Using Ford's website, I came up with $49k for an F150 XLT, crew cab, 4x4, 6.5' bed, 3.6L EcoBoost V6 with the max tow package and heavy duty payload package. You'll have to add the hitch. Ford's F150 Trailer Towing Guide rate this for 11,300 pounds for 5th wheel. It doesn't list gooseneck because there is no factory gooseneck hitch for the F150.

Or, $46k for an F250 XLT, crew cab, 4x4, 6.5' bed, 6.2L V8 with the gooseneck hitch and ball and 3.73 electronic locking differential. Ford's Super Duty Towing guide rates this for 12,200 pounds gooseneck/5th wheel.

Neither of these truck will be easy to find. Dealers generally don't order F250/SRW F350s with the 5th wheel/gooseneck prep package. However, knock $750 off the $46k by not getting the prep package and gooseneck ball and those trucks are a some a dozen, but you'll have to add the hitch yourself just as you would with the F150. I suspect the F150 with the max tow and heavy duty payload packages will be tough to find as well because for almost $4k less you can get an F250.

I had a horse, once........once! I liked to go places and ride him chase him down different trails. Friends would go with, of course bringing their horses. I didn't have truck and trailer so I was always a passenger/laborer. Having ridden in different trucks with different trailers I can tell you this, with a short or long bed single rear wheel trailer you always knew when 2500lbs of equine scaredy cats decided to move around back there because something spooked them or they just weren't happy in the trailer.

With the dual rear wheel set ups, you would never know you were hauling anything but a load of lazy good for nuthin blobs of grass eating fly attractors.

Summary, no matter the horses attitude, 4 rear wheels makes for a more stable platform that is easier to control in more configurations and conditions.

Jut my $0.02, because it's far easier for me to spend your money than mine

YMMV

I've hauled horses and/or heavy race trailers for 40 years. Now granted I've never done it in a corvette or a riveria (like to see that gooseneck setup), but I'm in the multiple million miles club. A 2 horse slant load gooseneck of modest accommodations is likely to be rated at 7-8K gross weight. Any modern full size pickup can be equipped to accommodate that. Literally any of them. There will be a required equipment list to do it (you find this knowledge in the Mfg. towing guide). Towing like shooting is one of those things that having better equipment helps as the higher the rating of the tow vehicle versus the load the less problematic it becomes. But there no reason you need a dually diesel 1 ton truck for this. I'm a ford guy. Have been since time began, but I've driven lots of other people's trucks and in this area brand really doesn't matter till you want a diesel one. Then you want the Cummins. Sadly the best engine is in the worst truck but that's just the way it is. But you don't want a modern EPA diesel. It's nearly 8K upfront, more cost at every fillup and way more maintenance, and yes you get it back as you have better towing mileage, but the payback is measured in 100's of thousands of miles these days.
You can get factory goosenecks. You won't probably find one on a dealer lot, but I order mine that way. Otherwise you get it installed aftermarket and that's fine really.
Bed length on a gooseneck is better to have an 8' bed, but it makes for a pretty long truck especially if you start with a cc one. I prefer them, but really when you go to events you will probably see 80% short beds, so its fine for almost everyone.
If you get a ford you want a F-250. You can get a 150 equipped to tow big numbers, but its really a marketing approach, you will be happier with a 250, trust me.
You want 4 wheel drive.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:

Or, $46k for an F250 XLT, crew cab, 4x4, 6.5' bed, 6.2L V8 with the gooseneck hitch and ball and 3.73 electronic locking differential. Ford's Super Duty Towing guide rates this for 12,200 pounds gooseneck/5th wheel.

Sounds like the F250 gas engine is the way to go. However, daily driving without a trailer will still suck up gas.

Do you go for towing capacity or fuel economy?

I'm not sure that is a question. There is no solution to towing heavy loads that involves a miracle on fuel economy unloaded. However if someone wants to calculate costs for an FSeries I have several Ford superduties currently. Average unloaded MPG is 12.5 for a gas engine and 15.5 for a powerstroke. All newer trucks 3.73 rear ends. You have to be careful on configuring a F250 as you can't actually get the full 12.2 gooseneck without the 4.3 axle at least in a 4x4 cc 8'bed one.

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Good advise!

Many years ago, my sister bought an articulated horse trailer for almost nothing. It was one horse wide, the second horse rode behind it. Bales of hay fit in the front. Very narrow, yet steady going down the road. I haven't ever seen one before and haven't seen one since. The fun of it all was backing the thing up to the gate. Comedy (and swear words) ensued. It became known as simply 'that %&(%?> trailer'. The last time I drove it, I backed it up beside a storage shed. It sat there for a year or more, then it was sold for peanuts.

Be sure to familiarize backing up with whatever rig you are looking into if you are able to try it out first. If you find a screaming deal on an old white articulated horse trailer, check the floor first, then get it just for the entertainment value alone.

quote:

You have to be careful on configuring a F250 as you can't actually get the full 12.2 gooseneck without the 4.3 axle at least in a 4x4 cc 8'bed one.

The 2018 Super Duty Trailer Towing guide says that truck does 12.2 with 3.73 gearing and 14.7 with 4.30 gearing.

quote:

Originally posted by Russ59:

Sounds like the F250 gas engine is the way to go. However, daily driving without a trailer will still suck up gas.

Do you go for towing capacity or fuel economy?

I went for capacity. After two years though, I bought a car for a daily driver. I put 60,000 miles on my truck and 65% of that was non-towing or hauling.

quote:

The 2018 Super Duty Trailer Towing guide says that truck does 12.2 with 3.73 gearing

This is exactly my point, you are not dealing with both of the issues. There are multiple constraints on this and Ford misleads on this one. The 2018 towing guide lists a 4x4 176" WB 8' box as 12.2K max loaded trailer weight. But the listed GCWR is 19.5K. My new 2018 4x4 176" 8' box 4x4 weighs 7.5K empty no people no fuel. SO anyone who puts gas or people in the truck is not going to get 12.2. In fact in a traveling configuration, fuel full, two people, a some stuff in the cc and my dog my truck weighs 8.3K so the max trailer weight is 11.2K.
That's just the facts on these charts, you have to take out vehicle payload from the amounts. So in a 2018 which I already own (and 2019 since it hasn't changed as I'm looking at buying one) F250 you need the 4.30 axle to get 12K+ of towing.

Hey guys...thanks for the insights. Have us a lot to think about and consider. Fortunately we are not in a hurry