Advice for driving one end of the country to the other with a horse box

[Cocolebombom]

Hi folks! In a couple of months I will be driving my Shetland pony, 16hhs sports horse and 13.2 HHS pony from Scotland to Wales. We have a small trailer designed for two horses so will need to do two trips. The journey will be 8-10hours depending on traffic plus breaks at service stations or elsewhere.

We've done a bit of driving the horses in the trailer locally for riding and to shows within two hours. I was thinking we'd stop off enroute overnight at a stables and then carry on the next day. For those of you who transport their horses long distance relatively regularly, have you got any advice and tips and also suggestions of where- and if it's a good idea- to stay over at a stables enroute or to get it over in a oner? It will be mostly M6.

Thanks

 

[Jambarissa]

How will you combine the horses, is one happy to travel alone for 2 days?

That isn't really so far if no traffic issues, I know people who'd do that in a day but in lorries with horses who are more used to travelling.

I find the horses zone out after an hour or so, I'd stop for a quick check but try to keep going so they don't think they've arrived, 5 hours without getting off is fine.

Do you have a trailer camera? Get one if not for peace of mind, there are some great wireless ones on amazon for £70ish.

 

[Melody Grey]

Two trips sounds like an absolute pain. Have you considered getting them on a shared load all together with a transporter and letting them take care of the practicalities? Someone like Eric Gillies?

ETA: I used to travel across Europe for competitions and taking breeding stock. That length of journey isn’t necessarily a problem provided they’re fed and watered appropriately, but I think it’s different on a big lorry to in a trailer.

 

[Vodkagirly]

Two trips sounds like an absolute pain. Have you considered getting them on a shared load all together with a transporter and letting them take care of the practicalities? Someone like Eric Gillies?

ETA: I used to travel across Europe for competitions and taking breeding stock. That length of journey isn’t necessarily a problem provided they’re fed and watered appropriately, but I think it’s different on a big lorry to in a trailer.

There are a few local transporters that regularly do similar journeys and often advertise space on shared loads, might be easier if someone could take one?

 

[kathantoinette]

I think for the cost of two trips it would be seriously worth considering a transporter. Plus taking into account the complexity of breakdown/recovery should the worst happen ie. Where would you get recovered to?

 

[Beausmate]

When I moved three across the country, I used a transporter for the horses - much less stressful all round and cheaper. The trailer carried all the rest of the stuff.

I also had a pro bring my new horse down from Surrey to the westcountry. Cheaper than me taking the lorry up, saved time and was pretty stress-free for everyone.

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

We took 3 from Yorkshire to N. Cumbria for a friend on our lorry 2 x16hh+ horses and 1 Shetland with no problems but rather than doing 2 trips in a trailer I would book onto a transporter.

 

[Jambarissa]

I'm just going to go against the grain on the idea of a shared transporter. It usually takes much longer because obviously they will be dropping horses off along the way and your horses won't necessarily be next to each other due to the difference in weight. Also unlikely to be suitable for the Shetland.

Can you drive a 7.5t? You could at least move all 3 at once. Or horse one of those larger trailers if your tow car is suitable.

 

[Cocolebombom]

Thanks for the replies! My experience for horse transportation is it's extremely expensive even on a share and always a risk of strangles or what have you. We also have 15 alpacas and some goats to transport so was going to use a livestock service for that but it's something like £1500 and tbh I'm totally broke with the move already and having to invest in new field shelters when we get there. Return trip with loaded trailer will cost me £400 so it does keep costs down. I drive regularly for work so I'm used to long distance driving. However I might get a few quotes to compare prices!

 

[Cocolebombom]

How will you combine the horses, is one happy to travel alone for 2 days?

That isn't really so far if no traffic issues, I know people who'd do that in a day but in lorries with horses who are more used to travelling.

I find the horses zone out after an hour or so, I'd stop for a quick check but try to keep going so they don't think they've arrived, 5 hours without getting off is fine.

Do you have a trailer camera? Get one if not for peace of mind, there are some great wireless ones on amazon for £70ish.

The Shetland is definitely happy to travel alone and tbh the larger horse is quite chilled out so going to try her over the next month loading and traveling alone as the ideal split would be Shetland and pony; then horse alone.

 

[gallopingby]

There are transporters around who take two in a smaller lorry from Scotland, depending where you are you might find costs are more reasonable than you think. If the Shetland is small he might be able to travel with the others.
It would be worth enquiring or considering using a firm who can take the horses an£ other stock together assuming they would be ok together.

 

[silv]

For that distance I would use a transporter as it is a one way trip. Otherwise I would not travel my horse more than 8 hours in a day, I give a good feed of fibre before hand with access to a haynet, and stop about half way and offer water or soaked feed to get some fluid in. I always unload for about 30 minutes if possible. Overnight I prefer a small paddock to stretch their legs and get their heads down. Easy enough usually to find somewhere to overnight, google is your friend.