advice wanted from horse box drivers

lrobson

lrobson

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Hello, I just wondered how long it took you to get used to driving horses on a horsebox? I passed in march but have only recently bought a lorry. i'm getting better but still make them bang on the odd occasion, how much do your horses bang? or do you have the radio on so you don't hear them? how much banging is normal obviously all horses are different. its normally just the braking. any advice welcome, thank you
 
It took me a fortnight I did not have to pass a test when I started so I drove a few times with a friend who owned a haulage company he was great .
I did go for horseless drives almost every day at first.
 
The best thing you can do is to stand in the back of your lorry and experience the ride whilst someone else is driving. This will give you an idea of what the horse is experiencing, the only difference being the horse has four legs to balance on.

Practice will of course make you a better box driver. You need to be looking much further down the road that you do in a car in respect of braking to ensure a smooth ride for your horse.

As you say all horses travel differently, but you will hear them banging if they get shaken around. I do not have the radio on.
 
I've had different lorries over the years and the brakes are very different. Practise with the brakes with no horses on board and try to be as progressive as possible. Learn where your brakes 'bite' and leave a big enough gap that you can stop without needing them to really bite. Expect traffic lights to change too. I've always found my horses move less when facing forwards or backwards rather than herringbone. Horses do vary in how well they travel, 2 of mine jam themselves and brace and you don't know they are there, the other one clatters round corners no matter how slow you go. A small movement can also sound much worse than it really is. I normally find the horse will be reluctant to load if it's not happy with your driving so if your horse is happy to reload you're probably doing ok.
 
Agree with AA it sounds as if you are breaking too sharply and possibly not controling the clutch as well as you need to. Try driving as if you have a cup of hot coffee on your knee :)
 
The most common reason for horses banging and clattering (apart from driving like a lunatic)is driving too smoothly. For example a long smooth motorway cruise and they go to sleep, you gently come off and slow down for a roundabout ,and stop. And all hell breaks loose in the back as several tonnes of Irish dafts and dumb bloods suddenly wake up and fall on their noses. The trick is to give a few jabs on the brake in anticipation ,before getting to a more trickey bit of road.
 
Mike007 said:
The most common reason for horses banging and clattering (apart from driving like a lunatic)is driving too smoothly. For example a long smooth motorway cruise and they go to sleep, you gently come off and slow down for a roundabout ,and stop. And all hell breaks loose in the back as several tonnes of Irish dafts and dumb bloods suddenly wake up and fall on their noses. The trick is to give a few jabs on the brake in anticipation ,before getting to a more trickey bit of road.
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Don't have that problem, I have clever Welsh's :D It does take a while; Feels very weird pulling out straight then turning, I find that changing down the gears well before stopping is a good way of not having to brake so much, its all about having vision :) think of everyone else on the road as rubbish drivers and you'll be ok lol.
 
Mike007 said:
The most common reason for horses banging and clattering (apart from driving like a lunatic)is driving too smoothly. For example a long smooth motorway cruise and they go to sleep, you gently come off and slow down for a roundabout ,and stop. And all hell breaks loose in the back as several tonnes of Irish dafts and dumb bloods suddenly wake up and fall on their noses. The trick is to give a few jabs on the brake in anticipation ,before getting to a more trickey bit of road.
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I get that from the welshie all the time! I now tend to shout out 'balance!' when approaching the first corner off of a motorway, not sure if it helps though!
 
I drive like I got a box of TNT in back!!!!! I avoid pot holes, go v slow on roundabouts, leave huge gaps in between me and car in front, I also get mad when another car jumps in the gap and forces me to brake!!
Been all over the country in mine and only ever had one bad passenger horse. That was a youngster anyway.
 
thank you for your replies im very pleased to say they do still load quite happily! maybe im being to careful, today I drove, not like a luntic but with a bit more I do know what im doing attitude and not one bang! yippeeee!! the tb I think is worse but she is a total nutter anyway and bangs whilst stationary! the other I don't think has travelled much, think I just get a bit paranoid. practise makes perfect as they say and I think I have to remember how ever careful I drive they are going to bang a little bit!
 
Just a little thing but it does help with the idiots that drive up your arse. I had a Caution Horses, Slow Braking sign made up at the graphics place and stuck on the rear.!
 
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