Phil Carroll: Horsing Around with a Six Pac

Phil Carroll tells us about towing a horse trailer and the many advantages of a truck camper for horseback riding enthusiasts.  Saddle up.  It's time to ride.













Sometimes people discover truck campers because they're the best solution for what they want to do.  For example, many equestrians want to tow a horse trailer and then camp in comfort near their horses.  Truck campers are particularly well suited to this purpose and offer horseback riding enthusiasts more off-road and boondocking opportunities than other horse towing solutions.

Phil Carroll is one such equestrian who really enjoys the capabilities of his Six-Pac truck camper and horse trailer.  Phil also uses his camper without the horse trailer to go on vacations while visiting friends and family.  This is one truck camper that's at home on the trails and on the road.

TCM: What are the advantages to having a truck camper when you are towing horses?
 
Phil: Basically, horse campers have three choices in rigs.  First, you can get a horse trailer with living quarters.  A horse trailer provides a big, expensive, horse camping only investment.  Second, you can get a truck camper and a tag-a-long horse trailer.  A truck camper lets you go to Oregon, California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, or where ever without the horse in a nice compact arrangement.  And third, you can get some kind of tent camper or sleep in the tack room type of arrangement.  This would be less comfortable than the other two choices.
 
We opted for the truck camper and not the living quarters horse trailer because we didn't want to take our stable with us everywhere we go.   There’s a lot of work to horse camping, so anything that reduces that work load and allows me to ride my horses more is good.
 

TCM: What were your requirements when looking for a truck camper?
 
Phil: We had to have a short bed truck without a big hitch extension because I am going to pull on rocky dirt roads.  My truck camper needed to have a shower because horseback riding is not a clean sport.  We also wanted a nice bed.  In our camper we’ve got a memory foam topper which increases the comfort quite a bit.  Another must have for us was a refrigerator.

TCM: Tell us about your truck camping rig.

Phil: I have a 2002 Chevy Silverado three-quarter ton truck, a 2005 Six-Pac 650 Deluxe camper, and a 2000 Exiss CXT 20 trailer.  The Exiss CXT 20 is a two horse bumper pull trailer.

TCM: Did you have to make any changes to your rig to accommodate a horse trailer?

Phil: No, but I purchased the 650 (6 ½ foot) camper so I did not need a hitch extension on our short bed truck.

TCM: What’s it like to tow a horse trailer with a truck camper?  
 
Phil: It’s not hard.  I have tow mirrors.  I tow in some really rugged places with my Chevy including off-road trails and gravel roads.  The Chevy and the Six-Pac do well.  In some situations my wife gets out and helps me back up.  
 
The trick of backing a trailer is putting your hand on bottom of steering wheel and moving your hand in the direction you want the back of the trailer to go.

TCM: What was the experience of getting your Six-Pac like?  
 
Phil: I got my Six-Pac about five years ago.  We had done our research and Six-Pac hit all the criteria we were looking for.  Then I had the opportunity to visit the factory when I was in California moderating some focus groups for work.  I arranged with my clients to stay an extra day and took a rental car drove to the Six-Pac factory.  While I was there, I talked to the people and walked the assembly line.  After my business trip, I came back to Idaho and talked to my wife about Six-Pac campers.  
 
TCM: So, when and where did you get your camper?
 
Phil: Frank from Six-Pac, called and told me that he was going to be at a show in Salt Lake City.  If I bought the Six-Pac at the show, he would save me some of the shipping costs.
 
The day Frank came to our house with the Six-Pac, I had to work moderating focus groups in Boise.  Frank moved the camper from his truck to our truck.  When I got home, our truck had the new Six-Pac camper on it.

 
TCM: How often do you go out with your horse, Timer?
 
Phil: Once or twice a month we go out starting in May.  If we are going to go anywhere, the truck with the Six-Pac is the only thing that’s going to pull the trailer.  The exception would be if I’m going to trail ride from where I keep Timer, which is about seven miles from home.
 
TCM: What’s the furthest distance you’ve towed Timer?
 
Phil: 100 miles from here.  There’s a lot of neat places within two hours of Eagle, Idaho that involve horse back riding and camping.  The Pink Flamingo is an hour and fifteen minutes north.  There are some places that are a little more than an hour.  We have never traveled great distances with Timer.
 
TCM: How often do you go out riding?
 
Phil: We go out several times a year.  It starts in the early spring when various clubs are having a ride.  We are retired so we are able to go up on Thursday and get a good camping spot.  I probably ride twelve, maybe fifteen miles a day on my horse.  The trails are all marked with ribbons, so I know where to go.  I always have someone I ride with each time.  
 
Riding is fun.  I probably ride almost as far as some of the other distance riders, but I do it at my own speed.  The trails are marked and vets on the premises.  All of the rides we did this year were on private land.  We camp there and pay the club that is sponsoring it about twenty dollars a weekend to participate.  It’s always dry camping with no hook-ups.  It’s no big deal with a camper because we have our own bathroom, water, and gas.
 
I’ve met a lot of good people at the rides.  For me, horseback riding is recreational.  At these events you can race, but you pay more money.

 
TCM: Where do you go when you’re not trail riding?
 
Phil: We always have a reason for going some place.  For example, my sister-in-law is a snow bird who goes to Arizona.  We don’t see her often enough so we have taken the Six-Pac down to see her.  With the camper, it was easy to go visit them.  They live in Small Quarters, a retirement community in Arizona.
 
Another example of when the camper was helpful was when we were in California at a wedding.  We took the Six-Pac and reserved a camping spot in Anaheim near Disneyland.  Before the wedding, we dressed in the camper and went to the wedding. While the wedding party was busy the night before we took the camper to Disneyland and had a great evening.
 
On the way down to the wedding in California we stopped at Bryce Canyon National Park, Zion National Park, and a state park in southern Utah.  The camper made it easy when we were going to visit my sister-in-law and to do other things along the way.  We even take our dog, Razi.  She is an excellent camper.
 
A new family ritual is to take the truck and camper without the horse on one last overnight trip using the furnace and all the other conveniences.  Last year we camped where the wild mustangs roam on BLM land in the Owyhee Mountains.  This year we camped next to the Crooked River in the Boise National Forest.  Dry camping is not a problem. 

For more information about the truck camper manufacturers and gear companies, please visit our Buyers Guide.