"Trailer Towing Education Starts Here"

With such a remarkable towing machine as the Quadrasteer GMC Denali, I thought it only right to review a equally controversial remarkable horse trailer, the Brenderup. Manufactured in Denmark and assembled in Texas, Brenderup is a typical horse trailer in Europe, where they don't have the large pickup trucks and SUV's like the US. Which is one of the advantages of Brenderup, being able to use a smaller tow vehicle. The typical tow vehicle for a Brenderup is a Volvo station wagon. With the maximum tongue weight of the largest Brenderup (Baron) being only 250#'s, tow vehicle choices just doubled. The heaviest Brenderup, the Baron, weighs 2150 pounds empty.

Usually when I tow any trailer with a Quadrasteer, there is a dramatic improvement in trailer control. The Brenderup is the exception, it towed great even with 4-wheel-steer option shut off. I had an experienced horse trainer, Jim Rae, with the Colorado Natural Horsemanship Center, load two of his Quarter Horses in it, drive it and tell me his impression. He had never seen a Brenderup, his horses never used a ramp trailer before. We were all surprised at how well it did. We hauled two horses for a scenic ride south of Parker CO. You should have seen the smile on the horses! They also knew I wasn't driving.  We didn't even use one of the features of the Brenderup trailer line, the rear jacks that stabilize the trailer as horses walk up the rubber padded did. We hauled two horses for a scenic ride south of Parker CO. You should have seen the smile on the horses! They also knew I wasn't driving.  We didn't even use one of the features of the Brenderup trailer line, the rear jacks that stabilize the trailer as horses walk up the rubber padded cleated ramps. Jim told me the hollow sound of a ramp can scare a horse. The rear jacks are a good idea for teaching a horse to use ramps, limiting the movement of the trailer.

Brenderup's long V-tongue goes way under the trailer almost to the first axle. You can see the rubber boot where the coupler pushes back to active the trailer brakes with cables. Parking brake handle runs the same cables. Bet you wish your trailer had a parking brake.

Like your tow vehicle, the Brenderup has toe in on the axles to keep it towing straight. The axles are torsion with shock absorbers. The unique looking roof with the upslope spoiler to the rear and inward sloping rear ramp gate, all have purpose. You've all heard of drafting, like they use in stock car racing and some folks do that behind semi-trucks, where you get close enough to get pulled by the front vehicle. All the different air turbulence that swirls behind vehicles, especially large square types, can create suction. It's easy to feel when on a motorcycle and a large truck passes you. This happens with horse and RV trailers, making some sway more from the suction than others.  With the Brenderup, the roof upslope controls the air current going off the rear of the trailer and the inward slope of the rear ramp-gate, breaks up the air roll that swirls behind trailers, making them far less susceptible to the draft of a passing truck or even the canyon winds we have in the Colorado Rockies. Add all this together, and you won't find a easier towing trailer as is, without a weight distributing hitch or anti-sway bar. The balance of the loaded trailer is level as it should be with more of the trailer weight on the trailer and less on the trailer tongue than conventional horse trailers. This weight balance and aerodynamic shape allows smaller tow vehicles.

I would like to see a horse that kicks, take on the Brenderup. I've taken a hammer to it and couldn't hurt it. Solid phenolic resin walls on larger models and laminate on the smaller ones, make for a solid wall ready for abuse. They sent me samples of the solid phenolic resin that I beat with a hammer. It's good stuff, I was tired and so was the hammer. One piece floor laminate as well as the walls on the smaller models will resist corrosion and are easy to clean.

There is also controversy with emergency service personnel about the benefit of a trailer roof that would allow the horse to escape after a roll over. The fiberglass roof ads to the well lit interior as well as being cooler in the summer and is becoming more popular in horse trailers. The ramp/tailgate has hydraulic struts to make lifting easy, with it's adjustable top door.

I towed the Baron Brenderup to Estes Park with the Quadrasteer Denali. On those mountain curves, the Brenderup cornered like is was on rails as a sports car would. The Baron Brenderup is the easiest pulling trailer I've tried. No fighting the steering wheel, no trailer whip, you forget the trailer's back there. The trailer brakes engaged hard when I braked hard. No brake controller needed as the Brenderup's brakes are self activated. The trailer brakes work similar to surge brakes found on boat trailers. But instead of the tow vehicles change in motion pushing the trailer coupler into the hydraulic plunger to activate hydraulic brakes, Brenderup's coupler pushes in to move 4 cables which activate the trailer brakes. It's called "all wheel Inertia®."

 From underneath, trailer brakes and park brake have a  rod connecting to a cable from each wheel. The chassis and frame are hot dip galvanized steel including the independent torsion axles with shocks. Brenderup's have a low center of gravity with most of their weight at floor level.

According to Brenderup, "Only BRENDERUP REAL® TRAILERS employs INERTIA® 4-wheel brakes designed to operate as the driver comes off the accelerator pedal and before getting to the brake pedal. Under ALL circumstances whenever the trailer tries to push on the tow vehicle the trailer brakes are being applied in direct proportion to the weight of the trailer at the time and the rate of deceleration. The INERTIA® brake system also has an independent parking brake, emergency breakaway and antilock characteristics."

Trimax for Trailer Security

Everyone should be using a locking receiver hitch pin. Trimax is as good as it gets, I bought their #T3 Receiver Lock, it's rated at 32,000 pounds. The water tight lock works every time. I have several hitches, from adjustable drawbars from B&W to an Equalizer weight distributing hitch and don't want them to walk away while I'm at the movies. Trimax has a lock for just about anything, from trailers to motorcycles.

More Pictures of the Brenderup Experience

New to Ramps, the Adventure. Jim Rae loads two of his Quarter Horses in the Brenderup Baron. Jim's first experience with a Brenderup and the horses first load on a ramp trailer.