

Stock trailers usually have fewer frills which keeps the weight down....but....they tend to be not as tall...17.1? you need a tall trailer! They do make them if you look around.....Anti sway and weight distributing are 2 differnent animals...you will be looking for the weight distributing type if the tongue weight is excessive. Anti Sway if it wants to sway going down the road.......... Don't shrug off the Brenderup...They won't need a weight distributing hitch and they have the headroom and no brake controller is needed........All of those for a standard Bpull=$$ Maybe $6-700 dealer installed $2-300 for just a plain trailer hitch . Also they have a good divider for the tall and short guy They were designed for your Auto and the only people that I hear bad things from are the dually G/N crowd..LOL 

Thanks - yes the Brenderup does seem to solve all my issues (though it is ugly as sin).  Pricey from the start but dollars seem to equal out with hitch install etc. Looking to see if there are better alternatives. 

Very strong opinions on it - that is evident.  Trying to find real safety data to prove out the case for or against

I'm a GN person, but I'm not an extreemist.

Small horse + big horse = uneven weight distribution if you were to get a 2 horse side by side (straight) load.

Stock trailer would give versatility with the 2 odd sized animals.

If you do get a straight, put your big horse on the drivers side.

Thanks - that is the conclusion I keep coming back to.

Thanks for the insight - need to figure out what or who the G/N crowd is.

saracam,

Take a look at the Brenderup video.  It is not so much the weight of the trailer, but the tongue weight/aerodynamics that make the difference.  I really like mine, but realize they aren't for everybody.  I actually first started looking at them to pull with my Mercedes SUV (one of their ads actually features this car) but before I bought the trailer I also bought a Range Rover.  My horses seem to really like it and it hauls REALLY well- no swaying even with huge semis passing us, sticks RIGHT behind the car.  I don't use any type of weight distrib or sway bars-

[ expense. To put that in scale; 4-Star or Jamco 2 horse aluminum bumper-pull trailer, maybe $14K or $15K (list). Tongue weight, around 700 lbs. WDH, around $500 Brake controller, about $100 {....Someone Gimme a MasterCard "Priceless" line here.} OK; under 5% for brake controller and WDH.

PULLING A BRENDERUP WITH A MERCEDES, WITH A BIG AND LITTLE HORSE "PRICELESS"