As I stated earlier, a 2011 to 2014 will be reasonable for this up to 7800lb load. Get the STX SCAB 4x4 5.0 with 3.55 gears. It will have plenty of payload. I will wager I have towed more miles pulling horses than most here. I do it 3 of 4 weeks in a month 9 to 10 months a year. We average 500 miles a weekend doing it. The horse trailers are light on Pin or tongue weight as the horses sit on the axles. Loaded, our 3H GN, large tack room with AC, Awning, Bed in Bunk, Insulated , Drop down bunks on the wall, and all our tack was right at 1000lbs on the pin, with 3 horses on board and verified towed weight of 9k. I was over GCWR, but inside the GVWR and GAWR but just barely. The truck did fine towing all over the Appalachians and Eastern US.

 

This is the truck loaded as described in my previous post. 3 horses on board ready for a 4hr trip to a big week long show. Truck is bone stock, no suspension mods, tunes etc. Only addition was the GN Hitch and Spray in Liner. I verified weights on a CAT scale and pin was 980, towed load was 9037. Truck had 1780 payload and was a basic STX model, rubber floor, manual seats, power windows, doors and mirrors, factory step bars, etc. Never a single issue where the truck was not up to doing its job.

 

Hi Joey,

We need one more peice of information before we can help - a well-reasoned estimate of how much "extra" weight will be added to the cab while your daughter hauls the horses.

 

If she has 1600lb or more payload she will be fine for a two horse BP or even a small GN. Horse trailers are a lot different than an RV, first most are all aluminum in the size they are looking at, they keep almost all the weight on the axles, and are light on the hitch. Unless she is putting 1000lbs of people in the truck she will be good at 1600lbs of payload.

 

Average weight of a thoroughbred is 1000 pounds, a Warmblood is 1400 pounds. If it is a two horse, then 2800 pounds or less in horses would be on the axles of the trailer. It would be nice if the OP posted the trailer in question. I know mine is 3200 empty, and with two large horses would hit 6K. There is no way I would be able to add another 1800 pounds of tack to it to reach 7800 pounds. The only way that mine would be maxed is if I hauled two draft horses, but they would have to duck their heads.